Good Morning. Welcome to The Wire’s daily news roundup. Each day, our staff gathers the top China business, finance, and economics headlines from a selection of the world’s leading news organizations.
The Wall Street Journal
- U.S. Executives Who Left China Amid Pandemic Are Stuck Abroad—and May Never Return — Thousands of China-based U.S. and other foreign business executives remain stranded outside the country due to coronavirus-related travel restrictions, leading some to give up hope of returning and posing operational challenges for their companies.
- The Fed Helps Put High-Yield in High Gear; Alarm Animates Fed Commentary on Fiscal Policy — Buyers of junk-rated corporate bonds aren’t taking vacation this summer. They’re staying busy, in part thanks to the Federal Reserve’s bond-buying, announced in spring as part of a larger $2.3 trillion economic-rescue package aimed at stabilizing the markets.
- China Is on a Diet, but Food Shares Look Tasty — President Xi is urging citizens to conserve food as prices rise. An extra helping of food shares, however, might improve investors’ financial health.
- In a U.S.-China Tech Divorce, Businesses Would Have to Pick Sides — The technology industries of the U.S. and China are in some ways deeply intertwined and in others remarkably separate. The latest actions on the part of the U.S. aim to sever what ties remain.
The Financial Times
- Geely Auto slashes sales target as profits plunge — Ambitious Chinese owner of Volvo Cars hit by slow pace of pandemic recovery in home market.
- US stocks set to take aim at record high as futures tick up — Chinese shares climb after central bank injects cash.
- The decoupling of the US and China has only just begun — Business logic has been displaced by strategic rivalry.
- Chinese banks woo overseas asset managers — Moves follow last year’s decision to allow foreign managers majority stakes in joint ventures.
- China and Russia ditch dollar in move towards ‘financial alliance’ — Greenback’s share of neighbours’ trade falls below 50% for first time.
- ByteDance faces China backlash as Trump piles pressure on TikTok — Analysts say Chinese internet group wary of being seen to bow to Washington over sale.
- Fund groups urged to rebuke China over Hong Kong crackdown — Asset managers should hold Asian giant to account, according to UK politicians.
- Trump signals he has more Chinese companies in his sights — US president says he is ‘looking at’ further punitive measures against other groups, including Alibaba.
- Chinese banks’ Hong Kong ranks on track to outnumber global rivals — Mainland lenders boost headcount as city’s troubles slow expansion by international groups.
The New York Times
- As Relations With U.S. Sink, China Tones Down ‘Hotheaded’ Nationalism — Beijing is dialing down its belligerence to avoid provocative moves that might give President Trump more opportunities to attack ahead of the November election.
Caixin
- China Wants to Make the Yuan Easier to Use in Cross-Border Trade, Investment — New central bank report says currency’s share of the foreign exchange trading market rose to 4.3% last year, and ranked fifth globally as a payment currency.
- Cover Story: How China Prevented a Local Bank Crisis From Snowballing — Failed Tomorrow Holding bank with $32 billion black hole threatened to set off chain reaction through China’s financial system; ‘from top to bottom, the institution was completely rotten’.
- Ant Group Picks Advisers to Move a Step Closer to Blockbuster IPO — CICC and CSC Financial will advise on domestic listing as parent of Alipay gets set to raise as much as $30 billion with concurrent listings in Shanghai and Hong Kong.
- Shenzhen Boasts World’s Biggest 5G Network — Southern Chinese city’s network has more 5G stations per person than any other city worldwide, mayor says.
- In-Depth: China Creates New Memory Chip Champ, but Will Customers Come? — ChangXin is one of China’s few homegrown chip makers to bring a new product to market. But finding big-name customers may take time, experts say.
- Trump Orders Sale of TikTok’s U.S. Assets Within 90 Days — President says in Friday order that short-video app’s Chinese parent might pose national security threat.
- In Depth: China’s Tech Giants Caught Between Tightening Scrutiny at Home and Abroad — While hostility is growing from overseas regulators, there are signs the domestic antimonopoly body may start to intervene in the sector.
