Merkel, Hollande express confidence in China amid market rout

German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Francois Hollande voiced confidence that the global economy will weather China's market rout and flagging growth.

"Market movements, we know them – and we can't adjust our positions just to market indexes," Hollande told reporters in Berlin on Monday alongside Merkel and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko. "The global economy is solid enough not to have its growth outlook tied only to China's situation."

Merkel said she's convinced that "China will do everything in its power to stabilize the economic situation" and cited the International Monetary Fund as saying the turmoil in the world's second-largest economy won't result in a sustained crisis.

The leaders of Europe's two biggest economies commented in response to a question at a news conference as German stocks entered a bear market and the Standard & Poor's 500 Index pulled back from the brink of a correction. China is Germany's biggest non-European trade partner, making its exporters vulnerable.