A summer correction

The mood of investors clearly soured in August, when a reluctance to buy shares set in. The indices in Europe and the US lost around 1–3 pct, and it was in this context that the Warsaw trading floor fared rather badly. Despite relatively good Q2 company results in the US, hopes of a quick turnaround of the interest rate hikes receded into the distance. Investors had no obvious reason to buy, even being stimulated by their faith in AI just a few weeks ago. The warning signs continued to flash, with the state of the Chinese economy being of particular concern to investors and analysts. Its projected 2023 growth rate of 5 pct now seems unlikely after the publication of the figures for July – and for China such growth is meagre indeed. Each of the drivers of the Chinese economy was idling over in July, including retail sales, investment and industrial production. And weaker imports and exports have been the result. The US economy has actually been doing really rather well; Germ