Blanchard: oil and China

Oliver Blanchard takes a look at the effect of China and oil prices on the stock market:  While the fall in oil prices has traditionally been a positive for the oil consumers like the US, the US has a much larger role in the new environment.  The effect of bad loans to fracking companies combines with what Paul Krugman has suggested are the non-linear effects of oil price declines.  

"Take the oil price explanation. It is even more puzzling. Traditionally, it was taken for granted that a decrease in the price of oil was good news for oil importing countries such as the United States. Consumers, with more money to spend, would increase consumption, and increase output. Energy using firms, with lower cost of production, would increase investment. We learned in the last year that, in the short run, the adverse effect on investment on energy producing firms could come quickly and temporarily slow down the effect, but this surely does not undo the general conclusion. Yet the headlines are now about low oil prices leading to low stock prices. I can think of two potential explanations, neither of them convincing."

The momentum behind selling from China have been is also an issue for Blanchard.



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