Shein's UK sales rise by a third creating a huge boost to profits
Founded in China but now headquartered in Singapore, Shein focuses on keeping prices low, using promotions and rewards to encourage shoppers to keep buying.In addition to ultra-low-cost summer dresses and denim jeans the site also now sells a wide range of other products from toys and games to kitchenware.The rising cost of living has continued to draw customers away from high street brands and even other online retailers such as Asos.Shein's accounts said "significant milestones" from 2024 included opening two offices in Kings Cross and Manchester, the launch of a pop-up shop in Liverpool and a Christmas bus tour across 12 cities in the UK.
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Reuters
5 minutes ago
- Reuters
Lithium's rally is super-charged with speculative spice
LONDON, Aug 18 (Reuters) - News that Chinese battery giant Contemporary Amperex Technology (CATL) ( opens new tab has suspended operations at its giant Jianxiawo mine has lit a fire under the lithium market. The CME lithium carbonate contract has surged by 27% since the start of August, breaking a long-running downtrend, with the bull momentum sweeping through the shares of listed producers. The market reaction is not irrational. Jianxiawo is China's largest lithium mine and even CATL's anticipated three-month suspension will make a significant dent in a massively over-supplied market. Nor is it the only Chinese producer in the lithium hub of Yichun facing heightened bureaucratic scrutiny. But the price surge looks over-exuberant. Any underlying market signal has been swamped by speculative excess on China's Guangzhou Futures Exchange. Guangzhou only started trading lithium carbonate futures in July 2023 but has muscled out the Wuxi Stainless Steel Exchange as China's primary price reference point for the battery metal. Wuxi was a problematic indicator of China's physical lithium market and Guangzhou is now also battling to contain a speculative frenzy. Guangzhou's lithium contract notched up turnover of nearly 24 million lots in July, far exceeding the previous monthly record, while open interest climbed to an all-time high of 699,164 lots. Trading activity in the options contract mushroomed from 2.9 million lots in June to 8.6 million last month. The exchange's volume figures denote both buy and sell transactions but, even allowing for this double-count, July's turnover was many multiples the size of a global market that is growing fast but still only amounts to around 1.6 million tons each year. The Guangzhou exchange implemented position limits, specifically targeting non-exchange members, at the end of July after the September contract had traded limit-up on two consecutive days. The measures seemed to be damping down the speculative heat until CATL made its announcement on August 11, at which stage the bull flames erupted again with the lithium price again going limit-up over the next two days. While some market participants, particularly industrial players, may have been aware of CATL's licence problems, the price volatility in itself has acted as a magnet for local speculators chasing the next big thing. Such crowd surges are commonplace in the Chinese commodities futures landscape and have the same effect as a giant momentum fund feeding on a fast-moving market. Last month's price action on the Guangzhou lithium contract was "a masterclass in sentiment-driven volatility," according to Paul Lusty, Head of Battery Raw Materials at price assessment agency Fastmarkets. Fastmarkets' view is that "beneath the surface demand remains tepid, inventories high and buyers cautious, underscoring a disconnect between price action and market reality." How much has actually changed in the wake of CATL's confirmation it needs to reapply for its expired mining licence? Chinese speculators are betting that it is symptomatic of a change in government policy. Beijing has taken aim at what it calls "disorderly price competition" with state media amplifying the attack on involution, a now-popular reference to competition so fierce it becomes self-destructive. Lithium is not the only market to have interpreted this as presaging a broader clamp-down on chronic excess capacity in China's industrial base. There have been equally exuberant rallies in steel, coal and polysilicon, a building-block for the over-heating solar panel sector. Whether this is really a new dawn for the bombed-out lithium price remains to be seen. The focus of the market, particularly in China, will be on whether CATL gets its new mining licence and what happens to the other producers clustered in Yichun. All of them are under scrutiny for possible discrepancies between their licensed mining rights and actual extraction rates, according to consultancy Project Blue. In a market that has been weighed down by excess production capacity, any sign of producer restraint, whether voluntary or involuntary, is a price positive. However, just how positive is going to depend on the Chinese speculators massing in the Guangzhou lithium market. The exchange's lithium futures contract has already recorded over 12 million trades so far in August. The speculative froth is still there. The opinions expressed here are those of the author, a columnist for Reuters.
