by Martin Armstrong
Armstrong Economics
ASIA:
China’s ruling Communist Party is stepping up efforts to rein in some of China’s most powerful companies, jolting investors and dealing a blow to the country’s richest entrepreneurs. China, on Tuesday, unveiled regulations to root out monopolistic practices in the internet industry, seeking to curtail the growing influence of corporations like Alibaba Group Holding Ltd. and Tencent Holdings Ltd. The rules, which sent both stocks tumbling and sparked a wider selloff in Chinese equities, landed about a week after new restrictions on the finance sector that triggered the shock suspension of Ant Group Co.’s $35 billion initial public offering. Alibaba, Ant and Tencent alone commanded a combined market capitalization of nearly $2 trillion before last week, easily surpassing state-owned behemoths like Bank of China Ltd. as the country’s most valuable companies.