Good morning everyone. While the PBoC continues to blindly reach for anything to support the Shanghai Index, across the pacific, the Fed’s Federal Open Market Committee minutes show a committee divided on optimal rate hike conditions. With the meeting predating the recent turmoils in Greece, Puerto Rico, and China, any hawkishness from its members would have probably been tempered the past few days.
Here’s what else you need to know:
Yen surges as Asian futures trade mixed. With investors cutting risk as much as they can, the Japanese Yen surged against all of its peers, dragging down contracts on the Nikkei at least 0.5% while Hong Kong’s China-tracking Hang Seng China Enterprises Index rallied over 1.9%. Bloomberg
Chinese regulators ban major shareholder stock sales. In its latest attempt to support the SHCOMP, regulators in China have banned large shareholders, corporate executives, and company directors from selling their company’s stock for six months, highlighting the government’s desperation in regaining street cred against the market. Bloomberg (video)
NYSE trading resumes after four-hour glitch. In the middle of a broad selloff, the NYSE was forced to temporarily shutdown trading as a software glitch created issues which affected trading in around 200 stock symbols. WSJ (paywall)
Lagarde, Lew raises the heat on the EU. In the latest twist on the Merkel vs. Tsipras game of chicken, US Treasury secretary Jack Lew and IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde separately urged the EU to restructure Greece’s debt, with Lagarde saying: “Greece is in a situation of acute crisis, which needs to be addressed seriously and promptly.” Financial Times (paywall)
Photo credit: Dennis Jarvis via Flickr