News Briefing for Thursday, September 1, 2022

Here’s what else you need to know about China today:

Chengdu is in COVID lockdown: The spicy capital of Sichuan Province has ordered its 21.2 million residents to stay at home for four days and begun a mass testing campaign. The city reported 157 domestically transmitted infections today.

• Shenzhen and Dalian have also implemented some COVID restrictions such as the shuttering of entertainment businesses.
• Some social media users have noted that Shanghai’s recent lockdown was initially supposed to have lasted for five days, but ended up lasting two months.
• Volvo Cars is closing its Chengdu plant to comply with the lockdown.

Two bellwether Chinese companies reported terrible results: Yesterday, construction machinery manufacturer Sany reported that its revenue for the first half of the year dropped 40.9% year-on-year to $5.75 billion, while agricultural company New Hope Group reported a net loss of $600.15 million. For more details, see our Business briefs from the Chinese media for September 1, where you can also find topline numbers on these stories:

• China’s largest banks make profits of half a trillion yuan in the first half of the year;
• Strong growth in China’s services trade.

Home prices are down in nearly 70 Chinese cities, according to new research.

The U.S. has imposed new restrictions on semiconductor sales to China and Russia: The rules affect high-end graphics processing units (GPUs) made by Californian companies Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices. China is not amused.

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