Signs abound that the Chinese authorities intend to preempt an economic downturn by turning on the stimulus taps.

Regulators moved in concert to assure nervous equity investors on Friday. In an unprecedented move, leadership of the central bank, banking and insurance regulator, and securities watchdog told state media that new measures would be forthcoming to bolster the markets.

The announcement came after China posted its lowest GDP growth since 2009. Chinese equity markets have also been reeling amid a trade war with the United States. The CSI 300 – an index of the top 300 stocks traded on the Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges – is down nearly 30% from its peak earlier this year.

There are also indications that Beijing’s wider deleveraging campaign will be abandoned, at least temporarily, in order to ensure that the economy doesn’t suffer any major disruptions.

Impact

Equity values to be propped up by Chinese regulators. It has been a rough six months for investors in Chinese equities, who have seen a string of market dips with every new development in the US-China trade war. The scandals haven’t helped either, like ZTE sanctions and more recently the Bloomberg spy chip expose that savaged Chinese tech stocks. Fast-forward to today and the CSI 300 is down 30% from its January highs and the Shanghai Composite is languishing at lows not seen since 2014.

Chinese markets are broadly down around 20% this year, and before yesterday they appeared primed to continue declining.

Now enter the government authorities. A concerted effort was made on Thursday to re-assure investors that the government would be stepping in to support stock values. This support has thus far come in the form of local governments buying up equities and calls for a temporary end to certain margin calls.