Every urban real estate market is different in mainland China, driven by myriad municipal and provincial regulations and the varying strength of local economies. But the outcome is the same: The property market is under serious pressure, the International New York Times reported. Prices for newly constructed housing fell 1 percent to 9 percent in recent months in all 70 mainland cities tracked by the national government, according to data released Thursday. Prices kept falling in November compared with October in all but three cities, where they were unchanged.

Showing classic symptoms of a mania, Chinese investors are borrowing heavily to buy stocks and flipping them quickly, the Financial Times reported in a commentary. On average, they are holding them for barely two weeks, compared with four months in the US. This is just the latest frenzy to hit China and its origins date back to 2008. After the global financial crisis hit, Beijing tried to sustain its growth rate by pouring record amounts of money into the economy.

China has set up a fund to bail out trust firms that run into trouble, putting a safety net under a major portion of the country’s fast-growing shadow-banking sector, which has played a big role in financing riskier areas of the economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The creation of the fund was announced by the China Banking Regulatory Commission and the Ministry of Finance on Friday, on the heels of an insurance program that will soon provide protection for bank deposits.

China is adding more cash to its financial system to spur growth, according to people with knowledge of the matter, even as the country’s leadership expresses a willingness to accept a slower economic pace—what President Xi Jinping has called a “new normal,” The Wall Street Journal reported. China’s central bank is pumping about 400 billion yuan (nearly $65 billion) into the country’s banking system, these people said, as it seeks to help Chinese banks lend money to reinvigorate weakening growth.

Strikes by thousands of teachers frustrated by low salaries and mandatory payments to pension plans have spread across cities in northeast China, state news media reported on Monday, the International New York Times reported. The strikes began last week and now encompass a half-dozen cities or counties surrounding the city of Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang Province, an area of the country where economic growth has long been relatively slow. Classes in some primary and high schools have been suspended, the reports said.

South America’s most economically troubled country, facing fears of a debt default amid tumbling oil prices and a cash crunch, has been thrown a lifeline by its largest lender, China, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Asian giant loosened repayment terms on the nearly $50 billion in loans it has granted Venezuela since 2007, according to Venezuela’s Official Gazette. And President Nicolás Maduro said in a speech last week that his finance minister, Rodolfo Marco, would soon travel to China to try to secure new loans. Mr.

Chains of guarantees, in which companies back loans to other firms, are causing pain for the wider Chinese economy, The Wall Street Journal reported. The central bank cut benchmark lending and deposit rates on Friday to reduce financing costs for companies and help revive growth. Guarantees played a large role in fueling China’s rapid debt expansion over the last six years.

In a related story, China’s central bank said its surprise move to cut interest rates for the first time since 2012 is designed to help small firms and protect depositors instead of all-out monetary easing. How the nation’s lenders respond will determine if it works out that way, Bloomberg News reported. The bulk of bank debt in China is still concentrated on big borrowers, with outstanding credit to small firms less than a third of total loans. The People’s Bank of China’s rate cuts came after months of targeted measures failed to lower financing costs for smaller companies.

South America’s most economically troubled country, facing fears of a debt default amid tumbling oil prices and a cash crunch, has been thrown a lifeline by its largest lender, China, The Wall Street Journal reported. The Asian giant loosened repayment terms on the nearly $50 billion in loans it has granted Venezuela since 2007, according to Venezuela’s Official Gazette. And President Nicolás Maduro said in a speech last week that his finance minister, Rodolfo Marco, would soon travel to China to try to secure new loans. Mr.

China’s central bank is considering changing the way it calculates banks’ loan-to-deposit ratios, a government official briefed on the matter said, signaling efforts to boost credit as the economy falters. Savings that banks hold for non-deposit-taking financial institutions may be classified as deposits, the person said, declining to be identified as he’s not authorized to speak publicly about the matter. Money that banks lent to such institutions would be classified as loans, according to the official. The changes may take effect Jan. 1.