It’s reform season in China. Various arms of the government are mobilizing in a campaign to juice a lackluster post-Covid recovery. The China Securities Regulatory Commission pitched in Aug. 18, with a long list of proposed measures to “boost investor confidence” in the country’s volatile securities markets.
On macroeconomic paper, now would be a perfect time for Chinese to pour money into stocks and bonds. Household savings in the No. 2 economy have mushroomed by 60%, or about $7 trillion, since prepandemic 2020, says Andy Rothman, an investment strategist at Matthews Asia. That perception tends to be self-fulfilling. The iShares MSCI China A exchange-traded fund , which tracks onshore stocks, rose by two-thirds in a year to February 2021, and has lost it all since then.