The head of the US audit watchdog visited China for the first time last week to observe inspections of accounting firms and meet senior financial regulators, reports Caixin. This comes as Washington steps up scrutiny of a bilateral audit oversight agreement.

Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (PCAOB) Chairman Demetrios Logothetis spent four days in China, observing inspections in Shanghai and meeting China Securities Regulatory Commission Chairman Wu Qing and Vice Minister of Finance Guo Tingting in Beijing on October 14, the board disclosed on Wednesday.

The visit highlights efforts to sustain a 2022 agreement that gave US inspectors full access to Chinese companies’ audit records, averting the threat of forced delistings from US exchanges.

China’s economic imbalances continued to deepen in July, as sluggish retail sales and a fixed-asset investment slump highlighted persistent weakness in domestic demand, reports the South China Morning Post. This comes as analysts expect more policy stimulus from Beijing to stave off downside risks.

Retail sales, a major gauge of consumer spending, grew by 0.6% year on year last month, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) on Monday. 

Overall fixed-asset investment–covering major areas such as infrastructure, manufacturing and property construction–fell by 6.7% year on year in the January-July period, performing worse than Wind’s forecast of a 6.1% fall.

China’s central bank added 480,000 ounces of gold to its reserves in June, its largest monthly purchase in a 20-month buying streak, reports Caixin. This came as global bullion prices slid from about $4,540 an ounce to around $4,000.

China’s official gold reserves rose to 75.4 million ounces at the end of June, according to data released Tuesday by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange. The June increase surpassed the 330,000 ounces added in December 2024 and extended a buying streak that began in November 2024 to 20 consecutive months. Over that period, the People’s Bank of China has added 2.6 million ounces of gold.

The accumulation underscores a broader push by central banks to diversify foreign-exchange portfolios and hedge against geopolitical risks, as a stronger US dollar and shifting interest-rate expectations weigh on global markets.

The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) said ​it will ban the import of more equipment from a group of ‌Chinese manufacturers, reports Reuters. This is the latest move by Washington to crack down on Chinese-made electronic gear.

The move expands an FCC ban imposed in 2022 on new models of telecommunications and video surveillance ​equipment made by Huawei, ZTE, Hytera, Hikvision and Dahua, citing US national ​security risks.

The ban now includes old models of equipment used for “public safety, security of ​government facilities, physical security surveillance of critical infrastructure, and other national security ​purposes,” the FCC said.

The Ministry of Commerce said on Monday that to deter Japan’s “remilitarization” and its attempts to “acquire nuclear weapons”, it has added 20 Japanese entities “involved in enhancing Japan’s military capabilities” to an export control list, reports the South China Morning Post. Twenty Japanese entities have also been added to a separate watch list.

The moves were made to safeguard China’s national security and interests and to fulfil international obligations such as non-proliferation, the ministry added. A ministry spokesperson said that China’s actions were in accordance with the law, were only aimed at a “small number” of Japanese entities, and only targeted dual-use items.

The entities added to the export control list include Japan’s National Institute for Defense Studies and military research institutes for ground, naval and air weapons systems.

They also include several entities under the umbrella of Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, with businesses that span defence and space systems, specialised software development, precision instrument manufacturing, engineering services, logistics, maritime technology and technical support for special vehicles.