French tycoon gains $17 billion from China’s economic stimulus push

By Juliana Liu, CNN

Hong Kong (CNN) — The billionaire owner of French luxury powerhouse LVMH has seen his wealth inflate by $17 billion dollars in just one day, after China announced fresh moves to restore economic growth that some call the long-awaited “bazookas” needed to revive confidence.

Bernard Arnault isn’t the only winner. China and Hong Kong stocks are on track to log their best weekly performances in 16 years, according to Reuters, following the surprise stimulus measures and strong words from the Chinese leadership.

Arnault, the chairman of LVMH, started Thursday having lost more wealth this year than any other billionaire, with his fortune having declined by $24 billion due to a slump in the market for high-end goods, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index.

But by the end of the day, his net worth jumped by $17 billion to $201 billion, the index reported, calling it his third-biggest daily increase ever. That’s after shares in LVMH rallied by just under 10% in Paris on hopes the Chinese leadership would succeed in their efforts to resuscitate the economy, which could bring back demand for luxury goods.

LVMH said in July that sales had dropped 10% in the first six months of this year in its Asia region compared to 2023. That market, which accounted for 31% of total revenue last year, is dominated by China.

China’s faltering economy had been hurting many Western brands. The country is grappling with a number of challenges, from sluggish consumer spending and a persistent property slump to a mounting debt crisis at local governments.

For months, economists had been asking Chinese officials to do much more to boost flagging prospects for the world’s second-largest economy, which was at risk of missing its own 5% target growth rate. This week, they appear to be heeding those calls.

“Beijing seems finally determined to roll out its bazooka stimulus in rapid succession,” analysts at investment bank Nomura wrote in a research note on Thursday. “Beijing’s recognition of the severe situation of the economy and lack of success in a piecemeal approach should be valued by markets.”

In fact, China and Hong Kong stocks are on track as of Friday to notch their best week since 2008. Hong Kong’s benchmark Hang Seng index has added just over 12% so far this week, while mainland China’s blue-chip CSI300 has gained more than 15%.

Markets rally

Investors cheered news from Thursday that China’s 24-member Politburo, a top decision-making body, had dedicated its just concluded September monthly meeting to economic issues, which was a deviation from the previous procedure.

Chaired by leader Xi Jinping, officials vowed to boost “counter-cyclical fiscal and monetary policies,” to help low- and middle-income citizens and to improve the ailing property market, which is in its fourth year of contraction.

The announcement came two days after Pan Gongsheng, governor of the People’s Bank of China (PBOC), unveiled a package of measures to support businesses by cutting one of its main interest rates and reducing the amount of cash that banks need to hold in reserve, which would free up money for lending.

The seven-day reverse repo rate was cut from 1.7% to 1.5%. The PBOC also cut the reserve requirement ratio for banks by half a percentage point, which would free up about 1 trillion yuan ($142 billion) for new lending.

Pan additionally revealed cuts to existing mortgages and lowered the minimum mortgage downpayment from 25% to 15% for second-time homebuyers to support the ailing property sector, which many economists believe is the root cause of China’s numerous economic woes.

However, experts urged investors to be cautious as officials must still come up with ways of stabilizing the property market, which once accounted for as much as 30% of economic activity. It began to cool in 2019 and fell into a deep trough about two years later, after a government-led clampdown on developers’ borrowing.

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