Bloomberg Business reports: "Chinese stocks rebounded from the brink of a bear market in a late-day swing as the lowest valuations in four months lured bargain hunters and a group of smaller companies pledged to support their share prices....Stocks rebounded in the afternoon on signs of increased government efforts to stabilize the market....The Shanghai gauge's 14-day relative strength measure, measuring how rapidly prices have advanced or dropped during a specified time period, was at 25.6 on Wednesday. Readings below 30 indicate it may be poised to rise. As of Wednesday's close, 529 of the Shanghai index's 1,122 member stocks have relative strength index values of less than 30, compared with 280 at the bottom of a rout that erased about $5 trillion in market value in August."
The Washington Post reports: "South Korean President Park Geun-hye on Wednesday urged China to help ensure that North Korea feels 'pain' over its recent nuclear testas the international community looks to Beijing to exert its significant influence over Pyongyang. Tensions are running high on the Korean Peninsula after the test last week, with propaganda volleys across the tense border between the two Koreas and shots fired Wednesday after a Northern drone briefly flew into Southern airspace....China, the closest thing North Korea has to a friend, has previously used its veto power to ensure that multilateral sanctions are not so severe as to cause its fragile neighbor to collapse, although Beijing did allow a significant expansion of sanctions after Pyongyang's 2013 nuclear test. Chinese President Xi Jinping has made little secret of his disdain for Kim Jong Un, the young North Korean leader, and critics of North Korea hope that Beijing will be sufficiently angry this time around to support even tougher sanctions."
The Associated Press reports: "Policymakers at the European Central Bank disagreed at their last meeting over how big a threat turmoil in China and other emerging markets pose to Europe's modest economic recovery....The result of the Dec. 3 debate, for which a written summary was released Thursday, was a decision to provide less stimulus to the 19-country eurozone economy than many had expected....Since then, market turmoil in China has only increased, with sharp falls in stocks that have helped drag down European and U.S. indexes as well. The impact of China's economic slowdown and troubles with debt on the overall global economy as opposed to financial markets remains unclear."