(Beijing)

Beijing made a big proclamation yesterday. The country is in the midst of a brutal bear market—its benchmark Shanghai Composite has fallen 27%—but yesterday the government made a big announcement. It said that it would do “whatever it takes” to stop its falling stock market. A large pledge of support came from Xi Jinping himself, which given his grip on power, means that it can likely be counted on. One analyst thinks the bear market might be nearing its end, saying “Bottoming is a process, and we’re starting to see some evidence of reversals and lows taking shape”.

FINSUM: The big x-factor for China is that a trade war and tariffs hurt them much worse than the West, so it is very hard for us to agree that the market rout there is ending.