Traders note a rumor sweeping the market that China will move up the releases date of a bunch of economic data to this Saturday in order to pave the way for an interest rate hike.
The rumor is a bit of a mixed bag. A rate hike would presumably be designed to slow Chinese growth which would increase risk aversion (“risk-off”).
Bigger picture though, one rate hike is not going to make a material difference to an economy like China’s…Higher reserve requirements have yet to do the trick, nor has increased regulation.
Could be a case of sell risk on the rumor, buy it on the fact.
UPDATE: Avinash has this right. The shift in the date of the data release was announced earlier…
