Chinese lending falls.

Chinese aggregate financing fell to 1.23T yuan ($204B) in December from 1.63T yuan a year earlier, but came in above consensus of 1.14T yuan. Still, that and other data, such as a slowing M2 money supply, reflect the efforts by the People's Bank of China to rein in ballooning credit even at the expense of economic growth. However, the central bank has reportedly become frustrated at the lack of desire of the China Banking Regulatory Commission to strengthen the regulation of banks' relationships with shadow lenders.