Speculation about China's currency has reached fever pitch. The combination of rising political pressure from America and technical adjustments to China's foreign-exchange trading system has convinced investors that the Chinese authorities are about to end the yuan's decade-old peg at around 8.28 to the dollar. In a report published on May 17th, America's Treasury Department stopped short of accusing China of currency manipulation, but made clear that sterner stuff could follow, were the peg not changed soon. A day later, in a long-scheduled move, a new foreign-exchange trading system began, allowing Chinese banks to deal in eight currency pairs (seven involving the dollar, plus euro-yen trades). This had been rumoured to be a possible moment to ditch the peg.
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