Stock market support; Xi in Xinjiang; Real estate; US-PRC Commerce meeting; New Xi Thought book

This week will likely see the August monthly Politburo meeting. One thing to watch for from this meeting is whether or not there is an announcement of the dates for the Third Plenum, which should convene in October or November if past precedent holds. Anyone want to bet we may also get news of Central Committee member and State Councillor Qin Gang?

Summary of today’s Essential Eight:

1. Stock market support measures - To help support the stock market, over the weekend policymakers reduced the minimum ratio for margin purchases, cut the stamp duty on transactions by 50%, and announced measures to slow the pace of IPOs and make it harder for major shareholders to reduce their holdings. The market went nuts at the open, for a few minutes, and while at the end of the day it was still up Bloomberg reported that the stock exchanges told big mutual funds “to refrain for a day from selling more onshore shares than they purchased”. Without more meaningful measures to restore confidence, measures t…