Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: The number of visitors from mainland China to Japan fell 55.5% year-on-year in the first nine months of 2025, Japan’s government tourism agency reported on October 21. The decline has continued since Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi made remarks on Taiwan that Beijing deemed erroneous. The data covers January through September.

TREE NEWS reports: The London Metal Exchange reported a net increase of 11,475 tonnes in copper inventories, alongside a 1,500-tonne rise in zinc and a 220-tonne rise in tin. Aluminium stocks fell by 100 tonnes and lead by 4,900 tonnes, while nickel inventories were unchanged.

TREE NEWS update: Lenovo Group is seeking a $2 billion loan to refinance existing debt at a lower cost. The company is pursuing the financing to reduce its borrowing expenses, though further terms of the loan were not disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Israel’s military began early voting for the country’s parliamentary elections on October 21, about a week before the national polling day, the Israel Defense Forces said. The military set up roughly 850 polling stations in Israel and abroad to allow soldiers stationed in remote areas and on cross-border combat fronts to cast ballots. The military polling stations will remain open until the national vote ends on October 27.

TREE NEWS update: The campaigns of Brazil’s incumbent President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva and Flávio Bolsonaro, son of former President Jair Bolsonaro, filed motions with Brazil’s Superior Electoral Court on the 20th seeking to disqualify each other’s candidacy. Lula is running for the Workers’ Party, while Flávio Bolsonaro represents the Liberal Party.

TREE NEWS update: Hungary’s former central bank governor György Matolcsy has been detained, Hungarian media reported. No further details on the circumstances, charges or timing of the detention were immediately available. Matolcsy served as governor of the Magyar Nemzeti Bank.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Oct. 21 that China is confident about the development of bilateral relations with Belarus, noting that next year marks the 35th anniversary of diplomatic ties. She said Beijing is willing to continue traditional friendship, deepen mutually beneficial cooperation and push relations to sustained progress at a high level.

TREE NEWS reports: Beijing’s retail sales of high energy-efficiency household appliances and audio-video equipment rose more than 60% in the first three quarters of the year, the Beijing Municipal Bureau of Statistics said on Oct. 21. Total market consumption grew 2.3% year on year, 0.6 percentage points faster than in the first half. Retail sales of consumer goods fell 0.7% to 973.87 billion yuan, with the decline narrowing by 1.5 percentage points from the first half.

TREE NEWS reports: Of 10,818 private securities funds with performance records, the overall return for the first three quarters of 2026 reached 2.37% as of September 30. A total of 6,133 products, or 56.69%, posted positive returns over the period.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mao Ning said on Oct. 21 that she has no information about whether China took part in communications regarding a possible meeting between US and North Korean leaders. Asked about a series of internet outages in North Korea the previous day that lasted several hours, Mao said she was not aware of the situation. The remarks came at a regular press briefing in Beijing.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Foreign Ministry said on Oct. 21 that its export controls on Japan are intended to stop Tokyo’s “remilitarization” and nuclear ambitions, after a reporter asked about Japan’s depleting yttrium reserves. Spokeswoman Mao Ning said the controls are implemented in accordance with laws and regulations, and that China’s position on maintaining stable global supply chains for critical minerals remains unchanged. She added that all parties have a responsibility to play a constructive role.

TREE NEWS update: Japan’s finance minister Satsuki Katayama said the government will accelerate a virtuous cycle between investment and wage growth. Katayama’s remarks signal continued policy focus on spurring corporate investment alongside rising wages. No further details or figures were provided.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Foreign Ministry said on Oct. 21 it has no information to offer on a planned China-US-Russia leaders’ summit, after Ukraine’s president insisted Kyiv must be part of any meeting addressing the Ukraine crisis. Spokesperson Mao Ning said Beijing’s position on the crisis is consistent and it will keep pushing for peace talks and a political settlement, but declined to say whether China would include Ukraine in the three-way format.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Foreign Ministry on Oct. 21 urged the United States to immediately stop its blockade of Cuba and any form of coercive pressure, after Florida’s attorney general issued an arrest warrant for Cuban revolutionary leader Raul Castro on Oct. 19. Spokesperson Mao Ning made the call at a regular press briefing in response to a question on the warrant.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s treasury futures closed lower, with the 30-year main contract down 0.38%, the 10-year main contract down 0.10%, the 5-year main contract down 0.06% and the 2-year main contract down 0.01%. The declines spanned the full curve of government bond futures contracts.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai issued a three-year urban renewal action plan for 2026–2028 that accelerates and expands the redevelopment of urban villages, requiring on-schedule relocation for comprehensive projects, mainly demolition-and-rebuild ones. The plan also calls for completing 700,000 square meters of old housing conversion and aims to finish converting non-self-contained thin-slab housing by the end of 2026.

TREE NEWS reports: Meituan is considering issuing offshore yuan-denominated bonds, possibly within the next few weeks, reopening its overseas debt financing channel after a one-year gap. The company has received approval from relevant authorities to issue the dim sum bonds, with proceeds earmarked for general corporate purposes.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued an implementation plan for a dual-control carbon emissions system covering the industrial and IT sectors from 2026 to 2030, targeting the construction of about 500 national-level zero-carbon factories and zero-carbon computing facilities by 2030. The plan sets goals to strengthen carbon emissions management for key industries, industrial enterprises and parks during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, and to establish basic carbon accounting, evaluation and assessment systems.

TREE NEWS reports: South Africa’s benchmark stock index fell 1% on the day to 109,297.20 points. The move marks a decline for the country’s main equity gauge, with the index closing the session at that level. No further detail on the drivers of the drop was provided.

TREE NEWS reports: Used pure electric vehicles sold at auction in China averaged 51,300 yuan in 2025, 12,600 yuan more than the 38,700 yuan average for combustion-engine cars, the China Association of Auctioneers said in its annual motor vehicle auction report. Nationwide vehicle auction volume reached 1.3221 million units, up 7.04% year on year, with turnover of 53.66 billion yuan, up 8.71%, marking an eighth consecutive annual record. Consignment volume rose 18.06% to 3.1151 million units.