Can a commodity index predict global affairs? Chinese netizens think so

This Chinese commodity index has become a base for predicting global trends

A rumour about the spread of French “yellow vest” protests to other European countries went viral on Chinese social media before Christmas.

The story emerged after French president Emmanuel Macron announced a number of concessions to address protesters’ grievances over economic policies. While Macron expected calm and order be restored, the Chinese-fabricated rumor predicted the opposite.

Multiple versions of the story were spread via a number of micro-blogging accounts on Weibo and Wechat, quoting sources from a commodity wholesaler in Yiwu—a city well known as a wholesaling center—who stated that their entire stock of yellow vests in stock was sold