Humour: News in Cartoon

Chart: The History of Vaccines

Source : Statista

China State Fund Pours US$41 bln into Stock Market in Q1, Reports Show

Chinese state fund Central Huijin Investment bought blue-chips worth at least $41 billion in the first quarter in a bid to shore up the sliding stock market, funds’ latest quarterly reports show.

The sovereign fund bought at least 300 billion yuan ($41.42 billion) of exchanged-traded funds (ETFs) in the first quarter, including Huatai-PB CSI300 ETF (510300.SS), opens new tab, E Fund CSI300 Index ETF (510310.SS), opens new tab, Harvest CSI 300 ETF (159919.SZ), opens new tab, ChinaAMC CSI 300 ETF (510330.SS), opens new tab and ChinaAMC China 50 ETF (510050.SS), opens new tab, the ETFs’ reports show.

The purchases helped China’s CSI300 blue-chip index bounced back roughly 14% from five-year lows hit in February. The rebound was also aided by a slew of market-friendly policies and replacement of China’s top securities regulator.

Central Huijin said in early February it had expanded its scope of investment in Chinese ETFs and will further increase such investment, vowing to safeguard the stable operation of China’s capital markets.

The announcement came at a time when the stock benchmark CSI 300 (.CSI300), opens new tab tumbled to five-year lows as China’s weak economic recovery and a lack of forceful government stimulus damped investor confidence.

Central Huijin bought 26.3 billion units of Huatai-PB CSI300 ETF in the first quarter, the fund’s report on Monday shows, amounting to roughly 87 billion yuan ($12.01 billion) based on Reuters calculations.

The state fund also added roughly 73 billion yuan ($10.08 billion) of E Fund CSI300 Index ETF and 53 billion yuan ($7.32 billion) of Harvest CSI 300 ETFs, according to Reuters calculations.
Investors had suspected purchases by state institutions were helping the market.

In January, S&P Global Market Intelligence found more than $17 billion flowed to Chinese-domiciled ETFs tracking the CSI 300. Goldman Sachs also noticed heavy buying of domestic ETFs by suspected “national team” state-affiliated investors.

ChinaAMC CSI 300 ETF also saw $7.73 billion of purchase from Central Huijin, and ChinaAMC China 50 ETF saw $4.97 billion in the first quarter, their reports show.

Source : Reuters

Infographic: How Government Debt-to-GDP Ratios of Selected Countries Have Changed Since 2000

Source : Visual Capitalist

Take the Stairs and Step Up to Longer Life

Dennis Thompson wrote . . . . . . . . .

Want to live longer? Choose the stairs over the elevator, a new review suggests.

Folks who regularly climb stairs have a 24% reduced risk of dying from any cause, and a 39% reduced risk of dying from heart disease, compared to those who always take the elevator, researchers found.

Stair climbing also is associated with a lower risk of developing heart disease or suffering a heart attack, heart failure or stroke, results show.

“If you have the choice of taking the stairs or the lift, go for the stairs as it will help your heart,” researcher Dr. Sophie Paddock, of the University of East Anglia and Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital Foundation Trust in Norwich, U.K..

Stair climbing is a practical, easily accessible form of physical activity, Paddock said. Despite this, it’s often overlooked by folks rushing to get to a higher floor.

“Even brief bursts of physical activity have beneficial health impacts, and short bouts of stair climbing should be an achievable target to integrate into daily routines,” Paddock said.

For the study, researchers pooled data from nine studies involving more than 480,000 people. Studies were included regardless of the number of flights people climbed or the speed at which they took them.

“Based on these results, we would encourage people to incorporate stair climbing into their day-to-day lives,” Paddock said in a news release. “Our study suggested that the more stairs climbed, the greater the benefits – but this needs to be confirmed. So, whether at work, home or elsewhere, take the stairs.”

Researchers presented the findings at ESC Preventive Cardiology 2024, a scientific congress of the European Society of Cardiology. Findings presented at medical meetings should be considered preliminary until published in a peer-reviewed journal.

Source: HealthDay