Shanghai Composite Index closes at lowest level in nearly four years

China’s sinking stock market reached an unwelcome milestone, with the Shanghai Composite Index closing at the lowest level since 2014, erasing the last traces of its recovery from a boom that turned into a $5 trillion bust.

The Shanghai gauge dropped 1.1 percent to 2,651.79, below its January 2016 bottom. Back then, officials had just introduced and then hastily scrapped a disastrous circuit-breaker program as they grappled with one of the market’s worst-ever routs.

Trade tensions with the US are exacerbating investor concern. With President Donald Trump telling aides to proceed with additional tariffs on Chinese products, the