Rolling coverage of the latest economic and financial news
- WSJ: China may ban companies with large amounts of sensitive consumer data from US floats
- New rules could thwart China tech firms from listing in the U.S.
- Markets await Jackson Hole symposium
- Furlough ‘cliff edge’ at Liberty Steel could put jobs at risk
9.07am BST
We also have data showing that profits at China’s factories have slowed for the fifth month running, indicating that its recovery may be fading.
China’s industrial profits rose 16.4% year-on-year in July, down from 20% in June.
#China‘s #industrial profits in Jul rose 16.4% y/y, up 39.2% from the same period in 2019, leaving the two-year growth at 18%, 2.3 percentage points faster than that in June, said National Bureau of Statistics. pic.twitter.com/thTkJfyreC
The profitability of more than 70% of the surveyed industries exceeded the pre-pandemic level, said Zhu Hong, an economist with China’s statistics bureau.
The profit growth of the pharmaceutical manufacturing industry improved significantly as demand for medical supplies and vaccines increased, Zhu said.
8.57am BST
China is also introducing new data security laws to tighten up how companies use confidential data…. and some lawyers fear firms could fall foul of them by mistake.
The Data Security Law (DSL), which will take effect on September 1, 2021, aims to regulate a range of “data activities”, including safeguarding data security, protecting individuals, and safeguarding state sovereignty and security.
For example, the law says only that companies looking to transfer “important data” overseas must perform a security assessment each time.
“There is no list, there is no annex, there are no examples,” says Nicolas Bahmanyar, senior consultant at Beijing-based law firm LEAF. “So we’re a little bit in the dark here.”
China’s coming data laws leave firms with more questions than answers https://t.co/G4xbVo2b33 pic.twitter.com/s0Fg6Stxw5
Continue reading…