Shanghai police detained one current and two former employees of GroupM, a unit of London-based advertising giant WPP, citing suspicions that they accepted bribes, the Wall Street Journal reported. Late Saturday, the Shanghai police’s economic crimes investigation division said that three suspects at an unnamed advertising company had been detained on criminal charges of accepting bribes as non-public officials. That statement referred to GroupM, according to a person familiar with the matter.

China's troubled property market is showing little signs of a recovery in the short term despite a series of government stimulus measures to help revive activity in the sector which makes up a quarter of the nation's economic output, Reuters reported. Homebuyers, wary of the uncertain economic outlook, have remained on the sidelines, while property developers and agents said sales were still soft following a short-lived burst of activity in major cities like Beijing and Shenzhen.

Country Garden bondholders are seeking urgent talks with the troubled property developer after it missed a $15 million coupon repayment, putting it at risk of default, Reuters reported. Two bondholder groups have emerged seeking discussions about a potential debt restructuring package, with a major one close to appointing either Moelis or PJT as financial advisers, said the sources, who declined to be identified because the information is confidential.

A Country Garden $15 million coupon payment deadline has expired without word of payment, fuelling expectations that China's biggest private property developer has defaulted on its offshore debt as the nation's real estate woes deepen, Reuters reported. Non-payment would trigger cross defaults in other Country Garden bonds as is standard in bond contracts. The company has almost $11 billion of offshore bonds and a default would set the stage for one of China's biggest corporate debt restructurings.

China’s economy showed signs of emerging from a soft patch in the third quarter, as retail sales got a lift from government stimulus and factory activity stabilized after months of weakness, the Wall Street Journal reported. Growth came in at 4.9%, faster than expected by economists though still a decline on a year-on-year basis from the previous quarter. Growth accelerated on quarter-on-quarter terms, which strips out distortions caused by China’s unlocking from Covid lockdowns in 2022. The economy’s performance holds off for now broad fears about a more serious economic crunch.

Country Garden's entire offshore debt will be deemed to be in default if China's largest private property developer fails to make a $15 million coupon payment on Tuesday, the end of a 30-day grace period, Reuters reported. Non-payment of this tranche is set to trigger cross defaults in other bonds as is standard in bond contracts. With nearly $11 billion of offshore bonds and $6 billion of offshore loans, a default by Country Garden would set the stage for one of China's biggest corporate debt restructurings, as the country's property sector crisis deepens and drags on economic growth.

China has told state-owned banks to roll over existing local government debt with longer-term loans at lower interest rates, two sources with knowledge of the matter said, as part of Beijing's efforts to reduce debt risks in a faltering economy, Reuters reported. Debt-laden municipalities represent a major risk to the world's second-largest economy and its financial stability, economists say, amid a deepening property crisis, years of over-investment in infrastructure and huge bills to contain the COVID-19 pandemic.

China’s top leader, Xi Jinping, founded the Belt and Road Initiative a decade ago to use the country’s economic might to enlarge its geopolitical heft and counter the influence of the United States and other industrialized democracies. China has since disbursed close to $1 trillion to mostly developing countries, largely in loans, to build power plants, roads, airports, telecommunications networks and other infrastructure, the New York Times reported. Mr.

China is tightening curbs on short-selling activities as authorities step up efforts to shore up a struggling stock market, Bloomberg News reported. The Securities Regulatory Commission said with effect from Oct. 30, hedge funds wishing to short sell a stock must hold 100% of the value of the transaction in their account while other investors need to have at least 80%. Other rules that came into force Monday restrict lending of shares by strategic investors and senior management and increase the supervision of “various arbitrage activities,” it added in a statement on Saturday.

China's central bank ramped up liquidity support to the banking system as it rolled over medium-term policy loans on Monday, but kept the interest rate unchanged amid concerns about the risk of more sharp yuan declines, Reuters reported. The People's Bank of China (PBOC) is walking a tightrope between keeping liquidity ample to aid a struggling economy and stabilising the yuan amid expectations of "higher for longer" U.S. rates.