Chinese equities are slumping Thursday, with exchange-traded funds that target stocks in the country seeing sharp drops amid concerns over the world’s second largest economy.
“China’s economy is not doing well despite the stimulative efforts of its government and default-avoidance efforts of its largest property developer,” Yardeni Research said in a note Thursday. “We’ve long thought that the government ultimately will have to sponsor a debt restructuring program if it hopes to put China’s leverage problems in the rearview mirror anytime soon.”
The iShares MSCI China ETF, which tracks an index of Chinese shares, has struggled over the past couple years. The fund plunged more than 24% in 2022 after tumbling more than 22% in 2021, according to Factset data.Meanwhile, the Xtrackers CSI 300 China A-Shares ETF ASHR, with around $2 billion of assets under management, was down 2.3% around midday Thursday, according to FactSet data. The fund has dropped more than 7% so far this year.