- Trip.com and JD Group Join Forces to Take Advantage of Post-Pandemic Travel Opportunities — Trip.com, China’s biggest online travel agency, announced a partnership with JD Group that will allow the two companies to share online traffic and resources, following signs that travel is picking up as China brings the pandemic under control.
South China Morning Post
- Competition heats up as Hong Kong developers take on mainland Chinese rivals to buy land next to bay area’s high-speed railway stations — Land adjacent to railway stations in the Greater Bay Area may become a battlefield for Hong Kong developers as rental income and capital appreciation from properties close to transport links are likely to generate big returns, according to property executives and agents.
- China’s yuan continues to grow as an international currency, central bank says — China’s central bank said it expects more countries to accept the yuan for cross-border payments and settlements amid growing concerns about the country’s high exposure to the US dollar.
- Chinese tech giants face mounting pressure from the US government – will Baidu and Alibaba be next to get hit? — First it was Huawei and TikTok. Now the Chinese triumvirate known as BAT – Baidu, Alibaba and Tencent – is being pulled into the decoupling drama playing out in Washington amid the escalating tech war between the world’s two largest economies.
- Xiaomi CEO’s live-streaming debut gets more than 50 million viewers, US$30 million in sales — Lei Jun, founder and chief executive of Chinese smartphone giant Xiaomi Corp, made a successful live-streaming debut on popular short video platform Douyin on Sunday, reaching more than 50 million viewers and ringing up 210 million yuan (US$30 million) in smartphone and television sales.
- Japan moves to secure rare earths to reduce dependence on China — Japan is moving to increase its stockpiles of rare earth minerals and will help domestic companies to obtain stakes in overseas mines and the ability to process raw materials into the valuable minerals required for next-generation vehicles, communications equipment and other cutting-edge technologies.
- Chinese business leaders urge country to keep thinking global — China should resist anti-globalisation sentiment and promote international cooperation, Chinese business leaders have said.
- Huarong corruption scandal underscores governance failures at China’s financial institutions — The details of the massive financial corruption by Lai Xiaomin, the former chairman of a major state-owned asset management company, are truly jaw-dropping even by Chinese standards.
- United Airlines cabin crew in Hong Kong in last-ditch effort to save their jobs, as carrier mulls mass lay-offs — United Airlines’ flight attendants union will head to expedited arbitration with the company next week in a last-ditch effort to stop some 689 non-US based cabin crew, including 230 in Hong Kong, from losing their jobs on October 1.
- Hong Kong payment card provider Octopus appoints MTR official to drive growth — Octopus Holdings is to appoint a senior official from Hong Kong rail giant the MTR Corporation as its new CEO to drive growth amid punishing competition.
- China drought, heavy rains spark concern over grain supply as Xi Jinping launches campaign against food waste — Standing amid his sodden field sown with peanuts, Wang Wei pulls a clump of green leaves from the mud and frowns as he looks at the tiny, underdeveloped pods at the base of the plant.
- Coronavirus: Hong Kong financial secretary warns against depleting city’s coffers amid pandemic, as market vendors call for aid — Financial Secretary Paul Chan Mo-po has warned against digging too deep into Hong Kong’s financial reserve in the face of a protracted fight against the coronavirus, just as wet market vendors complained many of them had been left out of previous rounds of subsidies.
Bloomberg
- U.S. Announces New Curbs on Huawei Access to U.S. Technology — The Commerce Department announced further restrictions on Huawei Technologies Co. aimed at cutting the Chinese company’s access to commercially available chips, the latest move in an increasingly tense relationship between Beijing and Washington.
- JD.com Revenue Jumps, Hillhouse Makes Health Investment — JD.com reported second-quarter revenue that exceeded estimates, alongside an investment from Hillhouse Capital, after China’s second-biggest online retailer benefited from an increase in spending on its online marketplaces.
- China DNA Firm Unit Is Said to Consider $1 Billion Shanghai IPO — BGI Group, the world’s biggest DNA-sequencing company, is considering an initial public offering of its equipment unit on Shanghai’s Star board as early as this year, people with knowledge of the matter said.
- Rogoff Says Housing Market Poses Rising Risk for China’s Economy — China’s real estate sector may have peaked and will likely become a drag on growth during economic shocks such as the current pandemic, a recent report co-authored by Kenneth Rogoff argues.
