But the easing of trade tensions is no longer a driving force behind U.S. stock market’s 17 percent increase or China’s 30 percent gain this year (through Friday). Considering the universe of U.S. public companies has been shrinking since the 1990s, it’s little surprise that this turnaround has helped to heat up the market. It has a point: Total social financing jumped to 8.2 trillion yuan ($1.2 trillion) in the first quarter, from 5.9 trillion yuan a year earlier. Chinese stock investors have been plagued by negative factors such as heavy insider selling and goodwill impairments. Last year, Shenzhen-listed companies wrote down a whopping 359 billion yuan of assets, 72 percent more than in 2017.

Source: Washington Post May 06, 2019 04:52 UTC