Beijing
The Chinese have caught day-trading fever, sending the Shanghai Stock Exchange into the stratosphere. The first two weeks of January saw trading volumes at $154 billion—more than one-fifth of the volume for all of last year, which was triple that of the year before. “When I go to the beauty salon, even the girls who give me a manicure are talking about stocks!” consultant Shirley Lei told The New York Times. The enthusiasm alarms regulators. Exchange officials warned that the online trading systems might collapse under the volume, while bank officials said they would refuse loans to people who intended to buy stocks.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Gandhi arrests: Narendra Modi's 'vendetta' against India's oppositionThe Explainer Another episode threatens to spark uproar in the Indian PM's long-running battle against the country's first family
-
How the woke right gained power in the USUnder the radar The term has grown in prominence since Donald Trump returned to the White House
-
Codeword: April 24, 2025The Week's daily codeword puzzle
