EVERYTHING IS GOING SWIMMINGLY (CHINA EDITION): China cuts two more key lending rates as economy sputters.

The Chinese central bank cut the one-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points from 3.65% to 3.55%, and trimmed the five-year loan prime rate by 10 basis points from 4.3% to 4.2% — for the first time since August.

“On their own, 10bps cuts are too small to make a great deal of difference to monetary conditions, especially since market interbank rates are already below policy rates,” Capital Economics’ Julian Evans-Pritchard and Zichun Huang wrote in a note.

“But the PBOC tends to use changes in policy rates as signaling tool, with the heavy lifting being done by other tools such as adjustments to reserve requirements and bank loan quotas,” they added. “The latest round of rate cuts suggests that these tools will be deployed too.”

But: China’s modest rate cut sends stocks lower.

Xi’s harsh lockdowns may or may not have prevented the spread of COVID — depending on whether you buy Beijing’s numbers — but they sure convinced locals and foreigners that Xi’s China is a lousy place to do business.