China's central bank said on May 6 it would lower the reserve requirement ratio for small- and medium-sized banks on May 15, making about 280 billion yuan available for loans to small and private companies.
U.S. President Donald Trump said on Twitter on May 5 that he would increase U.S. tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods by the end of the week and target hundreds of billions more soon. Factory activity in China expanded for a second consecutive month in April but the pace slowed, according to data released on April 30. At 50.1, the official manufacturing purchasing managers’ index remains just above contraction. The April survey showed small- and mid-sized manufacturers continued to fare worse than larger companies, many of which are state-controlled.
China's five biggest state-owned banks collectively reported modest growth in earnings in the first quarter. Total assets grew at an average rate of 7.3 percent over the period to 270 trillion yuan. Chinese banks extended 1.7 trillion yuan in net new yuan loans in March, compared with the 1.2 trillion yuan expected by analysts polled by Reuters. Total bank lending in the first three months of 2019 hit a record quarterly tally of 5.8 trillion yuan.