With economic growth decelerating markedly and with capital flowing the wrong way for four consecutive quarters (to the tune of $300 billion), China needs its margin-fueled equity mania to continue in order to distract everyone from the fact that the fundamental picture is, to quote Bloomberg metals analyst Kenneth Hoffman who recently visited the country, “a lot worse than you think.” The PBoC looks set to step up their easing efforts in an attempt to keep the music playing as evidenced by last weekend’s RRR cut and indeed the rumor now seems to be that the central bank will conduct ECB-style LTROs to ensure a new ... (full story)