On Saturday evening, China’s two stock exchanges — in Shanghai and in the far southern city, Shenzhen — issued notices suspending initial public offerings until further notice even for companies that already had provisional approval to list their shares. (source infra)
As Chinese stocks soared in the 12 months until their peak on June 12, the small- and medium-size companies with weak financial fundamentals fared the best. Many of them quadrupled, or rose even more, in value, while the overall index doubled because large-cap stocks lagged far behind. The small-cap and medium-cap stocks overwhelmingly tended to draw middle-class and working-class investors who were buying whatever stocks were rising fastest. The Shanghai market rose 149 percent in the year until June 12. By comparison, a stock price index of 100 large mainland Chinese companies that are traded in Hong Kong — and many of them in Shanghai, too — rose 24 percent over the same period. (source infra)China's government-controlled Securities Association of China said that 21 big brokerage firms had agreed to set up a fund worth at least 120 billion renminbi, or $19.4 billion, to buy shares in the largest, most stable companies, and to stop selling shares from their own portfolios. But some experts said the moves might not be enough to stop the hemorrhaging of money from the stock market, particularly given that $105 billion in shares changed hands in Shanghai on Friday.--China Moves to Stabilize Stock Markets; Initial Offerings Halted - The New York Times
The world is addicted to fiscal stimulus and central bankers' fiat money, and as a result has too much debt--The Smartest Man is Wild about Innovation: "The whole world is suffering from too much debt. As a result, growth almost everywhere is going to be slow. I know you believe the problem is insufficient demand, but the major industrialized countries already have considerable debt and do not want to add any more to it to stimulate the consumer."
Financial Crisis Events to watch this week:
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