TREE NEWS update: China, Zambia and Rwanda jointly held a meeting on China-Africa trade and investment integration for African industrialization in Geneva on 29 May during the WTO’s 10th Global Review of Aid for Trade. Chinese Vice Minister of Commerce Jiang Chenghua said Africa’s share of global trade and manufacturing value-added remains low and urged trade-investment integration to drive industrialization. China has submitted a trade-investment integration proposal to the WTO.
TREE NEWS update: Jiangsu Xinde Semiconductor Technology Co. launched a global offering of 107 million H-shares at HK$8.60 to HK$9.60 apiece, aiming to list on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange under stock code 7672. The deal includes 10.6565 million shares for the Hong Kong public offer and 95.906 million for the international placing, with applications open from Oct. 30 to Nov. 5, 2026, pricing on Nov. 6 and trading expected to start Nov. 10.
TREE NEWS reports: Vale reported third-quarter net profit of $1.26 billion, below the $1.51 billion analysts expected. Iron ore output came in at 88.35 million tonnes versus a $91.64 million-tonne estimate, and iron ore sales were 75.51 million tonnes against 77.46 million forecast. Net operating revenue was $10.6 billion, adjusted EBITDA $3.33 billion and capital expenditure $1.25 billion.
TREE NEWS reports: China’s public mutual funds launched 59 equity funds in October, pushing the year-to-date total raised by new equity funds close to 500 billion yuan. Industry participants expect optimized management rules, including lower product setup thresholds and revised liquidation conditions for sponsor-initiated funds, to encourage more counter-cyclical positioning at market lows.
TREE NEWS update: China’s revised regulations on property insurance product development will take effect on November 1, the first systemic overhaul of the rules in nearly a decade. The rules, issued by the National Financial Regulatory Administration, are expected to deepen the cleanup of non-auto insurance lines as disorderly competition cools, leaving small and mid-sized property insurers room to pursue differentiated strategies, particularly in serving technological innovation.
TREE NEWS reports: Czech billionaire Michal Strnad has made a €30 billion bid to acquire Delfin, the Italian Del Vecchio family’s investment vehicle and a key shareholder in eyewear giant EssilorLuxottica, people familiar with the matter said. The approach comes as internal tensions at Delfin mount. Delfin’s portfolio also includes substantial holdings in Italian finance. A spokesperson for AKIPIA, which manages part of Strnad’s non-defense investments, said the group does not comment on market speculation or potential business negotiations.
TREE NEWS reports: JPMorgan strategists Jay Barry, Pankaj Vohra, Amanda Berke and Molly Herckis said cooling demand for US Treasury bills has driven their recent underperformance versus interest rate swaps and the trend is unlikely to reverse quickly. Money market fund assets have stalled over the past two months and their weighted average maturity has shortened further. Even with a seasonal rebound expected in the fourth quarter, JPMorgan projects slower asset growth in 2026 than in the prior two years.
TREE NEWS update: The US government said Thursday that oil companies have agreed to borrow about 40 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve, the final tranche Washington committed under a global agreement to stabilize fuel prices after the US and Israel went to war with Iran. The Department of Energy awarded contracts for nearly 16.8 million barrels on October 28.
TREE NEWS reports: WTI crude opened 0.8% higher in Asian trading on the risk that the United States could resume strikes on Iran. The gain reflects fresh geopolitical risk premium in oil markets tied to the potential for renewed US military action against Iran.
TREE NEWS reports: Nasdaq futures dropped 1.4% at the start of Asia-Pacific trading on Friday, while Intel fell 21.6% in after-hours US trading. Pinterest slid 9.7%, AMD 5.9%, Nebius 5.8%, Amazon 5.7% and SK Hynix ADRs 5.2%. SanDisk lost 3.4%, with Oracle, Qualcomm and Seagate Technology each down more than 3%.
TREE NEWS update: Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said the Ukrainian capital came under a ballistic missile attack on the evening of the 29th, urging residents to take shelter. The statement was posted on social media at about 22:45 local time, roughly two minutes after a correspondent in the city heard a series of explosions starting around 22:43.
TREE NEWS update: Liberal Party president Valdemar Costa Neto said on the 29th that former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro did not know in advance that his son Flavio Bolsonaro would leave Brazil, and does not endorse the open letter Flavio published under the title of “president-elect.” Costa Neto spoke after visiting Jair Bolsonaro, who is serving a sentence for plotting a coup. He said Flavio met his father before departing but did not tell him he was leaving, and no one in the party knew of the travel plan beforehand.
TREE NEWS update: European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said Canada should become the EU’s first “associate member,” speaking at the Canada-EU summit in Montreal on May 29. “We all want to take our relationship to the highest level,” she said, adding that the two sides are discussing the idea. She also warned that alliances that previously safeguarded shared prosperity and security are changing rapidly.
TREE NEWS reports: The Pentagon is preparing for a significant budget reduction as U.S. officials conclude that President Trump’s proposed record $1.5 trillion defense budget is unlikely to win congressional approval. The administration had urged Congress to approve the $1.5 trillion figure, which would be the largest military spending package in U.S. history.
TREE NEWS update: Intel said it expects capital expenditure of about $20 billion in 2026, with spending rising in 2027, and aims to repay debt in 2027. The chipmaker also projected net cash income of roughly $1.1 billion in both 2027 and 2028.
TREE NEWS update: Intel’s chief financial officer said the industry’s supply tightness is expected to persist through 2027 and possibly extend into 2028. The forecast points to a prolonged period of constrained semiconductor supply, with no relief expected before the end of the decade’s first half.
TREE NEWS update: The International Atomic Energy Agency said it has been informed that an employee of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant was killed in a drone attack today. The IAEA did not provide further details on the incident or the identity of the worker. The plant, Europe’s largest nuclear facility, has been at the center of safety concerns since the war in Ukraine began.
TREE NEWS update: Intel’s CEO said the PC market correction has accelerated over the past two months as OEM partners actively manage inventory to adapt to weaker end-user sales. He said the current PC market environment will persist until memory supply and pricing normalize, and that an industry-wide shortage of advanced organic substrates for EMIB packaging is also constraining the company’s ability to ramp output. The long-term outlook for the PC market remains positive.
TREE NEWS update: Intel’s CEO said a production halt at its Israeli factory will affect shipments of server CPUs in the fourth quarter. The disruption will impact the company’s 10-nanometer server processor shipments in Q4, the CEO said. No further details on the cause or duration of the stoppage were provided.
TREE NEWS reports: In late New York trading on Thursday, October 29, S&P 500 futures closed down 0.87%, Dow futures fell 0.28%, and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 2.52%. Russell 2000 futures bucked the trend, gaining 0.97%.