From the Wall Street Journal overnight, comments from

  • Mike Henry, marketing president for BHP, said Wednesday that jitters about the investigation (probe into commodity-backed loans in China) were overblown and that it hadn’t affected BHP or the broader industry “in any serious way.”
  • Henry also said that a squeeze on credit in China, the world’s second-largest economy, wasn’t a worry for BHP, as it would help set the country up for more sustainable growth in the longer run.
  • “We don’t see this being a fundamentally significant issue for the industry,” Mr. Henry said. “Copper prices are still holding up at close to $7,000 a ton, which is indicative of both the strength of the long run fundamentals for copper as well as the relatively small nature of this issue.”
  • “Part of that is allowing some of those financial stresses to play through the system,” he said. “And you will see some companies get into financial difficulties as a result of that [but] we are not worried. We see that as being exactly what the government needs to do to ensure growth over the long term in China.”

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Not sure whether or not to place this in the ‘well, he would say that, wouldn’t he?’ file.

More at the link (gated): BHP Calms China Commodity Fears
Metals Probe Not a ‘Fundamentally Significant Issue for the Industry’