(Bloomberg) — Bridgewater Associates founder Ray Dalio defended his decades-long investment in China and pledged he won’t abandon the world’s second-largest economy even with all of the problems there he’s identified and the risks of a war with his own country, the US.
“I have had a wonderful 40-year relationship with the Chinese people and the Chinese culture that has led me to love them. For me, being involved with them and their markets go together and I wouldn’t want to be without either,” the billionaire investor wrote in a LinkedIn post. “I don’t jump in when things are booming and jump out when things are tough because I am neither ‘a fair-weather friend’ nor ‘a fair-weather investor.’”
In an earlier post from March 27, the hedge fund titan had discussed the many difficulties and challenges China’s faced and warned that Beijing should cut its debt and ease monetary policy or face “a lost decade.”
Dalio said China’s problems are manageable now if “Chinese leaders do their job well by being both smart and courageous.” He pointed to signs that the economic leaders in Beijing are preparing to conduct quantitative easing along with debt restructuring to engineer what he described as a “beautiful deleveraging.”
Last week, a line from a 172-page book citing President Xi Jinping’s old comments on the nation’s monetary tools stoked a group of stock and bond traders to argue that may mean Beijing is considering quantitative easing, which involves a monetary authority buying a country’s government bonds. But the speculation was rejected by most commentators, including economists at Goldman Sachs Group Inc.
Read more: Old Xi Speech on China’s Monetary Tools Catches Trader Eyes
To Dalio, Chinese policymakers are able to “manage how to deal with political, geopolitical, nature, and technology forces well.” He has long nurtured relations with Chinese officials, expressed admiration for some of Beijing’s economic policies and built business for his firm in China. Dalio was among the prominent American business chiefs sharing the top table with Xi at an exclusive dinner in San Francisco last November.
At the same time, he has also been consistent in warning about the risk of conflict between the world’s two largest economies. Last April, he wrote in a LinkedIn post that tensions could worsen as the US heads toward the presidential election in November 2024.
In Monday’s post he said he understands others when they are concerned “if there is a US-China war it would be disastrous especially if one is an American investor.” Dalio admitted this is one of the issues he thinks about a lot when considering investing in most countries.
None of these, however, seems to stop Dalio from doing business with China.
“To me the key question isn’t whether or not I should invest in China so much as how much I should invest,” he wrote, adding that he sees China as one of his “15 or more good uncorrelated return streams” and “a core position that I will vary from based on my assessments of all of the things I mentioned.”
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 100 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in base metal and utility stocks, while U.S. stock markets were mixed.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 103.40 points at 24,542.48.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 192.31 points at 42,932.73. The S&P 500 index was up 7.14 points at 5,822.40, while the Nasdaq composite was down 9.03 points at 18,306.56.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.44 cents US on Tuesday.
The November crude oil contract was down 71 cents at US$69.87 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down eight cents at US$2.42 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$7.20 at US$2,686.10 an ounce and the December copper contract was up a penny at US$4.35 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 16, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 200 points in late-morning trading, while U.S. stock markets were also headed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 205.86 points at 24,508.12.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 336.62 points at 42,790.74. The S&P 500 index was up 34.19 points at 5,814.24, while the Nasdaq composite was up 60.27 points at 18.342.32.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.61 cents US compared with 72.71 cents US on Thursday.
The November crude oil contract was down 15 cents at US$75.70 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was down two cents at US$2.65 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$29.60 at US$2,668.90 an ounce and the December copper contract was up four cents at US$4.47 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 11, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was little changed in late-morning trading as the financial sector fell, but energy and base metal stocks moved higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 0.05 of a point at 24,224.95.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 94.31 points at 42,417.69. The S&P 500 index was down 10.91 points at 5,781.13, while the Nasdaq composite was down 29.59 points at 18,262.03.
The Canadian dollar traded for 72.71 cents US compared with 73.05 cents US on Wednesday.
The November crude oil contract was up US$1.69 at US$74.93 per barrel and the November natural gas contract was up a penny at US$2.67 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$14.70 at US$2,640.70 an ounce and the December copper contract was up two cents at US$4.42 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Oct. 10, 2024.
