The resumption of economic activity in China appears to be having a galvanizing effect on oil prices, oil-related exchange traded funds (ETFs) and oil futures. China’s growth is having a ripple effect in other areas, as well.

U.S. economic activity has been slow to recover, but China, the world’s second-largest oil consumer, is once again putting its economy on a path to growth. This growth is having an impact on oil prices. China’s oil refiners  operated at a record rate in June, drawing down crude inventories, though stockpiles are still nearly 10% higher than they were last year, explains Madalina Iacob for The Wall Street Journal.

• United States Oil (USO): up 13.7% year-to-date

Rana Foroohar for Newsweek reports that China may soon surpass Japan economically, and it is only matter of time before they do so politically. Japan, which was once the second-largest economy after the United States, is  nervous about being displaced by China. Japan has only recently emerging from their “lost decade” of the 1990s.

• iShares MSCI Japan (EWJ): up 3.4 year-to-date

Indicators such as China pushing crude oil futures prices higher are reinforcing the other efforts made by China to secure their spot as a world power, second only to the United States.

• iShares FTSE/Xinhua China 25 Index (FXI): up 43.7% year-to-date

• SPDR S&P China (GXC): up 50.7% year-to-date

• PowerShares Golden Dragon Halter USX China (PGJ): up 59.5% year-to-date

For more stories about China, visit our China category.

Tags: Asia, China, Commodity ETFs, Emerging Markets, Energy, EWJ, FXI, Global ETFs, GXC, Japan, Oil, PGJ, USO