The latest economic scare mongering has just about run it's path. SSE coming back and HSI looks to have bottomed. The US should release a positive update on tariffs or interest rates towards the end of the week to enable the investments banks to take some profits after their latest purge.
AFR Today: Warnings of financial blow-up in Hong Kong as currency comes under strain
Rob Subbaraman, chief Asia strategist for Nomura, said the offshore hub is flashing 54 separate early warning signals under the bank's predictive model of future financial blow-ups. "This is higher than during the peak of the Asian crisis (1997-1998)," he said.
The territory's property boom is officially out of control. Carrie Lam, the chief executive, said eight rounds of mortgage controls have failed to stop the speculation, and may even have been counter-productive. "The government really has no way to curb property prices," she said.
Consultants Demographia estimate that prices are 19.4 times median incomes, up from 18.1 last year, making it the "least affordable" city in the world. (Sydney is 12.9, and London 8.5). Prices have jumped fourfold since 2003 in real terms.