The Chinese economic miracle is in trouble but the jury is out as to whether a soft landing or a hard landing will ensue, writes Jeffery Frankel

Starbucks plans to accelerate its expansion in China, shrugging off concerns about a slowdown in the coffee chain’s second-largest market behind the US and a potential further depreciation of the yuan.

China has seen nearly $1 trillion (€915 billion) in capital leave the nation since the second quarter of 2014, and according to analysts at JPMorgan Chase, the sky’s the limit for outflows going forward.

China’s first official economic report of the year suggested manufacturing weakened for a fifth straight month in December, the longest such streak since 2009.

The IMF admitted China’s yuan into its benchmark currency basket, in a victory for Beijing’s campaign for recognition as a global economic power.

Chancellor George Osborne has called for Britain and China to “stick together” as “partners in growth”, as he addressed financiers at the Shanghai Stock Exchange.

China’s imports tumbled in August, raising concerns about the health of the world’s second-largest economy and its contribution to global growth.

China’s stock-market rout that erased $5 trillion (€4.48tn) in value is close to ending, according to the nation’s central bank governor.

The Bank of England is still expected to raise its benchmark interest rate from a record low of 0.5% early next year, but economists in the latest Reuters poll are now less certain about the timing.

China’s turbulent stock markets slipped again yesterday, as a double-barrelled blast of central bank stimulus failed to convince investors of Beijing’s ability to jolt its economy out of its slowdown.

There is no basis for continued depreciation in the Chinese yuan, the country’s premier Li Keqiang was quoted by state television as saying yesterday.

China’s central bank cut interest rates and lowered the amount of reserves banks must hold for the second time in two months yesterday, ratcheting up support for a stuttering economy and a plunging stock market that has sent shockwaves around the globe.

For many in the ranks of China’s wealthy, the shock devaluation in the yuan is a cause of regret — that they hadn’t moved more money offshore sooner.

Stocks, the dollar, and emerging market currencies around the world remained under pressure for a second day yesterday after China devalued its currency again, boosting the appeal of top-rated government bonds.

China has rattled the financial markets by cutting the value of its currency - called the yuan or the renminbi – by almost 4% in two days.

Good afternoon. Here’s all the news you need to know this lunchtime.

Good morning. Here’s everything you need to know before you start your day.

China’s tumbling stock market showed signs of seizing up yesterday, as companies scrambled to escape the rout by having their shares suspended, and indexes plunged after the securities regulator warned of “panic sentiment” gripping investors.

Business activity weakened in China and Japan in April and growth slowed in Europe and the US, suggesting the global economy may be less robust than policymakers are predicting.

China’s inflation data for March produced small positive surprises, but remained tepid, with little sign that Beijing’s easing measures to date have significantly cut worrisome deflationary pressure.

China’s factory sector unexpectedly shrank for the first time in nearly two and a half years in January and firms see more gloom ahead, an official survey showed yesterday, raising expectations that policymakers will take more action to forestall a sharper slowdown.

A landmark legal opinion this week will remind the European Central Bank of the limits it faces as it advances towards money printing, while a tumbling oil price saps inflation in debt-strained Europe.

The global economy is ending the year in a fragile state with factory activity shrinking in China, eurozone business growth remaining weak, and emerging market giant Russia in a spiralling currency crisis.

China open to further interest rate cuts

China’s central bank has pledged to intensify its monetary policy fine-tuning in the second half of this year and improve credit policy to bolster the real economy, echoing earlier government commitments amid an economic slowdown.

China and Japan have agreed to start direct trading of their currencies from Friday as Beijing moves toward making the yuan more of a global currency.

China will continue to invest in eurozone government debt and it remains confident in the euro, the country’s central bank governor said yesterday, while calling on Europeans to produce more attractive investment products for China.

Thousands of corrupt Chinese officials have stolen almost €87bn and fled overseas since the mid-1990s, the central bank said today.

HSBC Corporate Banking Ireland has completed its first cross-border Chinese renminbi (RMB) trade transaction this week, becoming the first bank to announce such a transaction in Ireland.

The London market retreated today as fears over China’s decision to raise interest rates continued to weigh on the minds of investors.

Beijing: China, whose $2.45 trillion (€1.91tn) in foreign-exchange reserves are the world’s largest, is turning bullish on Europe and Japan at the expense of the US.

US President Barack Obama welcomed China’s announcement today that it will allow a more flexible exchange rate for its currency, saying it would help protect the economic recovery.

China’s central bank said today that its foreign exchange reserves rose 16% year-on-year to US$1.9537tn by the end of March.

CHINA may increase the flexibility of the yuan should the country’s trade surplus continue to expand this year, central bank governor Zhou Xiaochuan said.

Some the world’s major central bankers have warned the US that the international community could be running out of patience with the massive US budget and trade deficits that have pushed the dollar lower and increased the cost of their exports in America.

China’s economy is in good shape and recent steps to cool rapid growth are working, the central bank said on Friday, the latest in a string of comments that have eased expectations of an imminent interest rate hike.