Bloomberg says that Chinese Finance Minister Lou Jiwei downplayed a decision by Moody's Investors Service Inc. to cut his country's credit-rating outlook, saying leaders "didn't care that much" because the move had little market impact. The March 2 downgrade didn't lead to irrational market behavior or aggressive short-selling, Lou said at the China Development Forum, a gathering of world business leaders and Chinese government officials. He noted that the offshore yuan even rose afterwards. "Internationally there was no ensuing action, for example shorting on China, so we didn't care that much about it," Lou said. He was responding to a question from Jin Liqun, the president of the China-backed Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank, who asked whether leaders would communicate with ratings agencies after the downgrade.

New York Times reports China's top planner tried to reassure foreign companies they are welcome in its slowing, state-dominated economy in a speech Sunday aimed at dispelling growing anxiety Beijing is squeezing them out of promising industries. Speaking to an audience that included executives of top global companies at a government-organized conference, Xu Shaoshi pledged to "promote two-way opening up and liberalization." Xu promised foreign companies equal treatment with local enterprises as Beijing carries out a sweeping overhaul aimed at promoting self-sustaining growth based on domestic consumption and making state companies that dominate a range of industries more competitive and efficient. "We are ready to share these growth opportunities with you," said Xu, chairman of the Cabinet's National Reform and Development Commission. The China Development Forum 2016 is being closely watched by global companies because it comes at the start of the ruling Communist Party's latest five-year development plan that runs through 2020. 

Bloomberg reports that China's consumers are ignoring the bears.Consultancy McKinsey & Co. is tipping that China's shoppers will increase their spending by 10 percent per year through the end of the decade as incomes rise. Some 55 percent of consumers expect a significant wage increase over the next five years. It's not just staple goods that will be filling the shopping trolleys. Consumers are spending more on luxury items like spa visits, travel and entertainment.The shift is just another sign of China's economy changing away from one that is fueled by heavy industry and exports and towards one where consumers and services drive growth.