Reuters
35 minutes ago
- Reuters
Breakingviews - China's half-cooked growth plan is going cold
HONG KONG, Aug 18 (Reuters Breakingviews) - China's economic planners are at a tricky crossroads. Growth is set to slow in the third quarter as President Xi Jinping's war on overcapacity takes a toll. And various efforts aimed at reinflating property prices have yet to work. While further rate cuts to prop up the rebounding stock market look likely, heading off deflation would require creating sustainable demand. That seems unlikely. The People's Republic weathered tough headwinds in the first half of 2025 reasonably well, reporting GDP growth of 5.3%. Since then, a raft of key indicators has surprised on the downside. Most notably, fixed asset investment fell 5.2% year-on-year in July. Barring contractions during the pandemic, that's the biggest monthly decline in over 20 years. Morgan Stanley economists now expect the headline figure to slow to 4.5% for the July-to-September period. Xi is trying to stamp out excessive competition and capacity while soothing tensions with trading partners. The question is whether that represents a structural shift in industrial policy, as happened with his sweeping deleveraging campaign in the real estate sector, which has led to a protracted slump since 2020. Beijing has rolled out a raft of stimulus policies since last year aimed at reinflating property and stock prices, hoping to create a wealth effect that can spur confidence and consumption. The plan has only half-worked so far. While Chinese stocks have rebounded, with the benchmark Shanghai Composite Index (.SSEC), opens new tab rising almost 30% in the past 12 months, policymakers' actions have yet to put a floor on falling home prices. The People's Bank of China does at least have plenty of room to cut rates. In its latest quarterly report published last week, the central bank again pledged to bring about a 'reasonable pace of price growth' by making good use of structural monetary policy tools. Lower interest rates may spur more savers to hunt for yield and invest in the stock market. Granted, retail sales, which were bolstered by a goods trade-in scheme for the first half of the year, only expanded 3.7% in July, the slowest pace since December 2024, as the impact of those policies wears off. Consumer prices remain flat while factory gate prices have contracted for 34 months in a row. Credit demand is also flashing red: net new bank loans in July unexpectedly contracted for the first time in two decades. Creating sustainable consumer demand can be the most effective way to absorb overcapacity and reinvigorate growth. Perhaps policymakers will put that high on the agenda as they draw up the new five-year plan, opens new tab starting next year. But that's a long time for a stuttering economy to wait.
Reuters
an hour ago
- Reuters
Shares scale fresh peaks in Asia, oil eyes Ukraine talks
SYDNEY, Aug 18 (Reuters) - Share markets pushed ahead in Asia on Monday ahead of what is likely to be an eventful week for U.S. interest rate policy, while oil prices were subdued as risks to Russian supplies seemed to fade a little. A cautiously risk-on mood saw indices in Japan and Taiwan make record peaks, while Chinese blue chips reached their highest in 10 months. U.S. President Donald Trump now seemed more aligned with Moscow on seeking a peace deal with Ukraine instead of a ceasefire first, after meeting Russian President Vladimir Putin in Alaska on Friday. Trump will meet Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and European leaders later on Monday to discuss the next steps, though actual proposals are vague as yet. The major economic event of the week will be the Kansas City Federal Reserve's August 21-23 Jackson Hole symposium, where Chair Jerome Powell is due to speak on the economic outlook and the central bank's policy framework. "Chair Powell will likely signal that risks to the employment and inflation mandates are coming into balance, setting up the Fed to resume returning policy rate to neutral," said Andrew Hollenhorst, chief economist at Citi Research. "But Powell will stop short of explicitly signalling a September rate cut, awaiting the August jobs and inflation reports," he added. "This would be fairly neutral for markets already fully pricing a September cut." Markets imply around an 85% chance of a quarter-point rate cut at the Fed's meeting on September 17, and are priced for a further easing by December. The prospect of lower borrowing costs globally has underpinned stock markets and Japan's Nikkei (.N225), opens new tab climbed 0.9% to a fresh record high. MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan (.MIAPJ0000PUS), opens new tab added 0.5%, having hit a four-year top last week. Chinese blue chips (.CSI300), opens new tab jumped 1.3%, bringing gains so far this quarter to over 8%. EUROSTOXX 50 futures and DAX futures firmed 0.2%, while FTSE futures gained 0.3%. S&P 500 futures nudged up 0.1% while Nasdaq futures added 0.2%, with both near all-time highs. Valuations have been underpinned by a solid earnings season as S&P 500 EPS grew 11% on the year and 58% of companies raised their full-year guidance. "Earnings results have continued to be exceptional for the mega-cap tech companies," noted analysts at Goldman Sachs. "While Nvidia has yet to report, the Magnificent 7 apparently grew EPS by 26% year/year in 2Q, a 12% beat relative to consensus expectation coming into earnings season." This week's results will provide some colour on the health of consumer spending with Home Depot, Target, Lowe's and Walmart all reporting. In bond markets, the chance of Fed easing is keeping down short-term Treasury yields while the longer end is pressured by the risk of stagflation and giant budget deficits, leading to the steepest yield curve since 2021. European bonds also have been pressured by the prospect of increased borrowing to fund defence spending, pushing German long-term yields to 14-year highs. Wagers on more Fed easing have weighed on the dollar, which dropped 0.4% against a basket of currencies last week to last stand at 97.851 . The dollar was a fraction firmer on the yen at 147.41 , while the euro held at $1.1704 after adding 0.5% last week. The dollar has fared better against its New Zealand counterpart as the country's central bank is widely expected to cut rates to 3.0% on Wednesday. In commodity markets, gold bounced 0.5% to $3,343 an ounce after losing 1.9% last week. Oil prices struggled as Trump backed away from threats to place more restrictions on Russian oil exports. Brent dropped 0.1% to $65.78 a barrel, while U.S. crude steadied at $62.73 per barrel.
