1 Six-month share sale ban for China’s major
share holders (The Guardian) China’s securities regulator has taken the drastic
step of banning shareholders with stakes of more than 5% from selling shares
for the next six months in a bid to halt a plunge in stock prices that is
starting to roil global financial markets.
The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC)
said on Wednesday that it would deal severely with any shareholders who
violated the rule. The prohibition is also seen applying to foreign investors
who hold stakes in Shanghai- or Shenzhen-listed companies, although most of
their holdings are below 5%.
China’s stock markets opened down again Thursday
morning. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 2% while the Shenzhen Component Index
opened down just over 1%. The announcements came after China’s stock market
showed signs of seizing up on Wednesday, as companies scrambled to escape the
rout by having their shares suspended and the CSRC warned of “panic sentiment”
gripping investors.
More than 30% has been knocked off the value of
Chinese shares since mid-June, and for some global investors the fear that
China’s market turmoil will destabilise the real economy is now a bigger risk
than the crisis in Greece. More than 500 China-listed companies announced
trading halts on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges on Wednesday, taking total
suspensions to about 1,300 – 45% of the market or roughly $2.4tn worth of stock
– as companies sought to sit out the carnage.
The plunge in China’s previously booming stock
markets, which had more than doubled in the year to mid-June, is a major
headache for the president, Xi Jinping, and China’s top leaders, who are
already grappling with slowing growth. China’s cabinet said it planned to spend
250bn yuan ($40.3bn) to foster growth in areas of the economy most in need of
support and would accelerate construction of big public services projects.
2 Greece extends bank closures (BBC) The Greek
government has extended bank closures and a €60 (£43; $66) daily limit on ATM
withdrawals until Monday. The curbs were imposed on 28 June, after a deadlock
in bailout talks with creditors led a rush of withdrawals. The European Central
Bank has decided not to increase support for Greek banks until the debt crisis
is resolved.
Greek PM Alexis Tsipras says he will submit
"credible" reform plans on Thursday - ahead of a Sunday deadline by
the EU to find a solution. An emergency summit will involve all 28 EU members -
not just the 19 eurozone countries. European Council President Donald Tusk has
warned that this was now the "most critical moment in the history of the
eurozone".
Greece is desperate for a third bailout to avoid
bankruptcy and possibly crashing out of the euro currency. Greece's last
international bailout programme expired on 30 June and it missed an
International Monetary Fund (IMF) payment. Mr Tsipras criticised previous
bailouts for turning Greece into an "austerity laboratory".
IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde reiterated
that debt restructuring alongside a programme of reforms was the only way
forward for the stricken Greek economy. Greece's creditors - the European
Commission, the European Central Bank and the International Monetary Fund -
have already provided more than €200bn in two bailouts since a rescue plan
began five years ago.
3 Microsoft cuts 7,800 jobs (San Francisco
Chronicle) Microsoft is cutting 7,800 jobs and writing off $7.6 billion in
connection with its purchase of Nokia's phone business, as the giant software
maker tries to narrow its focus and pull back from a series of ill-fated forays
onto rival tech companies' turf.
The cuts come on top of 18,000 jobs that Microsoft
trimmed last year, just months after the company paid $7.3 billion for Nokia in
the hope of expanding its footprint in the smartphone hardware business where
Apple and Samsung are market leaders.
Three years ago, Microsoft wrote off another big
sum, $6.2 billion, on its purchase of digital advertising firm aQuantive.
Microsoft bought aQuantive for $6.3 billion in a bid to increase its role in
the online ad sector that was dominated by the likes of Google and Yahoo.
Both the Nokia and aQuantive deals were engineered
by former CEO Steve Ballmer, who sought to compete against younger, faster-growing
tech companies by expanding beyond Microsoft's original business of making
software for desktop computers.
But Microsoft's new boss, Satya Nadella, has been
pulling back from phone hardware and digital advertising after seeing weak
returns on those ventures. Last month, he announced a deal to hand over most of
Microsoft's remaining display advertising business to AOL Inc.
Wall Street seems to prefer Nadella's strategy of
focusing on software and Internet services. Analysts have said the Nokia
business was a drag on Microsoft's profits. That doesn't mean Microsoft is out
of the woods. The company has struggled to adapt as consumers have increasingly
turned away from personal computers, in favor of smartphones and tablets that
run software made by Apple and Google.
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