Good afternoon everyone, the Nikkei Average did indeed clip its winning streak today as it closed down 1%. Chinese shares meanwhile had a pretty volatile day, ending with the SHCOMP up 0.2%, Shenzhen up 1%, and the CSI 300 dropping 0.2%. Elsewhere, Hong Kong shares received a battering again as the Hang Seng Index dropped 1.1% to close at 25,254.97.
Here’s what else you should know:
Hank Paulson has a thing or two to teach China. In an op-ed piece for the FT, Hank Paulson, former U.S. Treasury Secretary and Goldman Sachs C.E.O., suggested a few things that China needs to do to in order to achieve “a well functioning and stable capital market.” With Paulson’s history of working alongside the Chinese, I won’t be surprised if they’ll listen to him. Financial Times (paywall)
Mainland business confidence drops to its lowest level in six years. Proving that the market rout didn’t just devastate its participants, the MNI China Business Sentiment gauge fell to 48.8 this month from a 53.3 reading the month before – the lowest the indicator has been since January 2009. SCMP (paywall)
Fund managers still have the hots for Japan. Despite the Nikkei’s 18% climb this year, fund managers are still looking to the island-nation for opportunities. With all the steps corporate Japan is taking, I highly doubt the foreign investor influx will end any time soon. WSJ (paywall)
Currency traders eye BoE minutes. Eager to catch any hints of an early rate hike, currency traders worldwide are on high alert for the Bank of England’s minutes coming out later today. Bloomberg
Blackstone ruined Mother’s day for dozens of bankers. This is hilarious. Blackstone apparently shot an email to some bankers on Mother’s day inviting them to pitch prices for a block trade of Hilton stock, and not only did they have to face the ire of their families, the deal winners ended up holding the bag as Hilton shares toppled the next day. The stock hasn’t recovered since. Bloomberg
Photo credit: chutam via Flickr