- The tens of thousands of protesters that took to the streets of Hong Kong last week have dwindled to a few hundred today, after activist leaders agreed to talks with the government which are almost certain to go nowhere.
- Friday's talks will center around "the basis for political development", the government said, referring to plans for a 2017 election of Hong Kong's leader, but it was unclear how discussions could reconcile the two polarized opinions.
- Over the past two weeks, the protests have helped wipe close to $50B off the value of shares on the Hong Kong stock exchange.
- Hang Seng closed down 0.7%.
- ETFs: EWH, EWHS, FCHI, FHK