- India Ban on $47 Billion Arms Imports Sowing Uncertainty — India’s move to ban the import of certain weapon systems will do little to boost local manufacturing and is sowing uncertainty at a time when the South Asian nation is trying to ramp up defenses on its restive borders with China and Pakistan, according to analysts.
- China’s Loss May Be India’s Gain in Shifting Supply Chains — India’s latest set of incentives to entice businesses moving away from China seem to be working, with companies from Samsung Electronics Co. to Apple Inc.’s assembly partners showing interest in investing in the South Asian nation.
- China Traders Ready for Stock Limits to Double Next Week — Stocks on China’s Nasdaq-like ChiNext board will be allowed to rise or fall 20% as of next week when the first batch of listings under revamped rules start trading.
- China Stocks Rally Near Two-Year High on PBOC’s Easing Signal — China’s move to pump cash into its banking system has fueled bets monetary policy will remain loose, driving the benchmark gauge near its highest level in more than two years.
- China Feasts on Obscure Oil to Dodge Taxman Amid Demand Gain — A flotilla of tankers plying the waters between China and South Korea has been hauling unusually large volumes of a lesser-known fuel called light-cycle oil — or LCO — to Asia’s biggest crude consumer.
- Tesla China Registrations Slow as Competition Heats Up — Registrations of locally made Tesla Inc. vehicles in China fell in July from the previous month as competition intensified in the world’s largest electric-car market.
- Volvo Owner’s China Business Posts 43% Profit Drop on Virus — Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd., the Chinese automaker controlled by Volvo Cars owner Li Shufu, reported a 43% drop in first-half profit after the coronavirus outbreak shuttered factories and decimated demand.
- PBOC Adds Cash to Ease Liquidity Stress With Rate Unchanged — China’s central bank supplied liquidity to commercial lenders on Monday to help them manage upcoming government bond sales, while leaving the price of the money unchanged as the economy recovers.
- China’s Bank Regulator Warns Dollar Dominance Is Seed of Crisis — China’s top banking watchdog cautioned that U.S. dollar dominance combined with the massive stimulus unleashed by the Federal Reserve could push the world to the edge of another financial crisis.
- China Evergrande Shares Slump as Virus, Discounts Slash Profit — China Evergrande Group shares plunged the most in five months after the nation’s second-largest listed developer said the coronavirus pandemic and subsequent discounting to kickstart apartment sales slashed earnings.
- MissFresh Expects 50-80% Growth for Three Years — Chinese online grocer MissFresh is expecting 50 to 80-percent growth for the next three years, as it plans a rapid expansion across China. The delivery startup backed by Tencent and Goldman Sachs raised close to half a billion dollars in its latest funding round. Chief Financial Officer Wang Jun spoke exclusively to Bloomberg’s Tom Mackenzie in Beijing. (Source: Bloomberg)
- Hong Kong Exchange Proves Safe Bet in City’s Turbulent Times — A top bet this year on Hong Kong’s stock exchange is the Hong Kong stock exchange.
- Western Investors Are Misreading China’s Markets — Outsiders are leaving money on the table by persisting in seeing the country as simply another big emerging market.
- Investing News: How Traders Buy U.S. Stocks From China — Traders are being drawn by global brands like Apple and Tesla, as well as local names such as Pinduoduo and Bilibili.
Reuters
- China’s JD.com reports quarterly revenue above estimates — China’s JD.com Inc beat analysts’ estimates for quarterly revenue on Monday, as more customers used its online platform to shop for groceries and other essentials in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic.
- As U.S. targets China tech, TikTok rival Bigo shifts servers from Hong Kong — BIGO Technology, a smaller rival of embattled Chinese appmaker ByteDance, is shifting servers from Hong Kong to Singapore, out of the reach of a new national security law at a time when it is seeking to emphasise independence from its Chinese parent.
- China’s chicken production continues to surge, reducing appetite for imports — China’s chicken producers are pushing ahead with aggressive expansion plans despite a slump in demand due to the coronavirus, reducing reliance on imports amid recent fears about the safety of foreign meat.
