The news hit earlier: Moody's downgrades China

  • Moody's downgrades China to A1 from AA3
  • Changes outlook to stable from negative

For a little more, Bloomberg and Reuters have recaps:

  • Moody's cited the likelihood of a "material rise" in economy-wide debt and the burden that will place on the state's finances
  • "It is a psychological blow that China will not take kindly to and absolutely speaks to the rising financial pressures in China," said Christopher Balding, an associate professor at the HSBC School of Business at Peking University in Shenzhen. That said, "It doesn't matter much in the grand scheme of things because so much of Chinese debt is held by state or quasi-state actors and minimal amounts are international investors."

Bloomberg for more

And Reuters here

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Markets in China:

  • Shanghai Composite Index is down around 1%
  • Yuan is down also (PBOC set the CNY lower today regardless)