Flash News

TREE NEWS update: China’s Finance Minister Lan Fo’an met World Bank Managing Director and Chief Knowledge Officer Pascale Donohue in Beijing on October 8. The two exchanged views on cooperation between China and the World Bank and on the replenishment of the International Development Association. Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min also attended the meeting.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s automobile production and sales fell slightly in the first three quarters of the year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said, with the market showing a pattern of “cold at home, hot abroad.” Domestic demand remains under pressure from multiple factors and has yet to improve, while exports continue to grow at a high rate despite a complex external environment. The share of new-energy vehicle sales kept rising steadily.

TREE NEWS update: OPEC Secretary-General Haitham Al Ghais said on October 12 that the group has cut its forecast for global daily oil demand growth in 2026 to 400,000 barrels from 1.4 million barrels at the start of the year. Speaking at the 25th World Petroleum Congress in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, he said demand that had been deferred is expected to emerge gradually in 2027. He also said global primary energy demand is projected to be 23% higher than current levels by 2050, and warned of widespread underinvestment across energy production, already visible in refining.

TREE NEWS reports: India’s 10-year government bond yield climbed 10 basis points to 7.40%. The move marks a sharp upward repricing of the benchmark sovereign yield, which is closely watched as a gauge of domestic borrowing costs and rate expectations.

TREE NEWS update: Sweden’s Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said on October 12 that the 2026 Nobel Prize in Economic Sciences goes to Robert E. Hall of Stanford University and Michael Woodford of Columbia University. The academy cited their work laying the microeconomic foundations for macroeconomic stabilization policy.

TREE NEWS update: BYD is seeking to begin large-scale vehicle production at its Hungarian plant in the fourth quarter, the company said. France and Spain have been shortlisted as candidates for its next European factory. The Chinese automaker is expanding manufacturing capacity in Europe amid rising demand for electric vehicles in the region.

TREE NEWS reports: WTI crude rose 1.0% on the day to trade at $92.79 a barrel, while Brent crude also gained 1.0% to reach $105.77 a barrel. Both benchmarks moved higher by the same percentage intraday.

TREE NEWS update: Ukraine’s state oil and gas company Naftogaz reported that Russian drones attacked natural gas extraction infrastructure in Kharkiv Oblast in the early hours of October 12, damaging key equipment and sparking a fire that disrupted normal operations. Crews are on site carrying out equipment inspections, repairs to damaged systems and follow-up handling of the fire. Russia has not commented.

TREE NEWS reports: Tan Pichuang, former vice chairman of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region government and concurrently Liuzhou party secretary, disclosed details of Liuzhou’s local government debt workout in a signed article published in the 2026 ninth issue of Study and Research, a journal run by the Central Policy Research Office. The article addresses how the city defused its local debt risks.

TREE NEWS reports: UBS expects gold to find support around $4,000 an ounce and climb to $5,400 by September 2027, even as a stronger dollar and rising US real rates pressure prices. Strategist Giovanni Staunovo said higher real rates and a firm dollar have raised the opportunity cost of holding the non-yielding metal, while non-commercial traders recently cut net long positions in gold futures and options. Gold ETF holdings have stayed resilient, with continued inflows in recent weeks.

TREE NEWS reports: Goldman Sachs strategists led by Christian Mueller-Glissmann upgraded their three-month view on global equities from neutral to overweight, matching their 12-month bullish stance. In a note, the team said stock valuations look less expensive after rising oil prices and bond yields stalled the rally, while corporate earnings prospects remain solid and should lift markets already trading near record highs.

TREE NEWS update: German Social Democratic Party co-leader and Labor Minister Bärbel Bas announced she is resigning as party chair and has asked the chancellor to relieve her of her ministerial post. In a statement issued jointly with SPD co-leader and Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, Bas said she is currently unable to fully carry out her government and party duties in the short term. The resignation comes as both the CDU/CSU and SPD in Germany’s ruling coalition face declining public support.

TREE NEWS reports: Elon Musk has donated more than $276 million to Republican groups since July. The figure covers political contributions made by the Tesla and X owner over the period beginning in July.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Finance announced it will lower the value-added tax export rebate rate for new energy vehicles from 13% to 9%, effective April 1, 2027. The same announcement also cancels the VAT export rebate for products including electronic cigarette devices and components from that date.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s new energy vehicle output reached 1.814 million units and sales 1.823 million units in September 2026, up 12.2% and 13.6% year on year, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers said on the 12th. NEVs accounted for 61.6% of monthly new car sales, a record high and the third consecutive month above 60%.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Vice Minister of Industry and Information Technology Xiong Jijun met in Beijing on October 12 with Wu Huixian, head of the Macau Special Administrative Region’s economic and finance affairs delegation. The two sides discussed deepening cooperation in industry and information technology, and agreed to implement the cooperation agreement on developing new quality productive forces and advancing new industrialization.

TREE NEWS update: China Metallurgical Group Corporation (MCC) has received approval from the China Securities Regulatory Commission to issue corporate bonds with a total face value of no more than RMB 15 billion. The regulatory green light clears the way for the state-owned construction and engineering group to proceed with the planned issuance. No timeline for the bond sale was disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Saudi Arabia’s energy minister said the kingdom’s oil pipeline expansion plan could raise its crude transport capacity to 10 million barrels per day. Saudi Arabia is also working to use natural gas pipelines to move 1.2 million barrels of oil per day, with the conversion potentially completed within the next seven to eight weeks.

TREE NEWS update: EU foreign ministers approved a sanctions list of nearly 1,600 targets aimed at Russia’s military-industrial complex, the bloc’s foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said on the 12th. Kallas, the EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, announced the adoption of the list in a statement. No further details on the named entities or measures were given.

TREE NEWS reports: EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Kallas said on the 12th that EU member states’ foreign ministers have just adopted a sanctions list targeting Russia’s military-industrial sector, involving nearly 1,600 entries. Kallas did not further specify the specific entities sanctioned on the list or the details of the measures.