Help me if you can, I’m feeling down

China's stock market has flopped this year.

And policymakers are getting anxious.

How do we know? The securities regulator (CSRC) met with brokerages last week to garner ideas on how to kick some life into it (Bloomberg).

Among the proposals put forward:

• A cut in stamp duty on stock trading
• A slowdown in IPOs to help liquidity

The meeting is part of a broader effort to revive China's financial markets:

• On July 21, the CSRC met with foreign financial investors to rally confidence in domestic markets.
• On July 24, the econ-focused Politburo meeting pledged to “enliven” capital markets and boost investor confidence.

ICYMI: China’s stock markets are having a bad year.

• The benchmark CSI 300 Index fell 9.5% between end-January and the day the Politburo met
• Over the same period, the S&P 500 was up 13.4%

Get smart: There's a host of reasons why China needs to juice its equity markets.

• The corporate sector needs finance – especially important given Beijing’s tech self-sufficiency drive.
• Investors need bigger returns, which would have a positive wealth effect and increase consumers' willingness to spend.
• China needs capital inflows, which would help arrest the RMB’s decline.

Get smarter: The Politburo's pledge has upped the pressure on regulators to do something, so expect some modest measures in the short term.