by Reuters

BUSINESS

– World shares tapped the brakes as China troubles struck again, while Europe’s bond markets steadied after confident-sounding ECB policymakers had caused their sharpest selloff in six months. The blistering rally in global stocks is nearly over, any further gains will be limited and a correction is likely by the end of the year, a Reuters poll of analysts has found.

– China’s push to wean property developers from excessive borrowing is spilling over into loan losses at banks and pain in credit markets as cash-strapped builders fall into distress, raising the risk of fallout rippling across the economy. Growth in China’s home prices is expected to slow more than initially expected this year, a Reuters poll shows.

– Western Digital is in advanced talks for a possible $20 billion stock merger with Japanese chipmaker and partner Kioxia, a move that would create a NAND memory giant to rival Samsung Electronics. NAND chips don’t need power to retain data and are used in smartphones, TVs, data center servers and public announcement display panels.

– The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating Deutsche Bank’s asset manager DWS over how it used sustainable investing criteria to manage its assets. The asset management industry has rapidly amassed billions of dollars of assets that are supposed to have an environmental or social profile, but is facing growing scrutiny over how firms define and apply standards.

U.S.

– A congressional committee investigating the deadly January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol issued its first demands for documents from government agencies, including communications involving some of former President Donald Trump’s closest advisers and family. Trump called the committee’s request “a partisan sham and waste of taxpayer dollars.”

– Prosecutors have proposed a plea bargain to a Virginia man accused of attacking police with a large stick during the Capitol riot, lawyers for the government and defendant told a court hearing.

– A judge sanctioned Sidney Powell and other lawyers who sued in Michigan to overturn Biden’s election victory, and suggested they might deserve to lose their law licenses.

– Democratic lawmakers and immigration advocates pressed Biden to take new steps to end an immigration policy begun by Trump after the top U.S. court ordered that the “remain in Mexico” program be reinstated.