China Internet Rips on Larger Lending; China 'Tests' Internet
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China Internet stocks are seeing some upside following better-than-expected financial numbers out of China Thursday.
According to the People's Bank of China, loans in March hit 1.01 trillion yuan, or about $160.1 billion.
In addition, M2 money supply grew 13.4 percent from March 2011.
Finally, foreign exchange reserves jumped to a record $3.31 trillion for the year through March 31st, reversing an unusual drop reported for the prior quarter.
The numbers hint that China may be avoiding a growth slowdown, amid recent numbers showing GDP and exports coming in a little lighter than prior expectations.
Separately, reports out had some Chinese users outside of Hong Kong reporting inability to access foreign websites, while those in the U.S. and Hong Kong seemed to have the reverse problem. Initial reports had the downtime resulting from the Sumatra earthquake, though that was quickly resolved when observers asked why only foreign websites couldn't be accessed. Instead, some chalk it up to the government flexing its prowess and control...testing exactly what might happen if they "switched off" the Internet.
Pure speculation, of course.
In recent weeks, the government has implemented new requirements for users of microblogging sites like Tencent and SINA's (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo. Others under watch include Renren (NYSE: RENN), Jiayuan.com (Nasdaq: DATE), and Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU).
In addition, e-Commerce sites like Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) and Mecox (Nasdaq: MCOX) will be affected.
All of the above sites are higher into the close, with Renren up about 11 percent.
According to the People's Bank of China, loans in March hit 1.01 trillion yuan, or about $160.1 billion.
In addition, M2 money supply grew 13.4 percent from March 2011.
Finally, foreign exchange reserves jumped to a record $3.31 trillion for the year through March 31st, reversing an unusual drop reported for the prior quarter.
The numbers hint that China may be avoiding a growth slowdown, amid recent numbers showing GDP and exports coming in a little lighter than prior expectations.
Separately, reports out had some Chinese users outside of Hong Kong reporting inability to access foreign websites, while those in the U.S. and Hong Kong seemed to have the reverse problem. Initial reports had the downtime resulting from the Sumatra earthquake, though that was quickly resolved when observers asked why only foreign websites couldn't be accessed. Instead, some chalk it up to the government flexing its prowess and control...testing exactly what might happen if they "switched off" the Internet.
Pure speculation, of course.
In recent weeks, the government has implemented new requirements for users of microblogging sites like Tencent and SINA's (Nasdaq: SINA) Weibo. Others under watch include Renren (NYSE: RENN), Jiayuan.com (Nasdaq: DATE), and Sohu.com (Nasdaq: SOHU).
In addition, e-Commerce sites like Dangdang (NYSE: DANG) and Mecox (Nasdaq: MCOX) will be affected.
All of the above sites are higher into the close, with Renren up about 11 percent.
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