The art market is warning of a slump in China

Europe hogged the headlines yesterday. You can see why. Italy got a bad review from a credit ratings agency, Spain's government was trounced in local elections, and Greece's woes just keep rumbling on. It's a messy business. But in the background there's another concern – perhaps even greater than the fears over the sovereign debt crisis. Because evidence is now mounting that the saviour of the global economy – China – is slowing. That could be very bad news for stocks in general, and for one sector in particular.