China

After a late-September burst of policy announcements about economic revival and a news conference Tuesday to tout them, the Chinese stock-market roller coaster took a plunge on Wednesday. Beijing’s answer: plans for another news conference, the Wall Street Journal reported. This time, officials said that they were going to talk about “intensifying fiscal policy.” Analysts said that unless the message was reassuring, more wild turns were likely to follow.

China said it’s confident in reaching its economic targets this year and promised to further support growth, although it held back in unleashing more major stimulus in a disappointment to investors looking for more fuel for a world-beating stock rally, Bloomberg News reported. Officials in the National Development and Reform Commission, the country’s economic planning agency, said Tuesday they would speed up spending while largely reiterating plans to boost investment and increase direct support for low-income groups and new graduates.

China’s top economic planner will hold a press briefing on Tuesday to discuss a package of policies aimed at boosting economic growth, as investors look for more stimulus measures from President Xi Jinping’s government, Bloomberg News reported. The briefing, which is scheduled to start at 10 a.m., will include five senior officials from the National Development and Reform Commission, including Chairman Zheng Shanjie, according to a notice from the government on Sunday.

The European Union’s decision to impose tariffs on Chinese electric vehicles has moved the focus to how and when Beijing will retaliate for the escalation in its biggest trade dispute with the bloc in years, Bloomberg News reported. While talks continue, crucial clues may lie in the votes cast by individual EU member states on the EV measures last week. Beijing has previously threatened tariffs on EU brandy imports and launched investigations into pork and dairy products in response to the tariffs — offering a range of options that affect different parts of Europe.

The European Union will move ahead with tariffs of up to 45% on electric vehicles made in China, defying pleas from some European auto executives who fear retaliation from Beijing and an escalating trade war, the Wall Street Journal reported. EU member states voted Friday to impose the new import fees that will apply for the next five years in a move aimed at protecting European carmakers amid rising competition from Chinese-made vehicles.

Shares of Chinese property developers rallied most on record after Beijing joined its peers to ease rules for homebuyers, following the Asian nation’s call to stem the property market decline, Bloomberg News reported. A Bloomberg Intelligence gauge of Chinese real estate stocks surged as much as 31% — a record — on Wednesday, following the Monday announcement that the nation’s capital will make it easier for non-residents to buy property in core areas and cut minimum down payment ratios. The index has risen 92% over the last five trading days.

The United States is raising new concerns about China’s practice of making emergency loans to debt-ridden countries, warning that a lack of transparency surrounding such financing can mask the fiscal predicaments facing fragile economies that have turned to China for help, the New York Times reported. A senior Treasury official, Brent Neiman, will publicly air concerns about the practice on Tuesday during a speech in which he will urge the International Monetary Fund to push China for greater clarity about its lending terms.

Top Chinese cities Shanghai and Shenzhen are planning to lift key remaining restrictions on home purchases to attract potential buyers and shore up their flagging real estate markets, four sources with knowledge of the matter said, Reuters reported. Under the planned changes, potential buyers will no longer have to be vetted for eligibility and people from other places in China will be allowed to buy homes in the popular cities, which had been previously tightly controlled due to worries about excess speculation.