China rattled markets around the world last year when vast sums of money began flowing out of the country. Estimated at nearly $1 trillion, the money flows represented growing skepticism that China would be able to fix its deep problems and resume its place as a driver of global economic growth. Doubts remain about Beijing’s ability to rev up slowing growth and patch up its frayed financial system. But new data suggests China has stanched, at least for now, the flow of money that had been pouring out of the country, the International New York Times reported.

Australia’s government has been dealt a political blow ahead of a knife-edge election, with thousands of jobs plunged into doubt after the country’s second-biggest steelmaker went into administration, the Financial Times reported. The troubles at Arrium have helped push the ruling Liberal-National coalition behind the opposition Labor party in the polls for the first time since Malcolm Turnbull became prime minister in September.

When it comes to analyzing China's economy, few topics polarize views like the nation's debt levels, Bloomberg News reported. By some accounts, borrowing is out of control and has the country teetering on the edge of a crisis. Others point to the nation's long list of assets, which can more than offset any funding crunch. An example of the opposing views was on display when two separate April 5 research reports each cited the risk of a "Minsky moment" (a collapse in asset prices following the exhaustion of credit expansion) but both came to very different conclusions.

Southeast Asia’s central bankers and finance ministers pushed plans Monday to better link their economies as one of the world’s fastest-growing regions works to buffer itself from a prolonged China slowdown, uneasiness over U.S. interest rates and political drama in several countries, The Wall Street Journal reported. The region of 620 million people has been hit hard by weaker demand from China, where economists say growth will slow further as the world’s second largest economy shifts to a more sustainable growth model.

Standard & Poor’s, the ratings agency, has cut its outlook on China’s government credit to ‘negative’ from ‘stable’ as it believes rebalancing of the world’s second largest economy would take place more slowly than expected, the Irish Times reported. China’s credit rating is AA- with a negative outlook, S&P said on its website. The agency also affirmed the long-term and A-1+ short-term sovereign credit ratings for China.

Prime Minister David Cameron faced a new economic and political challenge on Wednesday after the Indian owner of much of Britain’s steel industry said it could no longer swallow the large losses being generated by its plants and would try to sell them, the International New York Times reported. The owner of the plants, Tata Steel, has been squeezed by cheap imports of Chinese steel into Europe, and its announcement suggested that if no buyer could be found it would consider closing them, endangering at least 15,000 jobs.

A thrifty Asian powerhouse saves and invests its way to economic stardom, inspiring admiration and paranoia in the rich world. The powerhouse begins to lose momentum, driving its corporations to switch their investment appetites towards assets abroad. But, lacking worldly experience, the corporations bungle. Billions in hard-earned national savings disappear down a black hole.

McAleese has started exclusive negotiations with Hong Kong-based hedge fund SC Lowy over a financial restructuring and extended its trading suspension for another month, The Sydney Morning Herald reported. The troubled transport group received three indicative proposals from financial groups prepared to help fund a debt restructure, but has given SC Lowy exclusive negotiating rights until April 15. McAleese' net debt rose to $188 million in the six months to December compared with $170.5 million a year earlier and the company has a "current asset deficiency" of $163.2 million.

China’s economic collapse no longer seems imminent. The Wall Street hedge funds who bet against the Chinese currency have taken heavy losses and battered stock markets are stabilizing, The Wall Street Journal reported. In fact, collapse was never in the cards. Over the short term, as Beijing has demonstrated, it has enough financial firepower left to fight off threats to stability and prevent the economy from stalling. It’s time to worry about something much more likely: political failure.

High on the Chinese government’s priority list is building leaner, more competitive state companies, The Wall Street Journal reported. But the dismal earnings reported by national oil giants in recent days underscore the difficulties in meeting that goal. These companies are maintaining large workforces even as Western peers continue to slash payrolls in response to the collapse in oil prices. The listed units of China’s big three oil companies reported sharply lower earnings for 2015.