HONG KONG FLASHPOINTS 

Week 18: Thousands of pro-democracy protestors continued taking to the streets the weekend of 5 October in Hong Kong.

Reacting to a new law against wearing masks in public, so authorities can facially recognize the opposition, the protest movements have become increasingly violent. Their actions have resulted in disrupting the transportation, closing of most of its subway system, and the vandalizing of Chinese-owned banks and stores. 

TREND FORECAST: Clear and simple, a significant percentage of the people of Hong Kong do not want to live under Communist China’s rulebook, and many will put their lives on the line.

Should the Chinese government brutally crack down using the military force of the People’s Liberation Army and impose harsher measures than the colonial-era emergency powers now in effect, it risks losing Hong Kong’s status as the financial hub to Asia.

Investors already have moved gold and other financial assets to safer-haven nations. And, with a global economic slowdown already underway, should Hong Kong explode in violence, it not only will crash the Hang Seng Index, it will bring down China’s Shanghai Index as well.