China-focused ETFs sink as Blinken reportedly plans to affirm China is main U.S. rival

Shares of two China-focused exchange-traded funds were down sharply Thursday morning, adding to steep losses this year, as U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken reportedly plans to affirm that China is the biggest rival of the United States despite so much global attention on the Russia-Ukraine war. Blinken had been scheduled to speak Thursday on the White House’s plan to deal with China, but the State Department said Wednesday afternoon that the speech would be postponed to a later date as he had tested positive for COVID-19, according to a Wall Street Journal report. Shares of the KraneShares CSI China Internet ETF KWEB, -7.26% were down around 7% Thursday morning, bringing year-to-date losses to almost 26%, while shares of the iShares MSCI China ETF MCHI, -4.87% were off almost 5% for a loss this year of nearly 22%, FactSet data show, at last check. U.S. stocks were also down sharply Thursday, giving back a big chunk of the gains seen after the Federal Reserve delivered a widely expected half-point rate hike the previous session.