According to the 2015 China Top 500 Enterprise List, total sales revenue of the companies on the list reached CNY59.5 trillion, up 4.94% year-on-year, the lowest growth rate ever since the China Enterprise Confederation and China Enterprise Directors Association started to draft the ranking 13 years ago. The threshold for entering the list has been raised by CNY750 million to CNY23.61 billion, the narrowest increase in five years. The total assets of this year’s finalists reached CNY197.6 trillion, up 12% year-on-year, the lowest growth rate in a decade. 57 companies have reported losses of CNY80.38 billion this year, and 94 have reported negative growth in sales revenue. Merger and acquisition activities have slumped to a five-year low. Among the 500 companies, 140 carried out 690 mergers and acquisitions (M&As) last year, compared with 811 deals in 2013. China Petrochemcial Corp (Sinopec Group) led the list for the 11th consecutive year with a total sales revenue of CNY2.89 trillion.

Chinese real estate and entertainment firm Dalian Wanda will buy the organizer of Ironman extreme endurance contests for USD650 million. The deal for the World Triathlon Corporation comes after Wanda bought a stake in Spanish football club Atletico Madrid and spent more than €1 billion on Swiss sports marketing group Infront. Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin, one of China’s richest men, has built his firm into a property giant, but has been diversifying into sports and entertainment in recent years. Wanda hopes to increase the popularity of triathlons in China, the company said in a statement announcing the deal. “As China enters the ranks of middle income countries, people are paying increasing attention to physical fitness and spiritual fulfillment, and triathlon’s unique charm and challenge is set to attract a large number of people,” the company said. World Triathlon Corp is based in Tampa, Florida and Wanda said it operates at least 250 events a year, describing it as the world’s largest operator of Ironman events. Triathlons are also organized by the rival International Triathlon Union, the South China Morning Post reports.

Swedish furniture retailer Ikea has set its sights on China’s vast northwestern market and is looking to cash in on the growing opportunities from the Belt and Road Initiative. Ikea opened its Xian store last week with 57 room settings, more than 8,000 products, a 633-seat restaurant and the free “Small Land” childcare facility to give local buyers special shopping experiences. “With a total floor area of 63,000 square meters and an investment of USD100 million, Ikea’s Xian store, the first such store in Northwest China, will provide more convenient one-stop shopping experiences, bring more inspiration for home life, and warm and happy experiences to the local people,” said store Manager Guan Weining. The store will offer more than 8,000 kinds of household items. It is Ikea’s 18th store in China after it came to the country in 1998.

A breakthrough in rare earth display technology could increase the resolution of smartphone screens by a factor of over a million. By putting six different types of rare earth elements in a nanoscale capsule and beaming lasers onto it, Chinese researchers obtained for the first time the full spectrum of visible light. Apple’s top of the range retina displays – used in iPhones, iPads and MacBooks – currently boast around 300 pixels per square inch (PPI). By comparison, the rare earth display could reach 850 million PPI.

Chinese stocks plunged by more than 8.5% on August 24 due to investors’ weakened confidence over macroeconomics in domestic and global markets. It was the biggest one-day percentage loss since 2007. The decline offset market gains made since the start of the year. All index futures contracts sank by the 10% daily limit, reflecting a negative outlook for share prices. On August 25 stocks tumbled to their deepest four-day decline since 1996. The Shanghai Composite Index was down 7.63% to 2,964.97 points at the close, falling below 3,000 points for the first time since December. The Shanghai index has tumbled more than 20% since the yuan’s devaluation on August 11 and has lost more than USD4 trillion in value since its June 12 peak. Mark Matthews, Managing Director at Bank Julius Baer, said the current situation will persist for another month, since concerns remain that growth in the Chinese economy is slowing. He forecast better days in around six months as reform of China’s state-owned enterprises (SOEs) progressed.

China will allow its huge state pension fund to invest in domestic stocks in an attempt to boost returns. The fund will be able to invest up to 30% of its net assets in equities, according to final guidelines published by the central government. The fund, to which workers must contribute, had CNY3.5 trillion in net assets at the end of last year. The move could allow the fund to invest billions of yuan in domestic equities, convertible bonds, futures and infrastructure projects. Previously, the pension fund could only invest in treasury bonds and bank deposits. Four of China’s brokerages – Haitong Securities, GF Securities, Huatai Securities and Founder Securities – announced they were being probed by regulators for suspected failure to review and verify clients’ identities. Managers from Citic Securities were also being investigated for possible involvement in illegal securities trades. Chinese police have summoned 11 people including a financial journalist to assist their investigations into illegal stock market activities, as the government targets volatility on the exchanges.

China has the world’s most volatile stocks right now after Greece, yet the fluctuations are 30% lower than the average of six financial market crashes, including the ones in 1929 in the United States, Japan in the early 1990s and Thailand in 1997. The 43% decline so far in the Shanghai Composite Index looks modest when compared with a 78% retreat during the bursting of the dotcom bubble in 2000 and an 84% slump in the Russian market following the 1998 default. Most of the previous stock frenzies were caused by banking crises and debt defaults, while China’s stock slump is largely a price adjustment to a frothy valuation following a more than 150% surge.

Shanghai shares recovered on August 27 and 28. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 4.8% to close at 3,232.35 points, paring last week’s loss to 7.9%. It has been a wild week for China’s equity market investors as a crash wiped nearly 17% off the index in three days before the rebound.