Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Moody’s, S&P and Fitch have raised the credit ratings or industry rating baselines of Chinese securities firms in a synchronised wave this year, lifting CITIC Securities, Guotai Haitong and CICC into the “A” band. The moves mark a rare simultaneous reassessment of the sector by all three major international rating agencies.

TREE NEWS reports: Hurricane Isaias has forced the shutdown of about 63% of US Gulf of Mexico crude production as it bears down on the refining and petrochemical corridor along the coast, with 500,000 barrels per day of refining capacity at risk. More than 70 counties across Alabama, Florida and Mississippi have declared states of emergency, and emergency managers are urging residents to stock water and non-perishable food and review evacuation plans.

TREE NEWS update: BP has shut in oil production at its Thunder Horse and Na Kika platforms in the Gulf of Mexico. The company halted output at both facilities. No reason for the shutdown, no timeline for restart and no volume figures were given.

TREE NEWS update: Australia-based data center company Firmus Grid Ltd. has withdrawn its application to list on the Australian Securities Exchange, shelving its IPO plans. In a statement, the board said recent market volatility and current conditions meant the offering could not properly reflect the company’s business strength and long-term growth prospects. Firmus said it will now seek capital from private markets and consider other public and private options.

TREE NEWS update: Elon Musk said he sees a path for SpaceX to be worth far more than the current scale of the Earth’s economy, calling the idea potentially ‘extremely crazy.’ The remark, made without further detail on timing or mechanics, points to the company’s long-term ambitions beyond its current launch and satellite businesses. No specific valuation figure or date was given.

TREE NEWS reports: A proposed data center near Garden City, Kansas, claims it will use less water than the farm it replaces, as new projects across the US Great Plains raise alarm among local water managers worried about further strain on the already-depleted Ogallala Aquifer. The claim has drawn skepticism, with some experts saying that even reduced water use can pose problems in water-scarce regions.

TREE NEWS update: Pilot Corp. and Tesla have opened their first MegaCharger site in the US state of Georgia, the companies said. The facility marks the debut of the jointly branded fast-charging hub, which combines Tesla Superchargers with Pilot’s travel-center network. No further details on the number of stalls, charging speeds or investment were provided.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump will travel to Syracuse, New York, on Friday, the White House said. Trump is scheduled to host a Columbus Day celebration at 11 a.m. ET that day.

TREE NEWS reports: The FTSE China A50 index futures contract closed down 0.29% at 13,677 points in continuous night trading. The move reflects overnight positioning in the benchmark tracking the largest 50 A-share companies listed in Shanghai and Shenzhen.

TREE NEWS reports: At the Thursday close in New York, S&P 500 futures fell 0.41% and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 1.23%, while Dow futures gained 0.12% and Russell 2000 futures rose 0.06%. The split close left blue-chip and small-cap contracts slightly higher as tech-heavy futures led the decline.

TREE NEWS reports: The offshore yuan (CNH) closed at 6.7035 per US dollar in New York on Thursday, down 9 points from Wednesday’s New York close, with the pair trading between 6.6999 and 6.7061 during the session. The move marked a modest softening of the Chinese currency in late overseas trade.

TREE NEWS reports: Spot gold rose 0.52% to $4,132.62 an ounce in late New York trade on Thursday, October 8, after trading in a high range for most of the session. Spot silver fell 1.04% to $59.1632 an ounce, while COMEX copper futures dropped 1.37% to $6.5595 a pound despite an early Asia-session rally to a $6.7630 intraday high at 09:47 Beijing time. The NYSE Arca Gold Miners Index gained 0.96% to 2,479.37 points.

TREE NEWS reports: The Pentagon has drawn up a new three-day plan for airstrikes on Iran, but US President Donald Trump is undecided on whether to proceed. The plan was prepared by the Department of Defense, which has not announced a decision. No timeline for a decision was given.

TREE NEWS reports: MSCI’s emerging markets stock index dropped 1.6%, while the gauge tracking developing-nation currencies slipped 0.06%. The move marks a decline in emerging-market equities alongside a marginal softening in EM foreign exchange. No further details were provided.

TREE NEWS update: The US National Hurricane Center said Simon is nearly a hurricane and has issued a hurricane watch for southwestern and west-central Mexico. The watch covers the affected coastal areas as the storm strengthens toward hurricane status, the NHC said.

TREE NEWS update: Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian told Russian President Vladimir Putin that Iran remains in dialogue but that every time it negotiates with the United States, Washington launches new attacks. He said Iran will not leave the negotiating table or abandon talks, and that proposals exchanged with the US through intermediaries will be consolidated once finalized. Pezeshkian added that the US seeks to impose its policies and domestic agenda on other countries.

TREE NEWS reports: Multiple oil tankers struck mines in the southern shipping lane of the Strait of Hormuz, triggering violent explosions, Iranian media reported. The incident affects one of the world’s most critical oil transit corridors. No casualty figures or further operational details were immediately given.

TREE NEWS reports: US sector ETFs closed mixed on Thursday, October 8. The semiconductor ETF dropped 2.84%, the global tech index ETF fell 2.01% and the technology sector ETF lost 1.79%, while the financials ETF, regional banks ETF and banking ETF gained as much as 1.05%.

TREE NEWS update: SpaceX will acquire a nationwide portfolio of low-band spectrum licenses. No purchase price, seller, or transaction timeline was disclosed. The deal would expand the company’s wireless spectrum holdings as it builds out its satellite communications business.

TREE NEWS reports: On Thursday, October 8, the emerging markets ETF closed down 1.89%, the Nasdaq 100 ETF fell 1.33% and the Barclays US convertible bond ETF lost 1.28%, while soybeans, agriculture, the S&P 500 ETF, long-dollar and Russell 2000 ETFs fell as much as 0.72%. Gainers included long-yen, the Dow ETF, long-euro, inflation-linked bond and US investment-grade corporate bond ETFs, up at least 0.1%, with gold, US real estate and 20+ year Treasury ETFs up at least 0.73%, the long volatility index up 2.01% and the US Brent oil fund up 2.81%.