Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: The US and Israeli militaries have drawn up specific plans for a fresh round of military strikes on Iran to be launched after the US midterm elections, US officials and other people familiar with the matter said. The plans call for renewed attacks once the November vote is over. No further details on targets or timing were given.

TREE NEWS reports: SpaceX and Tesla are reportedly exploring a potential merger, with the deal possibly intended to be completed before President Trump’s term ends. The report did not specify a timeline, deal structure or valuation for the combination of the rocket company and the electric-vehicle maker.

TREE NEWS update: The Agricultural Development Bank of China issued 3-year, 5-year and 10-year bonds on the same day, each with a size of 1 billion yuan. The coupon rate and expected yield for all three tranches were listed at 0.0000%, with bid-to-cover and marginal bid ratios both at 1.00x. The bank is a policy lender backed by the Chinese state.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan’s Nikkei 225 opened 0.1% lower, while South Korea’s Kospi Composite opened down 1.1% at the start of trading. The declines mark a weaker open for both major Asian benchmarks.

TREE NEWS reports: The source material contains only the headline ‘Chinese local government bonds about to be issued or currently being issued’ with no further details. It provides no figures, dates, named issuers, or announcements, and therefore cannot support a factual flash-news item. No verifiable development is reported.

TREE NEWS update: China is set to issue or is currently issuing government bonds and policy financial bonds, according to a schedule of upcoming and ongoing sovereign and policy-bank debt sales. The notice did not specify the size, tenor or pricing of the offerings. Such issuance is a routine part of China’s sovereign and policy-bank funding operations.

TREE NEWS update: Shimao Group has agreed to sell the Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung Hotel and the Four Points by Sheraton Hong Kong Tung Chung, together with their hotel operations, for a total consideration of HK$2.7 billion. The buyer is Oceanfront Hong Kong Limited, a company owned by investment vehicles including one linked to the ParkCity Group. Completion is expected by the end of 2026, with net proceeds used by the receiver to partly repay outstanding debt under a syndicated loan agreement dated July 27, 2020.

TREE NEWS reports: Foreign investors were net sellers of Japanese equities in the week ended October 16, with net purchases of ¥-66.5 billion. The reversal follows net buying of ¥35,215 billion in the prior week. The swing marks a sharp pullback in overseas demand for Japanese stocks.

TREE NEWS reports: South Korean legislators are pushing for tax credits targeting electric vehicle production. The move would direct fiscal incentives at domestic EV manufacturing. No further details on the scope, size or legislative timeline of the proposed credits were provided.

TREE NEWS update: Qatar, Indonesia, Pakistan and Turkey signed a multilateral memorandum of understanding on defense cooperation in Doha on May 21, Qatar’s Ministry of Defense said in a statement. The agreement, known as “Badr,” is aimed at strengthening cooperation among the four countries in defense manufacturing, military capacity building, technical training and research and development.

TREE NEWS update: The U.S. mission in Saudi Arabia issued a security alert on the 21st warning that ongoing Houthi attacks on the kingdom, including strikes on civilian airports and critical infrastructure, could escalate rapidly and spread. The alert said the attacks have caused civilian casualties and severely disrupted travel.

TREE NEWS reports: Nasdaq futures extended losses to more than 0.5%, while S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% and Dow futures slipped 0.2% in after-hours trading. IBM dropped over 3.4%, Tesla fell more than 2.9% and Nebius lost over 2.4%, with Intel down 1.6% and SK Hynix ADRs off 1.4%. Meta bucked the trend, gaining 2%.

TREE NEWS reports: More than 80 Chinese tire companies have issued over 100 price increase notices since September, raising prices by 2% to 5% for most products and up to 6% for some specifications. The moves mark the industry’s fourth wave of price hikes this year, covering all-steel, semi-steel and engineering tires, as rising raw material costs continue to pressure margins.

TREE NEWS update: Unitree Technology will hold its 2026 World Physical AI Conference, with timing still to be announced. South Korea’s central bank publishes its rate decision, alongside meetings in Indonesia, the Philippines and Turkey, while the ECB enters its pre-meeting quiet period. US initial jobless claims for the week of Oct. 17 are due at 20:30 Beijing time, followed by the Conference Board’s September leading index and preliminary eurozone October consumer confidence at 22:00.

TREE NEWS update: China’s personal pension fund lineup reached 351 products as of Oct. 21, as new institutions entered the market and “fixed-income plus” products were launched. Industry participants said continued policy support and fund companies’ stepped-up allocation will shift the market from scale expansion toward quality improvement, better meeting residents’ long-term retirement allocation needs.

TREE NEWS update: Saudi Arabia’s Dammam airport was hit on Wednesday, the General Authority of Civil Aviation (GACA) said. The authority did not specify the cause of the strike, the extent of damage or any casualties in the statement. No further details were immediately available.

TREE NEWS update: Meta Platforms Inc. signed an agreement with CEO Mark Zuckerberg to keep him a resident of the company’s headquarters jurisdiction for eight years, the company disclosed in a Wednesday filing. Zuckerberg had considered leaving California over a proposed wealth tax that could have produced a multibillion-dollar tax bill and forced him to sell voting shares to pay it.

TREE NEWS reports: Nasdaq 100 stock index futures fell 0.3% and S&P 500 futures dropped 0.1% in early Asia-Pacific trading on Thursday. Among tech names, Tesla extended its after-hours decline to 2.8% after the company cut its capital expenditure target. IBM fell 2.5%, Nebius Group NV lost 1.4%, Intel, Broadcom, AMD and SK Hynix ADRs slipped as much as 0.9%, while Western Digital rose 0.3% and Meta gained 2.9%.

TREE NEWS reports: New York silver rose 0.5% intraday on the day to trade at $58.1 per ounce. The move marks a fresh intraday gain for the precious metal in New York trading.

TREE NEWS reports: About 83% of economists surveyed expect the Bank of Japan to raise its policy rate from 1.25% at its Dec. 18 meeting, up from just 35% in last month’s poll, when most expected the next hike in January. No respondent expects a move at the Oct. 30 policy meeting.