Now is the end

In the latest example of a calm, measured reaction to the global pandemic of doom that is the provision of financial information, Beijing has announced a quarantine on the local operations of foreign financial information providers. That’s right, the likes of Thomson Reuters, Dow Jones and Bloomberg have been told that they “must not undertake news gathering activities.” And God help you if you’re a Mexican financial information provider, although you may well be holed up in a Beijing hotel with about 70 tourists and business people who have been detained under what Mexico’s foreign ministers calls “unacceptable conditions” to prevent the spread of swine flu. China insists no discrimination is involved, but it looks like a proper diplomatic tussle may be brewing between Mexico City and Beijing. Amid plagues, wars and rumors of wars, a bright spot may be found in Hong Kong, where aluminum-products manufacturer China Zhongwang Holdings raised US$1.26 billion in the world’s largest IPO so far this year. More seemingly good news also for the broader economy as manufacturing numbers continue to improve. Read about it on your Bloomberg machine while you can.