Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Japan’s retail sales fell 1.2% in August from the previous month, against expectations of a 1.1% decline, after a 2.4% gain in July. The month-on-month contraction follows the prior month’s expansion, with the reading coming in slightly below the consensus forecast.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan’s large retailer sales rose 0.8% year-on-year in August, slowing from a 1.4% gain in the previous month. The prior reading stood at 1.4%. The data covers large-scale retail stores in Japan and points to a slower pace of growth in August than in July.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan’s industrial production fell 1.7% month-on-month in August, against expectations of a 1.4% rise and following a 0.2% decline in July. The sharper-than-expected contraction marks a reversal from the prior month’s modest drop and undershoots forecasts by 3.1 percentage points.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Daily published a signed commentary under the byline “Jinxuan” arguing that China must solidify security amid development and pursue development within security. The article calls for effectively preventing and defusing various risks, strengthening economic and social resilience, and using a new security architecture to safeguard a new development pattern.

TREE NEWS reports: Southbound capital has bought a net HK$430 billion of Hong Kong stocks so far this year, making it one of the market’s most important sources of incremental funds, Wind data show through September 29. Information technology, industrials and financials drew the largest net buying over the past month. Institutions expect the market’s overall trend to stay positive on improving liquidity expectations, earnings and valuation appeal, though overseas liquidity swings and tech valuation volatility remain near-term risks.

TREE NEWS reports: Hong Kong’s IPO pipeline held 369 applications under review as of Sept. 29, with 76 companies completing listings this year and 7 cleared but not yet trading, Wind data show. Mainland AI and hard-tech firms and A+H dual listings are driving the surge. Deloitte expects 160 new listings in 2026 raising at least HK$480 billion, potentially topping the 2010 record.

TREE NEWS reports: Multiple brokerages have issued a wave of Hong Kong stock allocation views, arguing that external disruptions are easing and valuation downside is limited, so pullbacks may offer entry points. The barbell strategy of a high-dividend base paired with AI offense is becoming the institutional consensus, with growth exposure in the AI application chain and defense anchored in dividend assets. As third-quarter earnings season approaches, focus is shifting from macro noise to fundamental verification, including AI commercialization and dividend sustainability.

TREE NEWS reports: Growing data center scale and sustained AI compute demand are making memory chips a key factor in compute efficiency, with upgrades in DDR5, HBM and 3D NAND expanding the industry’s room to grow. Institutional views hold that expanding AI server and high-capacity memory demand, combined with capacity shifting toward high-value-added products and long lead times for new capacity, should support memory chip prices and strengthen suppliers’ bargaining power.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s innovative drug sector has seen repeated bouts of activity, with interim results showing pharma industry profit growth outpacing revenue growth, supported by commercialization of innovative drugmakers and a recovery in CXO orders. Analysts say the sector is shifting from R&D-driven to commercialization-driven, with overseas clinical progress and product approvals seen opening further upside, while recovering R&D demand at home and abroad is expected to feed through to the CXO supply chain.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s three major A-share indexes closed higher on September 29, stabilizing after declines, while market turnover fell to its lowest in more than a year. Market participants attributed the thinner trading to the pre-holiday lull and said capital returning after the break could lift stocks, with technology still seen as the medium-term main line. They recommended buying tech growth leaders on dips and holding high-dividend assets as a base position.

TREE NEWS reports: The 10-year US Treasury yield has broken above 5%, with the 30-year yield climbing to multi-year highs and bond market volatility widening sharply. A Bank of America global and Asia fund manager survey found rising bond yields have overtaken the AI bubble as investors’ biggest perceived risk. Some global funds have ended long-running underweights to Chinese equities, prompting institutions to emphasize duration selection and broader diversification.

TREE NEWS reports: Chinese private fund managers are increasingly using public-market tools to express macro and sector views. So far this year, products from 141 private fund managers have appeared on the top-ten holder lists of 193 ETFs listed in 2026. Managers are combining ETFs, QDII and REITs to build alternative allocations across assets and markets at low cost.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s National Climate Center expects the current El Niño event to peak around November, but meteorological experts say the peak does not guarantee higher hydropower output. If the peak coincides with active cold air and below-normal precipitation, hydropower generation from December this year to February next year may fall short of expectations. Listed company data show widening divergence between wet and dry seasons, with third-quarter earnings recovery in sight.

TREE NEWS reports: US talks with Iran mediated by Qatar this week produced little progress, people familiar with the conversations said. The discussions, which Washington and Tehran have pursued through Qatari intermediaries, have yielded few concrete results so far. No further details on the talks were immediately available.

TREE NEWS reports: Investors face a heavy data slate on Tuesday, with China’s official and RatingDog manufacturing and non-manufacturing PMIs due at 09:30 and 09:45 Beijing time. The US session brings the ADP employment report at 20:15, second-quarter GDP and August PCE at 20:30, plus remarks from Fed officials Cook, Barkin, Goolsbee and Kashkari. Micron Technology reports after the US close.

TREE NEWS update: China Huadian Corporation said the world’s tallest steel-concrete hybrid tower wind turbine was successfully connected to the grid in Xinji, Hebei, on the 30th. The turbine’s hub reaches 204 meters, roughly the height of a 70-story residential building, allowing it to tap stable high-altitude wind and lower the threshold for low-wind-speed wind power development to below 4.5 meters per second.

TREE NEWS reports: Chinese listed companies across retail, dining, tourism, hotels, food and farming are rolling out promotions, inventory preparations, service guarantees and special events to capture spending during the combined ten-day Mid-Autumn and National Day holiday period that began this year, with some travelers extending leave to stretch the break to thirteen days. The measures aim to boost consumption activity during the traditional peak season.

TREE NEWS reports: At least five listed Chinese brokerages — Hongta Securities, Zhongtai Securities, Guolian Minsheng, Changjiang Securities and Huaan Securities — have disclosed new share buyback plans since the second half of 2026, with Guojin Securities updating progress on an earlier program. Small and mid-sized brokers dominate the round, and the initiating parties have diversified beyond listed-company boards. Major shareholder increases have also followed.

TREE NEWS reports: A survey by the private fund data provider Simuwang found that nearly 60% of participating private funds planned to hold heavy or full positions (above 80%) through China’s National Day holiday, while fewer than 8% intended to hold light or no positions (below 40%). Balanced allocation was a common choice, with respondents saying recent volatility had largely priced in pessimistic expectations and that structural opportunities could emerge after the holiday.

TREE NEWS reports: E Fund, Huian and other Chinese fund managers have raised or lifted purchase limits on their best-performing mutual funds, with some products posting strong one-year returns. The practice of capping subscriptions at highs to deter chasing and easing them after market pullbacks has become common as the public fund industry shifts to higher-quality growth. Industry participants call the clustering of such moves a contrarian step that sends a positive signal to the market.