Chinese stocks gyrate after rate cut, worst year for trade since crisis, and the new banking landscape

The daily briefing “FirstFT” from the Financial Times.

Yesterday’s fresh salvo of easing measures from the People’s Bank of China resulted in sharp swings in stock prices on Wednesday morning, with the Shanghai Composite dropping as much as 2.3 per cent in the opening minutes of trade.

China’s central bank cut interest rates on Tuesday evening and said it would pump liquidity into the banking sector in a bid to support the slowing economy and stem a slump in share prices that has alarmed global investors. (FT)

In the news

Malaysian PM ‘has to go’ As Najib Razak struggles to keep his head above water amid an escalating scandal surrounding a nearly $700m payment, the country’s influential former leader Mahathir Mohamad has launched a stinging attack. “At some stage he has to go,” he told the FT in an exclusive interview. (FT)

Questions over Li’s future Turmoil in Chinese financial markets, which has since spilled over across the emerging and developed world, has shaken the ruling Communist party and left prime minister Li Keqiang fighting for his political future , analysts and people familiar with the internal workings of the party say. (FT)

Worst year for trade since crisis World trade in the first half of this year contracted at its fastest pace since the financial crisis, underlining fears that global growth is sputtering, according to Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, keepers of the World Trade Monitor. (FT)

Ashley Madison sued The bad news keeps coming for adultery website Ashley Madison. Following a cyber attack last week that saw a glut of customer data leaked on to the internet,the company is being sued for “unfair, unreasonable and inadequate data security” and exposing users’ personal and embarrassing information to the public. (FT)

Hepatitis C drug push Healthcare experts in the US are urging the government to widen access to hepatitis C drugs that are effective but remain too expensive for many Americans. The drugs in question, including Solvadi and Harvoni, can cost over $80,000 for a series of treatments. (NYT)

It’s a big day for

Oil As prices continue to languish, investors will be keeping an eye on crude stockpile and production data due from the US Energy Information Administration. Economists estimate that inventories of US crude increased by 2m barrels in the week to August 21.

WPP The world’s largest marketing services group is reporting its half-year results at a time when an unprecedented number of big brands such as Volkswagen and Mondelez are reviewing which media agencies to hire to spend their advertising budgets. (FT)

Food for thought

Why China worries make sense Recent events matter because they suggest Chinese authorities have not yet got a handle on difficult economic reforms. “Maybe, Mr Market has grasped how difficult this is going to be and so how destabilising some of the options the Chinese might choose actually are,” says the FT’s Martin Wolf. (FT)

The new banking landscape Restructuring at the world’s biggest lenders has left them with investment banks that are far smaller and have very little in common with each other. Private banking and wealth management have replaced investment banking divisions as the big profit centres in some global banks, while others are repositioning themselves as domestic lenders. (FT)

Uber tests new service The start-up is putting its ride-sharing credentials to the test by experimenting with a new feature – “Smart Routes” – that allows customers to share a trip with another traveller in exchange for a reduction in the fare. (Slate)

Robots for colleagues It may sound like a dystopian future but robots will soon be taking over millions of jobs. But before then, employees are going to have to learn to work alongsidethem – and companies are going to have to get to grips with how to integrate the machines into the workforce. (WSJ)

Hawking on black holes Physicist Stephen Hawking believes he has solved a long-running mystery, with a new theory on how information escapes black holes. Data is stored at the boundaries of black holes – not inside them – and can be contained in radiation emitted from the abyss, he said. (WaPo)

Video of the day

An ex-cat bounce John Authers reports from New York where a feeble “dead cat bounce” in the stock market gave way to a fresh sell-off , and traders even started to talk about “QE4” from the Federal Reserve. (FT)

This article is published in collaboration with FirstFT. 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: A man rides an escalator near Shanghai Tower. REUTERS/Carlos Barria