Stat of the Day: China Credit Grows by 101% in January

Staggering Credit growth from China as reported by Money Matters in this Seeking Alpha report. A major force for the loan growth, is the economic stimulus plan approved in November that allowed for 30% government funding on infrastructure projects. Hmm... maybe the US should've done something like this. Instead of giving away money to pork projects of specific Congressmen maybe they could've given an incentive to implement valid projects at a discount.

The amazing growth in lending has lead to economists actually raising the growth rate for 2009. Now that is shocking and not widely reported in the media. The stock market has been strong lately and such indexes as the BDI have surged off lows. Oddly though, stocks listed on US exchanges such as BIDU, APWR, and FMCN are still hanging around recent lows. While more infrastructure related US stocks such as NUE and SGR have seen big jumps.

Based on the lending stats, I'd expect all these stocks to see pick up in demand. Either from infrastructure related demand in China or growth in the domestic market in China. Other favorites would be coal stocks like ANR or oil drilling stocks like ATW or copper stocks like FCX.