David Harvey | The Significance of China in the World Economy
On January 2, 2019, after the stock market had closed, Apple Computer announced that it was not going to meet its sales targets, particularly in China. There was an immediate crash in Apple’s stock (down by 6 percent), and the following day, the stock market that had already lost a lot of money declined by another 2.5 percent. The interesting thing about this was that it was Apple computer sales in China that triggered the problem. Apple computers are, of course, made in China, but Apple also has a significant market there. The main official explanation for the problem was that the consumer market in China was softening for a number of reasons. The main cited reason was the Trump assault upon tariffs. But the other, which came in the small print in later reporting, was stagnation in China’s consumer market.
