To Be or Not to Be: How the Evergrande Crisis Can Affect Gold

Implications for Gold

Evergrande is on the brink of bankruptcy. Will gold prices collapse together with the real estate developer or benefit from its default?

Generals are always prepared to fight the last war, while economists are always prepared to fight the last recession. But what if the next economic crisis doesn’t start in the US financial sector, but in China’s real estate?

Naturally, I refer to Evergrande, a Chinese developer with total liabilities of more than $300 billion — around 2% of China’s GDP! A default of one of China’s largest and most indebted companies could entail significant repercussions for the global economy.

Although the Evergrande crisis won’t necessarily be China’s Lehman Brothers moment (I will elaborate on this in the upcoming edition of the Gold Market Overview), it will certainly curb China’s economic growth. Actually, the slowdown has already begun, as the country’s GDP grew just 4.9% in the third quarter of 2021, much less than the 7.9% seen in Q2. It was the slowest pace recorded in a year.

The slowdown is not surprising. After all, China faces a massive energy crunch, shipping disruptions, and a burst of the property bubble. Until recently, the bubble was tolerated or even actively boosted as it drove income and growth, benefiting everyone: developers, authorities, and also ordinary citizens who placed most of their savings in real estate. The property sector has grown so much that it accounts for about 30% of China’s GDP! So, given the size of China’s economy, it has become one of the most important sectors in the world.

However, China’s government decided to curb excessive borrowing and deflate the bubble. Perhaps the irrational exuberance became too irrational – just think about all these ghost towns with millions of empty apartments, not to mention the surge in corporate debt from 112% of GDP in 2008 to 222% in 2020 (see the chart below). So, last year, China’s government introduced the policy of “three red lines” which made it much more difficult for large developers such as Evergrande to issue more debt. This tightening caused a liquidity crisis, as well as a drop in property investment by 4% in September.

Here is the problem: the government wants to move away from a growth model based on investment and debt, but the country hasn’t transitioned to a consumption-led model yet. Thus, given the size of China’s property sector and a lack of new growth engines, we should expect a further slowdown in China’s (and global) economic growth.

Implications for Gold

What do China’s economic problems imply for the gold market? Well, the price of gold hasn’t been affected by the Evergrande crisis so far, remaining stuck below $1,800. Although, please remember that gold is most sensitive to the US economy, and we haven’t seen any signs of contagion spilling over the Chinese borders yet. However, the slowdown in global economic growth caused by the burst of China’s real estate bubble should bring us closer to the stagflationatory scenario, which should be positive for gold prices. The deceleration in China’s economic growth could abruptly change the narrative about a solid recovery from the pandemic, making investors worry more about inflation. A slowdown in economic growth could also lower bond yields, which should be supportive for the yellow metal.

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Furthermore, even though most of the pundits downplay the risk of financial contagion stemming from the collapse of Evergrande (or other Chinese real estate developers), such a risk exists. If it materializes, gold should shine as a safe-haven asset.

Another possible implication is that China might devalue the yuan again. As investments are weakening and consumption hasn’t become a sufficient driver of the economy, the government could bet on exports to support the GDP growth. This could trigger some safe-haven inflows into gold, but there are also some risks here. As I wrote in 2017, “in the summer of 2015, China devalued the yuan, which pushed global equities lower. Hence, a devaluation of the renminbi would imply an appreciation of the U.S. dollar, which does not sound good for the gold market.”

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Arkadiusz Sieron, PhD
Sunshine Profits: Effective Investment through Diligence & Care

Arkadiusz Sieron

Hi, my name is Arkadiusz Sieroń. Call me a liar, but I am writing about the precious metals thanks to Arthur Laffer, Alan Greenspan, John Keynes and Fredrich Hayek. Really! Would you like to know how these economists, some of whom have been dead for a long time, triggered my adventure with gold? When I was in high school, I took part in the Entrepreneurship Olympic, one of the biggest thematic competitions for pupils from secondary schools. During my preparations, I studied an academic textbook, in which I came across a Laffer curve. Eureka! If the tax revenues are the same at low and high tax rates, the government should lower them! I did not win the competition, but I achieved much more. I decided to become an economist! And I loved the idea of small government and economic freedom since that very moment. After graduating from high school, I moved to the capital. I was very excited, as I started to study economics at the best economics university in the country. However, the professors disappointed me very quickly. Why? They all were statists, supporting extensive government intervention and fiat currencies. Gold? It is a barbarous relic! Have you not read Lord Keynes? I was very depressed. I even considered giving up my studies in economics and enrolling in the Philosophy Faculty! You can see now that I was really desperate. When I was contemplating nothingness and vanity of vanities, a few of my classmates lent me a handful of fascinating books, such as Capitalism and Freedom by Milton Friedman. I also discovered the publications of the Austrian economists who supported the idea of the gold standard. It sounded crazy in the 21th century, but it was inspiring. I rediscovered the sense of studying economics. I continued my studies and one day I read these words: “Gold and economic freedom are inseparable”. Try guess who wrote them. Don’t give up, try once again. Don’t know? Alan Greenspan. Shocking, right? This is a quote from his “Gold and Economic Freedom”, an article published in 1966. Several years before he became the Fed Chair, and several more before the real estate bubble, that he helped to pump, up burst. Quite ironic, don’t you think? Both his essay and the Great Recession (and the accompanying bull market) motivated me to study investment portfolio management and the precious metals. I became a certified Investment Adviser very soon and I started to work for the biggest pension fund in the country. My corporate career seemed to be very promising. However, I quickly discovered that the company invested most of the participants’ funds into Treasuries or shares of the big state companies. And they didn’t even want to hear about investing in precious metals. I quit. I found a shelter at the university, as a Ph.D. candidate and – after a defense of my thesis about certain negative consequences of inflation (i.e. the Cantillon effect) – as an Assistant Professor. I was finally free to study economics, freedom, and gold. The more I read about gold, the more I was terrified. Most of the so-called experts who write about the precious metals, don’t have any idea about the subject they discuss. They treat gold as a mere commodity. Or they claim that gold is either worthless as it does not bring any yield or that its price should always rise. I was really let down by the state of understanding of the gold market among the analysts and investors. But I could not do too much. Until the sun shined down on me. I got a job offer at Sunshine Profits. I didn’t hesitate a second and accepted it, although many professors discouraged me: “You are a scholar, focus on science and do not write silly newsletters about bullion" -they advised me. But I did not listen to them, as they clearly didn’t understand the nature of gold. It is not a barbarous relic, it is the longest used money in history, and a clinking witness of human civilization. Gold is the asset, which used to serve as the safe- haven and portfolio diversifier for investors from the entire world for years. I wanted to study its properties and to share with my knowledge with people who do not have time for that. I wanted to help investors to better understand fundamentals of the gold market and improve their investment decisions. I’m happy that I can do that at Sunshine Profits. I’m really proud to be a member of our team and provide investors with high quality investment analyses about the gold market.

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Implications for Gold

Arkadiusz Sieron

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