🇨🇳 A tense moment for China

Plus, everything you need to know for the week ahead | [Finimize]( Hi {NAME}. We’ve revamped your weekly briefing to give you what you need to know for the week ahead and a recap of the past week. Let us know [what you think here](. Deflation Nation Consumer prices in China have been worryingly falling – dropping at their fastest pace in 15 years, as demand grinds lower. So the next data update has folk on edge. [Deflation Nation] 🔍 The focus this week: Chinese deflation While much of the world contends with overly hot inflation, China is struggling with the opposite problem: deflation. The most recent report showed consumer prices fell by 0.8% in January from a year ago – the biggest drop in almost 15 years and worse than expected. That was the fourth straight month of falling prices in the world’s second-biggest economy. And that unlucky streak is set to continue, with economists expecting that February’s inflation report, out March 9th, to show a drop of 0.5%. And that’s despite the Lunar New Year holiday falling in February this year, rather than in January – a timing difference that would typically lead to an upward bump in the figures. Prolonged deflation – a result of weak domestic demand, an ongoing property crisis, a sluggish job market, and falling exports – is becoming a growing worry for China because the situation can lead to a downward spiral of economic activity. Anticipating further price drops, consumers might delay purchases, further hobbling consumption. Businesses, in turn, might lower production and investment because of the uncertain demand picture. And this cycle is tough to reverse. That’s why the Chinese central bank has said that fighting deflation is at the top of its to-do list, but for it to put a big green check beside that task, economists say it’ll have to implement more aggressive stimulus measures to beef up demand and confidence. There is a silver lining (for the global economy, at least) here: China’s deflation could push down inflation rates in other parts of the world, as the country’s exporters cut prices on goods they sell abroad. We’ve already seen signs of that in the past couple of months, with prices falling at their fastest rate since the 2008 financial crisis. If China does end up exporting its deflation to the rest of the world, that could hasten central banks’ decisions to begin cutting interest rates. [Archax]( SPONSORED BY ARCHAX Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. [Take 2 mins to learn more](. Push your crypto to its full potential Hold crypto for the long term, and your portfolio could pick up over time. [Stake your crypto]( while you hold it, and you could earn more crypto and play your part in making the network more efficient – all without touching your underlying batch of coins. To stake your crypto, you essentially [lock an amount of crypto]( for a certain period. So without much effort on your end, you can make your crypto work harder to win you financial reward. You can discover your options with [Archax](: the digital asset exchange supports an ever-increasing number of staking opportunities, all designed to [optimize your holdings](. So if you want to send your crypto portfolio to work, you can [check out Archax's innovative staking opportunities](. [Find Out More]( Don’t invest unless you’re prepared to lose all the money you invest. This is a high-risk investment and you should not expect to be protected if something goes wrong. [Take 2 mins to learn more](. 📅 On the calendar - Monday: Eurozone economic sentiment (March). - Tuesday: China PMI (February), eurozone producer prices (January), US factory orders (January). Earnings: CrowdStrike. - Wednesday: Eurozone retail sales (January), Bank of Canada interest rate announcement, US job openings and labor turnover survey (January). Earnings: JD.com. - Thursday: European Central Bank interest rate announcement. Earnings: Broadcom, Costco. - Friday: Japan household spending (January), US jobs report (February), China loan growth (February). - Saturday: China inflation (February). 👀 What you might’ve missed last week - Inflation in Japan topped expectations in January. - Apple ditched its decade-long EV project. - Klarna showed off slimmer losses ahead of its expected stock market debut. - Cocoa futures prices surged to a record high. - Bitcoin’s remarkable rally showed no sign of slowing. 🤔 Why it matters Core consumer prices in Japan, which exclude fresh food, rose by 2% in January from a year ago – a slowdown from the 2.3% increase seen in December but a tick higher than economists expected. It was the 22nd straight month in which the inflation measure matched or exceeded the Bank of Japan’s 2% target, adding weight to the notion that the central bank might soon scrap its negative interest rates. Apple unexpectedly canceled its decade-long EV ambitions. The firm launched “Project Titan” in 2014 in a drive to diversify beyond its popular iPhone, which accounted for 52% of Apple’s revenue last year. But with the project making little progress and the EV industry slowing way down, Apple sent the whole thing to the scrap yard to focus on AI and headsets. That could be a smart move, given the long-term profitability potential of AI versus cars. Klarna bagged 22% more revenue last year than the one before, enough to shrink its net loss by 76%. That’s come at a lucky time for the firm, which makes money by charging retailers a fee every time a shopper uses the service. The buy-now-pay-later leader is aiming for a $20 billion valuation in its initial public offering later this year, and if it wants investors to buy in, it will need to show that it can fix its own finances as well as those of its customers. Cocoa futures prices hit a record high, as drought and disease ravaged crops in the key growing regions of West Africa. Exacerbating the rally are hedge funds, who have piled into the cocoa market since the end of last year. Soaring prices present a not-so-sweet issue for the chocolate industry, which could struggle to pass all the higher costs onto consumers and, as a result, see their profit margins squeezed. Bitcoin’s strong rally showed no sign of stopping, with the price of the world’s biggest cryptocurrency rising above $60,000 – its highest since November 2021 and within sight of its record of nearly $69,000. The surge comes as demand from the new US spot ETFs outstrips both the supply of bitcoin that long-time holders are willing to sell and the amount being produced by miners. Do you work in finance/fintech? We asked thousands of retail investors from our million-strong global community about how they’re planning to invest in the first quarter of 2024 and their predictions for the year ahead. Our exclusive data reveals that retail investors are the most optimistic they’ve ever been: almost three-quarters believe global stock markets will be higher in a year. That follows a year in which over 50% of investors held back on investing and held onto cash instead, leaving an estimated $6 trillion on the sidelines ready to be deployed. Gain your competitive edge and [download a copy of our Q1 report here](. [Check The Pulse]( SPONSORED BY HEALTHWORDS.AI [HEALTHWORDS.AI]( ⏸ Want to turn off the Weekly Review? [Hit pause]( To stop receiving all Finimize emails (including the daily newsletter) [Unsubscribe]( [View in browser](