Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Morgan Stanley said memory-chip stocks typically peak before earnings do, making them look cheapest when the cycle is at its top. Asian memory shares have risen about ninefold since the cycle began in September 2025, with consensus EPS estimates revised up 432%, while Samsung and SK Hynix trade at roughly 3-4x forward earnings. HBM pricing is near seven times its historic peak, but Morgan Stanley said DRAM contract prices would need to rise about 70% quarter-on-quarter to justify further gains.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s auto production and sales edged lower in the first three quarters of 2026, with the market showing a pattern of weak domestic demand and strong exports, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said. Domestic pressure persists on multiple factors, while exports kept growing at a high rate and the share of new-energy vehicle sales continued to rise.

TREE NEWS update: PowerChina announced it signed the Section 3 contract for the first phase of the Belgrade Metro Line 1 main line with Serbia’s Ministry of Construction, Transport and Infrastructure. The contract is worth about 12.526 billion yuan, with a construction period of 60 months and a 2-year warranty period.

TREE NEWS reports: Heilongjiang province had harvested 122.239 million mu of crops as of Oct. 11, more than 50% of the total area to be harvested, the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said, citing agricultural monitoring data. The figure covers the province’s main autumn harvest, which is now past its halfway point.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Permanent Representative to the WTO, Li Yongjie, presented the proposal “Further Reflections and Suggestions on WTO Reform” at a WTO special session on the “fundamental issues” of reform held on the 12th. Li set out China’s positions on the challenges facing the WTO, the goals of reform and the principles that should be upheld, drawing broad attention and positive responses from participating parties.

TREE NEWS update: Russia’s Defence Ministry said its forces carried out a cluster strike overnight from late October 12 into October 13 using ground-based precision weapons and drones, targeting Ukrainian military-industrial facilities, logistics hubs, rail and port infrastructure, and vessels carrying military cargo. Separately, Russian air defences intercepted and destroyed 604 Ukrainian drones between 20:00 on October 12 and 08:00 on October 13 over Bryansk, Moscow and other regions and the Sea of Azov.

TREE NEWS reports: A debt surge to finance AI infrastructure is driving up borrowing costs for developing countries, Bank of America strategists said. Average yields on emerging-market dollar bonds have climbed nearly 1 percentage point in the second half of the year to their highest since April last year. BofA’s Merveille Paja said the move could challenge governments seeking to refinance maturing debt, with geopolitical concerns, high oil prices and rising policy rates already pressuring yields.

TREE NEWS update: JL Mag Rare-Earth said it expects attributable net profit of 735 million to 800 million yuan for the first three quarters of 2026, up 42.59% to 55.20% from 515 million yuan a year earlier. Non-recurring net profit is guided at 659 million to 724 million yuan, up 53.22% to 68.33%, with third-quarter attributable profit of 273 million to 338 million yuan. Revenue rose about 40% year on year, led by a roughly 100% jump in robotics and industrial servo motor revenue, while humanoid robot motor rotors entered small-batch delivery.

TREE NEWS reports: France’s top financial regulator said French banks’ exposure to the country’s public debt remains limited and does not pose a financial stability risk even if government bond yields spike. ACPR secretary-general Emmanuelle Assouan said at a Paris press conference that the watchdog is “quite reassured” about the impact of recent sovereign spread moves on banks. ACPR reported French banks held about €190 billion ($213 billion) of domestic public debt in 2025, 24% of their total sovereign holdings and 2% of total assets.

TREE NEWS reports: A Bank of America survey shows fund managers’ overweight position in technology stocks rose to 37% in October from 30% the previous month, the highest since August 2020, as investors chase the AI-driven rally. About 45% of respondents expect an AI bubble by 2027, while 42% do not. Global semiconductor shares are now the market’s most crowded trade, the survey found.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong’s Chief Executive in Council approved 12-year renewals of local free television programme service licences for Hong Kong Television Entertainment Company, Television Broadcasts Limited and i-CABLE HOY Limited, the government announced on October 13. The decision also includes a number of relaxation measures and tightened requirements aimed at sustaining the local broadcasting industry’s development.

TREE NEWS reports: S&P 500 index futures erased their earlier declines and were roughly flat. The move leaves the contracts little changed on the session after the intraday recovery.

TREE NEWS reports: The US dollar dropped 0.4% against the Japanese yen to 157.96. The move marks a pullback in the dollar-yen pair, which has hovered near multi-decade highs as the interest-rate gap between the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan keeps the yen under pressure.

TREE NEWS reports: Bank of Japan officials are leaning against a second consecutive rate hike at this month’s meeting, though a move as early as December remains possible, people familiar with the matter said. With no sign of a sudden jump in upside inflation risks, officials see no need for back-to-back increases, and will scrutinize data ahead of the Dec. 18-19 meeting. The final decision at the Oct. 30 gathering could still change, the people said.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank of Japan is inclined not to deliver a consecutive rate increase in October. The signal points to a pause after the central bank’s most recent hike, leaving the next move beyond October in question. No further details on the timing or scale of future policy steps were given.

TREE NEWS update: French high-school students are set to demonstrate for a third consecutive week, with a student-led march planned for Tuesday afternoon in Paris’s 13th arrondissement. The protests, organized by major student unions and teachers’ unions, peaked last Tuesday when more than 250,000 students demonstrated nationwide demanding higher education funding. Clashes have broken out sporadically, with nearly 7,000 arrests by police.

TREE NEWS reports: Bank of America expects S&P 500 third-quarter earnings per share to rise 32% year over year to $93.50, above the 27% consensus, as the Q3 reporting season opens with JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Wells Fargo and Citigroup due this week. BofA said companies beating both EPS and revenue estimates outperformed the index by just 0.7 percentage point the next day, half the 1.4-point historical average, while joint misses were punished by 3.3 points.

TREE NEWS reports: The onshore yuan closed at 6.6945 per US dollar at 16:30 Beijing time, down 15 pips from the previous official close and 5 pips from the prior overnight session close.

TREE NEWS update: Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on October 13 that President Donald Trump poses a threat to the Fed’s independence, but has so far not succeeded in undermining it. Waller said he believes Congress and the courts will protect the central bank’s independence.

TREE NEWS update: Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said threats to the central bank’s independence from President Donald Trump have so far not succeeded. Waller said he trusts Congress and the courts to protect the Fed’s independence. He did not specify what actions or pressure he was referring to.