Global Markets Fall After Mixed Chinese Economic Data    

Global financial markets are in freefall Thursday, despite China’s economic rebound in the second quarter of this year.   In Europe, both the FTSE in London and the DAX index in Frankfurt are down 0.6% in late afternoon trading, while Paris’s CAC-40 index is 0.8% lower. The big selloff began earlier Thursday in Asia, with the Nikkei finishing the day 0.7%.  The Hang Seng in Hong Kong dropped 2%, while Shanghai’s Composite index lost a staggering 4.5%. Sydney’s S&P/ASX index fell 0.6%.  Seoul’s KOSPI index closed 0.8% lower, and the TSEC in Taipei ended down 0.3%.  Mumbai’s Sensex is trading one percent higher in late afternoon trading. In other market news, U.S. crude oil is selling at $40.75 per barrel, down one percent, while Brent crude is selling at $43.50 per barrel, down 0.6%.China revealed Thursday that its economy grew 3.2% in the period between April and June compared to the previous year, but that good news was tempered by worse-than-expected data on domestic retail sales.  The growing tensions between the United States and China also contributed to investors’ nervousness about a post-pandemic recovery. In futures trading, all three major U.S. indices were trending downward hours ahead of Thursday’s opening bell on Wall Street.   
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