Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Premier Li Qiang met Russian President Vladimir Putin in St. Petersburg on the afternoon of Oct. 21, China’s Xinhua News Agency reported. The meeting was held during Li’s visit to Russia. No further details of the talks were disclosed in the report.

TREE NEWS update: Japan Post Insurance plans to continue purchasing Japanese government bonds to replace maturing holdings, a spokesperson said. With interest rates having risen recently, the insurer now views all maturities along the yield curve as potential investment targets. The comments signal continued demand from a major domestic institutional buyer as JGB yields adjust to higher rates.

TREE NEWS reports: Societe Generale strategist Stephen Spratt said Japanese life insurers appear likely to increase their willingness to allocate to Japanese government bonds in the second half of the fiscal year. Domestic demand is starting to recover, while the size of super-long JGB auctions has already been reduced.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan Post Insurance plans to increase purchases of yen-denominated bonds, and Daido Life Insurance has raised its plan to boost domestic bond holdings, mainly through corporate bonds, the insurers signaled for the second half of the fiscal year. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance intends to keep its JGB holdings roughly unchanged while selling lower-yielding bonds to buy higher-yielding securities. The moves could support upcoming Japanese government bond auctions.

TREE NEWS update: German Chancellor Friedrich Merz said on the 21st that the Middle East conflict is severely impacting global energy markets and supply chains. Speaking at the 2026 Berlin Global Dialogue forum, Merz said the blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb Strait has further aggravated the effects. He said Germany and Europe must improve their business environment, increase private investment and deepen international cooperation, supporting EU expansion of trade relations and new trade agreements.

TREE NEWS reports: NYMEX natural gas futures dropped 5% on the session, hitting their lowest intraday level in five weeks. The move marks a sharp single-session decline for the benchmark U.S. gas contract, which is trading at its weakest point in more than a month.

TREE NEWS update: Iranian Parliament Speaker Mohammad Bagher Ghalibaf met with Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei for talks, the parliament’s news agency reported. The meeting reviewed the latest U.S. and Israeli military, economic and cognitive-warfare moves and stressed strengthening national power, while Ghalibaf briefed on parliamentary work since the outbreak of the third imposed war and on plans to address domestic problems.

TREE NEWS update: The US Treasury auctioned four-month bills at a high yield of 4.155%, with a bid-to-cover ratio of 2.76. The sale drew demand at that clearing rate.

TREE NEWS reports: WTI crude oil fell 1.0% during the trading session to $96.78 a barrel. The intraday decline marks a pullback in the U.S. benchmark, with the move reported at that price level. No further details were immediately available.

TREE NEWS reports: Germany’s DAX 30 index closed provisionally 1.23% higher at 25,616.42 on the day. France’s benchmark index rose 0.92%, Italy’s gained 1.09% with its banks index up 1.22%, and the UK’s index added 0.14%, all on a preliminary basis.

TREE NEWS update: Saudi Arabia has agreed to keep supplying France with additional diesel “for as long as necessary,” the French presidency said. French officials had earlier said Paris expected to secure an extra 295,000 tonnes of diesel per month from Gulf countries. The arrangement is intended to bolster France’s fuel supplies amid ongoing pressure on energy markets.

TREE NEWS update: Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said he was right to publicly defend then-Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell against attacks by US President Donald Trump, and would do so again. Speaking Wednesday at an OMFIF online event on central bank independence, Bailey said he and other central bank chiefs spoke out because Trump had begun targeting Powell “personally” rather than just criticizing the institution’s policies. Bailey called Powell “a man of the utmost integrity” and a friend.

TREE NEWS reports: Styrene gained about 2.1% in night trading, while PVC rose about 0.9% and coke added about 0.1%. On the downside, PTA fell 0.3%, iron ore dropped 0.6% and LPG slid 2.3%.

TREE NEWS reports: China produces over 75% of the world’s chemical fiber, an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. Speaking to reporters, Chen said textiles now extend beyond apparel into carbon-fiber composites for aircraft, missiles and rockets, ultra-high-molecular-weight polyethylene fiber used in Shenzhou spacecraft recovery, and medical implants such as artificial blood vessels, heart valves and absorbable sutures. He noted some high-end equipment, including looms for high-end electronic cloth and digital printing nozzles, remains monopolized by foreign suppliers.

TREE NEWS reports: Hengqin Port handled more than 30 million inbound and outbound passenger crossings in 2025 as of 21:00 on October 21, up 27.1% year on year, according to the Hengqin border inspection station under the Zhuhai General Station of Exit and Entry Frontier Inspection. The 30 million mark was reached 68 days earlier than last year, setting a record high for passenger traffic at the port for the comparable period.

TREE NEWS reports: The Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.9% to a fresh intraday high, while the S&P 500 gained 0.3%. The CBOE Volatility Index (VIX) fell 3.0% on the day to 16.79.

TREE NEWS update: The Export-Import Bank of China signed a series of cooperation documents with Chinese and foreign partners at the 2026 Financial Street Forum’s parallel session on Belt and Road high-quality development. The agreements were announced at the forum session titled “Openness for Win-Win: Building New Momentum for High-Quality Belt and Road Development.” The bank said the deals aim to jointly advance high-quality Belt and Road cooperation.

TREE NEWS update: China Export-Import Bank Chairman Chen Huaiyu said the policy lender has extended more than 7 trillion yuan in Belt and Road loans over the past decade-plus, covering more than 130 partner countries. Chen made the remarks at a parallel forum held in Beijing and Nairobi during the 2026 Financial Street Forum, where the bank said it remains in the front ranks of Belt and Road financing.

TREE NEWS reports: DayOne Data Centers is reassessing its US IPO and may delay the listing or cut the offering size to $2.5 billion–$3 billion, about half its original target, as volatility in the data-center sector intensifies. The Singapore-headquartered operator is still engaging potential investors and aims to proceed as soon as market conditions allow.

TREE NEWS update: Houthi military spokesman Yahya Saree said on the 21st that the group carried out a military operation targeting military equipment inside Riyan International Airport in Yemen’s southeastern Hadramout province. He said Saudi Arabia had flown the equipment into the airport on military transport planes, and accused Saudi forces of using a civilian airport for military purposes.