China Investors Scour Protest Data for Clues to Next Stimulus Moves
For years, documenting protests in China was a task for political activists. Now, it’s capturing the attention of investors who are trying to predict if Beijing will pivot to a bazooka stimulus
To figure out how far President Xi Jinping will go to revive his struggling economy, a growing number of money managers are taking cues from a once-jailed Chinese dissident now living in Canada.
From a basement in Calgary, often accompanied by his pet cat, Lu Yuyu spends 10 hours a day scouring the internet to compile stats on social instability before they are scrubbed by China’s censors. The 47-year-old exile won’t reveal his exact method because it risks jeopardizing the overall goal of the project called “Yesterday,” which documents cases of group protests.