Flash News

TREE NEWS update: Zhu Zhongming was elected mayor of Shanghai on September 30 at the fifth session of the 16th Shanghai Municipal People’s Congress, held at the Expo Center. The election was announced by the Shanghai government’s official WeChat account. Zhu takes over the leadership of China’s largest city and financial hub.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Council General Office issued an opinion on developing sports events to stimulate consumption, setting a goal of basically forming a modern event system with Chinese characteristics by 2030. The plan calls for cultivating a number of sports events with global influence, markedly improving industrial coordination and effectively energizing event-related consumption to support high-quality economic and social development.

TREE NEWS update: China National Machinery Industry Corporation (Sinomach) has shipped the first batch of TF coil cases for the world’s first compact fusion energy experiment, the Burning Plasma Experimental Superconducting Tokamak (BEST), Chinese state media said on September 30. The coil cases are core components of the device’s superconducting magnet system, designed to operate under ultra-low temperatures, ultra-strong magnetic fields and extreme stress. The BEST project is led by the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.

TREE NEWS reports: Foreign banks and institutional investors, including pension funds, sovereign wealth funds and insurers from Asia and the Gulf, are increasingly financing the expansion of North American AI computing capacity, Morgan Asset Management’s Charles Wu said. Capital expenditure in the sector is now approaching $1 trillion, with the inflows raising concerns about hidden debt.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China will conduct a 120 billion yuan outright reverse repo operation on October 8, 2026, using a fixed-quantity, rate-tender, multiple-price auction method. The operation carries a three-month term of 89 days, maturing on January 5, 2027, with the maturity date postponed if it falls on a holiday.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Civil Affairs published the 15th Five-Year Plan for the Development of Civil Affairs, setting out more than 30 key tasks for the 2026-2030 period. The plan makes high-quality development the central theme and calls for strengthening inclusive, foundational and bottom-line livelihood programs, with an emphasis on systemic, holistic and coordinated reform.

TREE NEWS reports: Italy’s preliminary September CPI came in at 4.2% year-on-year, above the 3.7% forecast and accelerating from 3.3% in the prior reading. The faster-than-expected inflation print marks a sharp pickup in Italian consumer prices.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce extended its trade-barrier investigation into US practices and measures obstructing green product trade until December 27, 2026, citing the case’s complexity. The probe was opened on March 27, 2026 under Announcement No. 18, invoking the Foreign Trade Law and the ministry’s trade-barrier investigation rules.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce said it will extend its trade barrier investigation into US measures it says disrupt global industrial and supply chains, pushing the deadline to December 27, 2026. The probe was opened on March 27, 2026 under Article 17 of the ministry’s 2026 announcement, citing the Foreign Trade Law and the Foreign Trade Barrier Investigation Rules. The ministry said the case is complex and invoked Article 32 of the rules to justify the extension.

TREE NEWS reports: Domestic economy-class airfares for China’s National Day holiday (Oct 1-7) averaged 929.7 yuan including taxes as of Sept 29, up 11.2% from 836.0 yuan a year earlier. The average base fare, excluding taxes, rose 6.0% year-on-year to 820.2 yuan.

TREE NEWS update: Shenzhen issued special local government bonds across seven tranches on the same day, including 5-year debt of 28 million yuan at 1.4600%, 10-year debt of 4.712 billion yuan at rates of 1.7200%-1.7300%, 15-year debt of 1.4821 billion yuan at 2.0500%, 20-year debt of 6.78267 billion yuan at 2.2000%-2.2100%, and 30-year debt of 504 million yuan at 2.2700%. The 30-year tranche drew a marginal bid-to-cover of 13.50x.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s state-owned and state-controlled enterprises reported a 2.7% year-on-year decline in total operating revenue for the January-August period, the Ministry of Finance said. Total profits for the same period rose 0.2% from a year earlier. The figures cover both central and local state-owned enterprises.

TREE NEWS update: Iran’s foreign minister Abbas Araghchi has received the US response to a proposal put forward by mediator Qatar, Iranian government spokesman said on September 30. Tehran did not disclose further details of the US reply. Qatar has been acting as a mediator in the indirect exchanges between Iran and the United States.

TREE NEWS update: The Shanghai Futures Exchange said its board has approved a revised management measure for accounts under actual control relationships, with the amendment reported to the China Securities Regulatory Commission and now published. The revised rules take effect on October 20, 2026. The measure governs how the exchange identifies and manages trading accounts linked by actual control.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Bureau of Statistics convened an expert technical review meeting on the Classification of National Economic Industries in Beijing on September 28. Nineteen experts from State Council departments, research institutes, industry associations, the NBS Expert Advisory Committee, local statistics agencies, the Standardization Administration and representative enterprises attended. Lu Shan, NBS Chief Statistician and executive deputy head of the classification revision coordination group, chaired the meeting.

TREE NEWS update: UAE Energy Minister Suhail Al Mazrouei said the country respects OPEC+ and will continue coordinating with partners and consumers, adding that additional oil output will have demand. The remarks signal the UAE’s continued alignment with the producer group’s supply policy, without specifying volumes or a timeline for any increase.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration of Foreign Exchange has drafted revisions to the implementation rules for balance-of-payments statistical reporting through banks, originally issued under Huifa [2022] No. 22, and released the draft for public comment. The proposed amended rules cover how cross-border payment data is reported via banks. No deadline or detailed changes were disclosed in the notice.

TREE NEWS reports: The London Metal Exchange reported mixed inventory moves in its latest update: zinc stocks fell 1,950 tonnes and copper declined 1,075 tonnes, while lead dropped 200 tonnes and tin rose 25 tonnes. Aluminum and nickel inventories were unchanged.

TREE NEWS update: The German government has instructed SEFE, the state-owned energy company, to store natural gas. The directive places gas storage under government direction as Berlin moves to manage supply. No volume, timeline or facility details were disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: Italy’s Istat business confidence index for September came in at 91.9, beating the 90.5 forecast and rising from the prior reading of 89.9. The reading marks an improvement in Italian business sentiment for the month.