While we wait for China's economic data dump due Monday, when industrial production and retail sales are expected to crater to deep negative territory as a result of the ongoing covid lockdowns, this morning we got a harsh reminder just how hard the world's 2nd biggest economy has been hit when Beijing reported that April total social financing and RMB loans came in much below market expectations, even as M2 growth accelerated and was above market expectations on the back of the RRR cut and more expansionary fiscal policy stance. {chart} Here are the details: • New CNY loans: RMB 645.4 bn in April, badly missing ... (full story)