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Locals wearing personal protective equipment (PPE) line up to enter a specialized hotel for medical observation and quarantine in Zhengzhou city on Nov. 1, 2022. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images BEIJING — Chinese stocks rallied this week as investors hoped Beijing would soon relax its stringent Covid policy. The Shanghai composite gained 5% during the week. The Hang Seng Index notched weekly gains of well over 8%, bouncing back from 13-year lows hit in the last two weeks. The Chinese government has yet to announce any official policy change. Covid-related restrictions on travel, regular virus testing requirements and other measures generally remained just as tight. However, the stock rally that accelerated Friday followed multiple unconfirmed rumors of a coming Covid policy change. "The rally that we saw this morning was primarily triggered by the hope for reopening to happen earlier than expected," Zhiwei Zhang, president and chief economist at Pinpoint Asset Manage...

Foreign direct investment from Germany to China grew by about 30% in the first eight months of the year from a year ago, China's Ministry of Commerce said Monday. Vcg | Visual China Group | Getty Images BEIJING — European businesses in China are revaluating their market plans after this year's Covid controls further isolated the country from the rest of the world, said Joerg Wuttke, president of the European Union Chamber of Commerce in China. China's stringent Covid policy has restricted international travel, and business activity — especially after a two-month lockdown this year in Shanghai. The tough measures of the last two years initially helped China recover more quickly from the pandemic's shock compared to other countries. But the policy increasingly contrasts with a world that's increasingly relaxing many Covid restrictions. For European businesses, "we talk about a complete readjustment of our view on China over the last six months," Wuttke t...