The China Syndrome - in reverse

IN THE 1979 Hollywood movie The China Syndrome, the breakdown of a US nuclear plant sparks off panic that if not repaired, reactor components would melt through their containment structures and into the underlying ground, all the way to the opposite side of the Earth to China.

Last week's meltdown was the reverse of that envisaged by the movie's writers - it didn't occur in any nuclear reactor in the US but instead in China's stock market, though its impact was felt not just on the opposite side of the globe in the US but all over.

The sharp about-turn on Wall Street on Friday for instance, that came after stocks had risen in response to a robust jobs report, suggests that apprehension over the health of China's stock market is still very much a factor that may have been only temporarily soothed by Friday's short-covering bounce.