Could The Falling Yuan Be A Good Thing?

Last week, the People's Bank Of China allowed the yuan to fall sharply, causing chaos in share markets and drawing criticism from multi-nationals who said the move would hurt their businesses. Investors took notice of the sharply lower Chinese currency and abandoned firms who have a large market in China. However, while the yuan's fall may seem like a devastating blow,

there could be a silver lining.

Companies like

suffered major losses after the yuan tanked. The company's shares lost around 5 percent following the PBOC's decision, the biggest decline for Apple since January 2014. European car makers with a large interest in China like BMW AG were also dealt a blow by the weakening yen as investors worried that the new exchange rate would make their products too expensive for the Chinese population.

But the yuan's fall wasn't bad for everyone. Companies that import from China may have been cheering the event as it will lower their costs and make their operations more profitable. One such company is

, whose shares gained 1.59 percent between August 10 and August 14. The wholesaler imports a huge percentage of its stock from China, so the yuan's loss was Wal-Mart's gain. However some analysts believe that the yuan's devaluation could be a positive for most multinationals in the long run. China's sputtering economy has been bad for business and if a lower yuan helps to revive the nation's economy, it will eventually become a positive for companies whose sales come from China.