Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Bosera Fund, Huabao Fund and Tianhong Fund have tightened caps on large subscriptions to their off-exchange bond funds, while on-exchange bond ETFs saw heavy inflows, as equity market volatility revived the stock-bond seesaw effect. Industry participants said the bond market has support in the fourth quarter, though timing remains key.

TREE NEWS reports: Jinxin Fund, Southern Fund and Dongcai Fund have become the first Chinese mutual fund companies to disclose their third-quarter 2026 reports, kicking off the quarterly reporting season. During the quarter’s volatile trading, several funds adjusted their holdings while some newer funds built positions quickly. Multiple fund managers struck an optimistic tone on equity assets, favoring companies with improving earnings quality and broad long-term industry growth potential.

TREE NEWS reports: A-share main indexes stabilized on Oct. 15-16 as broad-based ETFs saw sharp increases in trading volume, after the Shanghai Composite briefly fell below the 3,700-point mark during a correction that began in late September. Brokerage strategy reports said the pullback stemmed from overseas macro disturbances combined with internal structural pressures, and that concentrated release of prior positioning pressure plus strong ETF net inflows have made the market’s stage bottom gradually clearer.

TREE NEWS update: China releases third-quarter GDP, retail sales, industrial output, fixed-asset investment and property development investment at 10:00 Beijing time, with the State Council Information Office holding a press conference on the economic data. The 2026 Financial Street Forum opens in Beijing, where heads of the central bank and securities regulator are due to speak. China’s 70-city home price report is due at 09:30.

TREE NEWS update: Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on the 18th that Ukrainian attacks on Russia cannot change the course of events, describing Ukraine as in its death throes and attempting to resist. Peskov said Russia has been responding to Ukraine’s actions with systematic, large-scale strikes that are producing results, when asked how Moscow would respond to Ukraine’s large-scale attack on St. Petersburg.

TREE NEWS update: The 2026 Financial Street Forum opened in Beijing on Oct. 19 and runs through Oct. 22, drawing more than 400 senior guests from over 40 countries and regions under the theme “Openness, Cooperation, Inclusiveness — Building a New Ecosystem for Global Financial Development.” PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng, NFRA Director Ding Xiangqun, CSRC Chairman Wu Qing and SAFE Administrator Zhu Hexin will attend and deliver keynote speeches. The program includes 21 main and parallel forum sessions plus three special conferences.

TREE NEWS reports: As of 18:00 on Oct. 18, 159 A-share companies had released third-quarter earnings forecasts, with 132 issuing positive guidance, Wind data showed. The positive forecasts comprised 98 pre-increases, 13 turnarounds and 21 slight increases, accounting for 83.02% of the total. Sixty-one companies, including Hengli Petrochemical, Lianxun Instruments, Fudan Microelectronics and Hanyu Pharmaceutical, expect net profit attributable to shareholders to rise more than 100% year on year, with seven forecasting gains of over 10x.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Bureau of Statistics will release third-quarter economic data on October 19. Institutions broadly expect the economy to have continued improving in Q3, supported by resilience in industrial production and services, strong exports and a low base effect.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump on Oct. 18 published an open letter to the Israeli public on Truth Social endorsing Benjamin Netanyahu’s re-election bid for prime minister. Trump said Iran has long called for the destruction of Israel and the US and has been systematically hit militarily and economically, warning that Washington will soon complete the relevant actions if Tehran does not change course. He added that if Israel had the wrong leader — anyone other than Netanyahu — the US might have to finish the job itself, which he said he is not inclined to do.

TREE NEWS update: Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy said a tanker that violated rules struck a mine in the southern Strait of Hormuz early on the 19th, causing an explosion and fire in its engine room. The IRGC Navy warned that any vessel navigating the Strait of Hormuz and the Persian Gulf with its navigation and identification systems switched off will face severe penalties.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Council Information Office will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. on Monday, Oct. 19, at which National Bureau of Statistics spokesman and deputy director Mao Shengyong will present the country’s economic performance for the first three quarters of 2026 and take questions from reporters. The briefing covers national economic operations for the period.

TREE NEWS update: The Czech opposition won a landslide victory in the second round of Senate elections that ended on 17 October. The ruling ANO (Action of Dissatisfied Citizens) party failed to win any seats in the partial Senate re-election.

TREE NEWS reports: European natural gas prices opened 2% higher as tensions over Ukraine escalated. The gain reflects heightened market concern over potential supply disruptions tied to the region.

TREE NEWS reports: New Zealand’s 12-month trade deficit widened to NZ$6.175 billion in September, compared with a revised NZ$5.442 billion shortfall in the prior period. The larger annual gap reflects imports outpacing exports over the year through September.

TREE NEWS reports: New Zealand’s September exports totaled NZ$6.47 billion, down from NZ$6.66 billion in the previous reading. The figure marks a month-on-month decline in the value of goods shipped abroad. No further breakdown of the trade balance was provided in the release.

TREE NEWS update: Multiple strong explosions were heard across different parts of Kyiv at around 23:00 local time on the 18th, with reports that a missile struck and exploded in the city’s eastern suburbs. Ukraine’s Air Force issued ballistic missile attack warnings on social media between 22:57 and 23:03, saying multiple Russian ballistic missiles were heading toward Kyiv.

TREE NEWS update: French President Emmanuel Macron on October 18 condemned the violence that broke out in multiple locations across France a day earlier, saying no cause can justify such acts. In a televised address, he called for not conflating grievances with violence and said legal action would be taken against those who broke the law. He said the protests reflected concerns over living costs and fuel prices, and announced a visit to Gulf countries on October 19 to secure France’s energy supply.

TREE NEWS update: Yemen’s Houthi movement said Saudi Arabia carried out 110 airstrikes and missile attacks across Yemen in the 24 hours to the evening of the 18th, hitting the capital Sanaa and the provinces of Hodeidah, Taiz, Amran, Hajjah, Saada, Al-Jawf, Al-Dhale and Marib. The group said more than 30 people were killed or wounded, most of them women and children. It put the total number of Saudi strikes since the current escalation began at 2,652.

TREE NEWS update: Iraqi Foreign Minister Hussein, who also serves as deputy prime minister, said Baghdad is in contact with Iran and Gulf states to arrange a meeting between the parties in the Iraqi capital. He spoke on 18 May as the 52nd session of the OIC Council of Foreign Ministers closed in Baghdad, where the session adopted the Baghdad Declaration.

TREE NEWS update: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said on the 18th that he had spoken by phone with US special envoy Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to discuss the outcome of a US-Ukraine team meeting in Florida and the next diplomatic steps. Zelensky said Ukraine continues to brief partners on attacks and air-defense needs, and stressed that the US position is critical to the process.