- China grants country’s first COVID-19 vaccine patent to CanSino: state media — China’s vaccine specialist CanSino Biologics Inc has won a patent approval from Beijing for its COVID-19 vaccine candidate Ad5-nCOV, state media reported, citing documents from the country’s intellectual property regulator.
- China’s Geely Automobile trims full-year sales outlook after profit plunge — Geely Automobile Holdings Ltd on Monday booked a 43% drop in half-year profit and trimmed its full-year sales goal, sending its shares down 4%, as the coronavirus outbreak continues to trouble the world’s biggest auto market.
- China approves 11 fixed-asset investment projects worth $5.5 billion in July — China’s top economic planner, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), said it approved 11 fixed-asset investment projects worth 38.2 billion yuan ($5.50 billion) in July.
- China central bank injects 700 billion yuan of MLF loans, rates steady for fourth month — China’s central bank on Monday rolled over maturing medium-term loans while keeping borrowing costs unchanged for the fourth straight month.
- China must guard against rebound in shadow lending: regulator — China must guard against any rebound in off-balance sheet lending in the so-called shadow banking sector, and must dispose of non-performing assets as soon as possible, the head of the country’s banking and insurance regulator said on Sunday.
- China’s CATL is developing new EV battery with no nickel, cobalt, exec says — China’s Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd (CATL), a Tesla supplier, is developing a new type of electric vehicle (EV) battery that contains no nickel or cobalt, a company executive said on Saturday.
Xinhua
- Interview: Chinese industrial economy’s fundamentals remain sound despite COVID-19 — The sound fundamentals backing China’s industrial economy has remained intact despite the impact of COVID-19, but efforts must be made to combat challenges and make up for the losses, a senior industrial official has said.
- China’s crude oil output up 0.6 pct in July — China’s crude oil output edged up 0.6 percent year on year to 16.46 million tonnes in July, slightly retreating from an increase of 0.7 percent registered in June, official data showed.
- China’s mobile phone shipments reach 22.3 mln units in July — China’s mobile phone shipments stood at 22.3 million units in July, down 34.8 percent year on year, data from the China Academy of Information and Communications Technology (CAICT) shows.
- China greenlights five ChiNext IPOs — China’s top securities regulator has approved the registration for the initial public offerings (IPOs) of five companies on the ChiNext, China’s Nasdaq-style board of growth enterprises.
- China’s NEV storage battery output surges in July — China’s output of storage batteries to power new energy vehicles (NEV) edged up by 6.4 percent year on year in July, rebounding from a 16.2-percent decrease in June, industry data showed.
- China’s power generation up 1.9 pct in July — China’s major power plants generated 680.1 billion kilowatt-hours of power in July, up 1.9 percent year on year, data showed.
- China’s natural gas output up 4.8 pct in July — China saw slower growth in natural gas output last month, according to official data.
- China’s power use grows steadily in July — China’s electricity consumption, a key barometer of economic activity, grew 2.3 percent year on year in July due to the accelerated resumption of businesses, data from the National Energy Administration showed.
- East China’s Anhui posts 10.9 pct increase in foreign trade in Jan.-July — Foreign trade of east China’s Anhui Province rose 10.9 percent to 296.25 billion yuan (about 42.62 billion U.S. dollars) in the first seven months of this year, customs data showed.
- Foton Motor makes headway in Internet of Vehicles — Beijing-headquartered commercial vehicle manufacturer Foton Motor said it has access to more than 1.1 million automobiles on its platform of Internet of Vehicles (IoV).
- China Mobile reports mild revenue growth in H1 — China Mobile, the country’s leading telecom operator, reported slightly higher operating revenue in the first half of this year.
Other Publications
- Defense News: China’s industry reaps the benefits of political connections, international trade — Overall, eight Chinese state-owned defense companies made it into this year’s Top 100 ranking of defense companies around the world, including China’s two largest shipbuilding conglomerates.
- The Guardian: Truss leads China hawks trying to derail TikTok’s London HQ plan — A last-ditch attempt to prevent the UK government from endorsing TikTok’s plans to locate its headquarters in London is being mounted by China hawks who accuse the app’s parent company of cooperating with authorities in Xinjiang province.
