What’s at Stake in the President Biden-Xi Jinping Meeting

Trying to set a floor under U.S.-China relations Nine months after the Chinese spy balloon controversy sent relations between Washington and Beijing to a new low, President Biden and the Chinese leader, Xi Jinping, will meet this week in San Francisco for face-to-face talks. The summit won’t end the standoff between the world’s biggest economies. But it’s a sign that Biden and Xi want to maintain ties, despite trade tensions, tit-for-tat sanctions and questions about the future of Taiwan — and business leaders will be hoping for some sign of…

Japan and Philippines, Wary of China, Look to Expand Military Ties

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida of Japan said on Friday that his country would start formal talks with the Philippines to allow the deployment of Japanese troops to the Southeast Asian country, further strengthening ties between two countries that have embraced each other as bulwarks against China. “We share serious concerns on the situation in the East China Sea and South China Sea,” Mr. Kishida said, referring to Beijing’s increasingly assertive actions in the region. “The attempt to unilaterally change the status quo by force is unacceptable.” Mr. Kishida’s announcement came…

$100 Oil Could Scramble the Fed’s Efforts to Ease Inflation

What rising oil prices mean for the Fed Crude oil has slipped below the 10-month high it hit on Tuesday. But analysts say the monthslong rally that has sent prices close to $100 a barrel isn’t over, posing a big risk for global growth and complicating central bankers’ efforts to tame inflation. Expect Jay Powell to field plenty of questions about oil prices at his news conference on Wednesday. The crude rally has become a wild card for the Fed chair and other policymakers grappling with high inflation. The Fed…

Apple’s Stock Falls on Reports of a Chinese Government iPhone Ban

Apple’s China conundrum Shares in Apple, the world’s most valuable public company, suffered their biggest single-day fall in a month on Wednesday following a report that China would extend a ban on iPhones for government workers. Any hint that the company’s business in China is under threat would understandably give investors a fright, and its shares are down another 3 percent in premarket trading Thursday morning. But the ripples will be felt more broadly: If one of the most successful operators in the world’s second-largest economy is at risk, can…

Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo Walks a Tightrope in China

What to watch as Raimondo visits China Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo, one of the Biden administration’s biggest Beijing hawks, kicked off her visit to China on Monday with a call to preserve a “stable economic relationship” between the two economic powers that “share over $700 billion of trade.” With relations between the countries at a critical juncture, Ms. Raimondo is now the fourth senior U.S. official to travel to China in less than three months. Her visit, which will include meetings with business leaders and government officials, including her Chinese…

Interest Rate Jitters Sink the Giants of Tech

Market whiplash In the span of a month, the bottom has dropped out of the bull-market rally as investors have come to grips with the prospect of “higher for longer” interest rates worldwide. The sell-off in global stocks and bonds picked up steam on Thursday. And weary market watchers will be looking for more hints on the Fed’s view at next week’s Jackson Hole summit of central bankers and policymakers. Technology stocks have been hit particularly hard. The high-flying FANG+ Index — which comprises the largest tech stocks by market…

What China Isn’t Telling the World About Its Economy

China’s answer to bad news: skip it China released more bad economic news on Tuesday, but it was the number that wasn’t included in the official data dump that stood out: Beijing said it would stop publishing figures for youth unemployment, weeks after it hit a record high of 21.3 percent in June. The decision may be temporary, but it will only make it harder for investors to know what’s happening in the country — and that may be the point. Shares in Hong Kong and Shanghai closed lower again,…

China’s Woes Loom Large Over the Global Markets

What’s behind the August sell-off? Goldman Sachs economists see an end to the Fed’s hawkish policy on interest rates, predicting that the central bank will cut its prime lending rate in the second quarter of next year. But that bullish prediction is doing little to restore investors’ optimism, as concerns mount about consumer confidence and the health of global economy. China’s woes are reverberating. The country, a major engine of growth, has been rocked by a decline in trade, a slowdown in consumer spending, a crackdown on the private sector…

Lessons From a Law Firm’s Decision to Leave China

Doing business in China is getting even harder The Biden administration is expected to announce new restrictions today on investing in China, its latest effort to prevent Beijing from accessing advanced technologies that could be used by its military. The new measures add to the challenges facing the world’s second-largest economy as it faces a post-pandemic slowdown. But they also highlight the growing difficulties for and global companies operating in China, a day after a major Western law firm said it would leave the country. The rules will focus on…

China’s Economy is Slowing, Posing a Challenge for Global Growth

China’s high-quality growth challenge When China finally lifted Covid restrictions last year, policymakers and companies hoped that it would help lift the global economy out of its post-pandemic doldrums. But data released on Monday shows that the hoped-for recovery in the world’s second-biggest economy still hasn’t materialized, raising wider questions about global growth, the implications for international business and China’s dealings with the outside world. Gross domestic product grew just 0.8 percent in the second quarter compared to the first three months of the year, according to official statistics, as…