Rising Treasury yields, trade-war concerns and Chinese defaults have wiped out $45 billion since the start of the year in the market value of dollar notes sold by Asian and international borrowers, according to Singapore-based BondEvalue. “High net-worth investors not only saw great losses in their leveraged positions, but also faced difficulties in selling off bonds to cut their losses,” said the firm, which provides bond services to private banks, in a note released earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported.

China’s development banks — the biggest lenders in the sector worldwide — are ramping up co-operation with overseas financial institutions after problems with their international investment projects, the Financial Times reported. The China Development Bank (CDB) and the Export-Import Bank of China (Ex-Im Bank) are seeking to spread the burden of funding international projects, officials and executives said.

On the surface, China’s economy is humming along smoothly. It’s the numbers behind the numbers that point to mounting challenges for the world’s other economic superpower, the International New York Times reported. The Chinese government on Monday reported that the economy grew 6.7 percent in the three months that ended in June compared with a year ago. That is pretty close to the rate that China has reported quarter after quarter over the past two and a half years. The pace puts it comfortably within its target of achieving growth of around 6.5 percent for the full year.

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.

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.

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 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.

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.

Shanghai-listed energy and petrochemical group Wintime Energy defaulted on a bond payment on Thursday, putting $3.9bn in oustanding bonds at risk, the Financial Times reported. Chinese bond defaults have accelerated this year, leading to widening credit spreads in both the onshore renminbi and offshore US dollar bond markets.  Wintime missed payment on an Rmb1.5bn one-year commercial paper that matured on Thursday, according to Shanghai Clearing House. Wintime has the equivalent of $3.9bn in bonds outstanding, according to Thomson Reuters data.