• Chinese tutoring stocks slumped after the state signalled they might turn into non-profit entities. China’s government ministry MIIT launched a six-month "special campaign" to regulate its internet sector.

• The Delta variant has spread to 26 cities in China. Beijing has stopped entry into the city to stop new COVID cases.

• China has stopped issuing passports and travel documents unless for “essential or emergent reasons”.

• Evergrande suffered a credit rating downgrade and a pulled dividend pay-out, renewing fears of a bankruptcy of the world’s most indebted company.

• Singapore intends to relax the pandemic restrictions once the vaccination rate reaches 80% (1st dose currently: 75%), including quarantine-free travel.

• BIS and the Monetary Authority of Singapore are planning to launch an instant cross-border payments scheme.

• The Monetary Authority of Singapore lifted bank dividend restrictions imposed during the COVID-19 pandemic last year.

• IPO activity: India’s Zomato started trading on 23 July, Korea’s Krafton confirmed its pricing range, Kakao Bank priced at the top of its indicated range, China Telecom received approval for an A-share listing, and Ant Group is now restarting its IPO process as well.

Company-specific reports

• The ValueTeddy Substack makes the case that Chinese tech company Sohu is worth buying in anticipation of the privatisation of its key holding Sogou (NASDAQ: SOHU — US$781 million)

• Wolfpack Research issued a short idea report for the Chinese online advertising company Moxian (NASDAQ: MOXC — US$345 million)

Long-form writing

• I wrote a summary of Claire Barnes’s book Asia’s investment prophets (estimated reading time 43 mins)

• I interviewed Asia bank analyst Daniel Tabbush (7 mins)

• Wickhams Hill’s “Under-the-Radar” report dated 31 July 2021 (31 mins)

• Andrew Batson: China in the 2020s is not France in the 1960s (4 mins)

• Harvard’s Tony Saich: Rethinking the CCP’s history (13 mins)

• Anne Stevenson-Yang on the future of the VIE structure (5 mins)

• Investor Amnesia had an interesting post on the interplay between pandemics and the resulting monetary policy response in history (12 mins)

• Our friends at The Bear Cave published a list of the top 100 Finance Twitter accounts to follow (5 mins)

• Jason Goepfert with a word of warning about emerging market stocks (1 min)

Podcasts and videos

• Carson Block provides his view on China’s crackdown on tech (25 mins)

• Leland Miller of China Beige Book on the regulatory crackdown (9 mins)

• Kendra Schaefer on Didi and China’s regulatory ambitions (1:06 hours)

• Another interview with Russell Napier on the Asian Financial Crisis (34 mins)

• Vivek Viswanathan on investing in Chinese A-shares (48 mins)

• Andy Ho of VinaCapital’s “Vietnam Opportunity Fund” on Vietnam (40 mins)

Chart of the week – Internet stocks as % of MSCI China down to 41% from 49% in October 2020

Picture of the week - Orchard road in Singapore’s shopping district last Saturday night

Thanks for reading, and I wish you a great week ahead!

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