China is letting up on its drive to keep a lid on debt growth as it faces a softening economy at home and escalating trade tensions with the U.S., The Wall Street Journal reported. Senior Chinese leaders led by President Xi Jinping have been sending unmistakable signals that the campaign to rein in financial risk isn’t the overriding priority it has been.

A record pace of defaults in China has triggered greater application of safeguards to local bonds, a silver lining for investors looking for some protection, Bloomberg News reported. The ratio of domestic bonds with a cross-default covenant, which puts a borrower in default of other debt if it fails payment on one bond, has surged to 82 percent of all company notes sold this year. That’s up from almost zero five years ago.

Global mining giants Freeport-McMoRan Inc. and Rio Tinto PLC have agreed to hand over control of the world’s second-biggest copper mine to Indonesia, moving closer to resolving one of the world’s most prominent recent battles over resource wealth, The Wall Street Journal reported. Thursday’s agreement comes after years of tense negotiations and follows moves by governments around the world, from the Democratic Republic of Congo to Tanzania, to wrest control of mines and take a bigger cut of profits.

Airbus faces a logjam of undelivered A330 jets worth well over $1 billion for airlines affiliated to China's debt-laden HNA Group following a stand-off over late payments, according to industry sources and a Reuters examination of parked aircraft, the International New York Times reported on a Reuters story. Companies belonging to the troubled Chinese aviation-to-finance conglomerate have delayed payments for several months, leading Airbus to withdraw deliveries rather than step in to finance the aircraft itself, the sources told Reuters.

Confronted with a plunging lira, Turkey’s central bank last month urged the general public to borrow in the currency in which they are paid. That warning came too late for the country’s energy companies, Bloomberg News reported. Turkish power producers are emerging as one of the biggest risks to the nation’s banks after they plowed billions of dollars into new power generation, distribution projects and deals over the past 15 years.

Asian stocks extended a global rally, with a weaker yen helping Japan’s Nikkei close up 0.7%. Benchmarks in Hong Kong, South Korea, Indonesia and Singapore also rose, The Wall Street Journal reported. However, indexes in mainland China were little changed, after large gains Monday helped temper a recent rout. China’s developers have enjoyed years of robust growth, expanding aggressively to take advantage of cheap debt and a housing boom.

Almost one million Australian homeowners are set to default on their mortgages in the coming months, an independent analyst warns. Digital Finance Analytics principal Martin North explained that if the big four banks do go ahead and increase their standard variable rates by as little as 0.15 percentage points over the next few months, homeowners could default, the Daily Mail reported. A number of Australian banks have already begun the process of raising their interest rates, ABC News reported.

Foreign investors are zeroing in on health-care and consumer stocks and ditching some old favorites, as they sift through the spoils of a $2 trillion selloff in China’s equity market, Bloomberg News reported. Companies exposed to China’s growing middle class and resilient to external turbulence like the trade fight are popular picks for foreigners investing via trading links with Hong Kong. Liquor maker Kweichow Moutai Co., Han’s Laser Technology Industry Group Co. and Jiangsu Hengrui Medicine Co. are among those in demand, while Gree Electric Appliances Inc.

Asian bond investors reduced positions in June to the most underweight levels ever for the regional asset class, based on survey data by Bank of America Merrill Lynch, stretching back to 2009. Investors see China’s liquidity tightening and domestic bond defaults as the top two risks for the Asian credit market, followed by fund outflows, Bloomberg News reported. They cut Asian bond holdings to 24 percent net underweight in June from negative 13 percent in March as they raised cash levels and reduced risks, the survey, which was conducted from June 25-29, showed.

China Huarong Asset Management Co., the state-owned bad-debt manager whose former chairman has been embroiled in a graft probe, plans to restructure its overseas operations in a bid to cut costs, people with knowledge of the matter said, Bloomberg News reported. The company is targeting reductions of more than 50 percent in staff-related costs at its businesses in Hong Kong and other markets outside China, according to two of the people. Options being discussed involve cutting jobs and pay, said one of the people, who asked to remain anonymous discussing confidential information.