Comrade Xi must’ve chuckled watching the Capitol shutdown from Beijing. What better advert for yuan-denominated stability than a Washington paralysed by its own budget? What more could the renminbi ask for than a dollar so wrapped in domestic dysfunction that it forgets it’s still the world’s reserve currency?

Of course this does not mean that the greenback is crumbling or that the yuan is preparing to ascend to the throne, but still could the world have timed this pivot any better for China?

Just as US economic data feeds were meant to reassure jittery markets, the plug gets pulled. The Bureau of Labor Statistics goes dark, payrolls get delayed, and the Fed is left flying blind into its next decision. Not because of any natural disaster or cyberattack, but because the most powerful government on earth simply can’t agree on paying its bills. That’s not a technical default, sure. But isn’t it functionally worse?

And while the dollar’s franchise suffers another blow, self-inflicted again, the yuan quietly inches up the FX rankings. Bank for International Settlements (BIS) numbers show yuan daily turnover nearing $817 billion, nipping at sterling’s heels. It now accounts for 8.5 percent of global currency trades, up from 7 percent in 2022. The pound, meanwhile, has........

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