China stocks hit by margin lending check; off-piste at Davos; Netflix for books

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Shares in China’s biggest securities brokerages tumbled this morning and dragged the broader market down more than 6 per cent after a regulator moved to curb margin lending. (FT)

Margin financing allows investors to borrow money to buy shares and has turbocharged the recent equities rally. The securities regulatory commission banned the country’s three biggest brokerages by assets from opening new margin trading accounts for three months.

In the news:

Ukrainian troops retook Donetsk airport

The area had been lost to rebels in recent weeks but government forces recaptured it yesterday, while thousands marched in Kiev in memory of civilians killed in an attack on a passenger bus. (Reuters)

Banks and Congress attacked Obama’s Wall St tax

The president plans to exploit a rising tide of populism and pump tax raised from banks and rich families into policies likely to be popular with the middle class. But the backlash began before it was even officially announced, and it looks unlikely to pass the Republican-controlled Congress. (FT)

Cold war redux

Middle East turmoil is the biggest threat to European security since the cold war, according to the former head of Britain’s secret intelligence service. Sir John Sawers warned that violent attacks on European soil are both more likely and more difficult to interrupt than ever before. (FT)

Uber tried to make amends

Chief executive Travis Kalanick tried to repair relations in Europe by admitting that a new set of regulations was needed for smartphone taxi apps. He also promised to create 50,000 new jobs on the continent this year. (FT)

A record number of people went to see Pope Francis at an open-air mass in the Philippines yesterday. He drew between 6m and 7m people to Rizal Park in central Manila at the end of a week-long trip to Asia. (FT)

Davos debates:

Oxfam pressure on Davos attendees

The wealthiest 1 per cent will soon own more than the rest of the world’s population put together, according to a report from Oxfam. The charity said it will demand urgent action on inequality at the gathering of the rich and powerful at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (FT, Guardian)

Focus on the middle class

Lawrence Summers calls for Davos-goers to concentrate on middle class living standards: “Nothing is more important to the success of industrial democracies than sustained increases in wages and living standards for working families”. (FT)

It’s a big day for:

British pubs

Greene King reports its Christmas trading figures and analysts expect an uptick in sales, in spite of weak growth in the first half. The report of a sector-wide boost of 4.4 per cent to sales in London bodes well for the group, which has the majority of its pubs in London and the southeast. (FT)

Tennis fans

The first round of the Australian Open started today and the players have been busy shuffling their coaches and entourages round in preparation for the new season. (Guardian liveblog, NYT$)

Food for thought:

The NSA tapped N Korea first – but it didn’t do much good. The early warning radar embedded in North Korea’s computers and networks initially missed the attack. It was only afterwards that the evidence gathered convinced Barack Obama that Pyongyang had hacked Sony. (NYT$)

The Google brain

The company’s ambitions in artificial intelligence mean that it must reproduce the process of human learning. Google scientists discuss their efforts to build a search engine that would know and recognise the world like a human (while also knowing everything in the world in less than half a second). (Medium)

Netflix for books

Publishers appear willing to partner with ebook subscription services run by start-ups, in spite of the dent they would make on their book sales. They’re not attracted by the money, they want the data telling them how people read – and to make sure Amazon doesn’t dominate the sector. (Wired)

Video of the day:

The rise and fall of Rangers

The Scottish football club’s history has often followed the economic and political changes in the United (and disunited) Kingdom. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with The Financial Times. Publication does not imply endorsement of views by the World Economic Forum.

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Author: FirstFT is the Financial Times’ editors curated free daily email of the top global stories from the FT and the best of the rest of the web.

Image: Pedestrians walk under red lanterns in Shanghai, January 24, 2014. REUTERS.