Today in business: 5 things you need to know

China frightens investors, Carlos Slim again tops Forbes' list of the world's richest people, and more in our roundup of the business stories that are making news and driving opinion

For the fourth year in a row, Mexican billionaire Carlos Slim is the richest person in the world.
(Image credit: Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images)

1. CHINA PLUNGE SCARES GLOBAL MARKETS

Stocks dipped across the world on Monday after the Chinese government announced moves to cool home prices, including higher down payments and mortgage rates on second homes. The news hit Chinese equities first — sending them into their deepest plunge in months — then spread. In the U.S., the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost as much as 0.4 percent in early trading after its third highest close in history on Friday. "The news out of Asia put a bit of a question mark to the U.S. market today," said Rick Fier of Conifer Securities, "and for now we're really just treading water." [MarketWatch]

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.