Be prepared for a big disappointment from China this year

Back in the days before the financial crisis really kicked off, we went through a 'bad news is good news' phase in the US. This was around six or seven years ago, when the notion that interest rates go up as well as down was still uncontroversial. In any case, the Federal Reserve was gently raising rates. Wall Street wasn't too keen on this. So when economic data disappointed, you'd see markets rise. Why? Because it meant that maybe rates wouldn't rise so fast, or maybe even go down.