What We're Reading

Pro-democracy protesters in Hong Kong have set a Wednesday deadline for a response from the government to meet their demands for reforms, threatening wider actions if Hong Kong's top leader does not meet with them.  Reports are that the protestors were considering various options, including widening the protests, pushing for a labor strike and possibly occupying a government building if the deadline is not met.

The protesters want a reversal of a decision by China's government in August that a pro-Beijing panel will screen all candidates in the territory's first direct elections, scheduled for 2017 — a move they view as reneging on a promise that the chief executive will be chosen through "universal suffrage."

The Economist took a look at other such protests which have transpired since the credit crisis.

Are the protests truly affecting global stock markets and overall risk appetite or it is just one more log thrown on the (possibly growing) fire?

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China traders on margin accounts is a thought both wildly exciting, yet utterly terrifying at the same time.  Even more so in the wake of $10 billion in fraudulent currency trades discovered just last week. 

Chinese markets have had a long standing reputation as being nothing more than unmonitored casinos plagued with corruption and insider trading.  What could possibly go wrong?

According to the WSJ, the Hong Kong and Shanghai stock exchanges have published an overhaul of rules governing a new trading link that will open China's tightly held capital markets to the investing public, ahead of a launch that could take place as early as end of October.

The Chinese government has vowed to encourage further capital flow and open the country’s markets to international investors and conceded previously that numerous reforms would have to take place.  Such reforms risk destabilizing its economy, which is still veiled by strict capital controls.  Therefore the government has been implementin