Flash News

TREE NEWS update: The leaders of the Netherlands, Germany, Finland, Sweden, Denmark and Austria sent a letter to the European Union on September 29 demanding cuts of hundreds of billions of euros in spending, threatening to withhold support for the bloc’s upcoming seven-year budget unless the reductions are made. The six governments framed the letter as an ultimatum on the budget.

TREE NEWS update: Qatar said it is working to help the United States and Iran find common ground, without giving further details on the effort. The statement points to continued Qatari mediation between Washington and Tehran. No timeline, venue or specific issues under discussion were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority has injected HK$40 million in liquidity into the banking system through its discount window. The operation marks a fresh central bank liquidity provision to local lenders. No further details on the borrowing banks or the terms were disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng met a delegation from the Japan Association for the Promotion of International Trade at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing on 29 October. He said China welcomes Japanese companies to develop in China and share market opportunities. The association’s new chairman, Iwaya Takeshi, said Japanese business circles will expand exchanges with China and deepen mutually beneficial cooperation.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese Academy of Sciences academician He Fuchu said on the 28th in Singapore that the Human Proteome Navigational International Big Science Program (π-HuB), initiated under Chinese scientists’ leadership, has entered its implementation stage. The program has proposed a research framework now undergoing procedural review, and several pilot projects have already produced preliminary results.

TREE NEWS update: Israel’s military and Shin Bet said in a joint statement on the 29th that Israeli forces killed Izz al-Din Biq, commander of Hamas’s North Gaza Brigade military wing, in an operation in the northern Gaza Strip overnight from the 28th to the 29th. The statement said Biq had previously served as the brigade’s military intelligence chief and took over after its former commander was killed.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s goods and services trade totaled 5.1179 trillion yuan in August 2026, with exports of 2.8793 trillion yuan and imports of 2.2386 trillion yuan, leaving a surplus of 640.7 billion yuan, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange said. Travel services accounted for 173.1 billion yuan of the services trade, transport 153.2 billion yuan, other commercial services 143.7 billion yuan and telecom, computer and information services 69.3 billion yuan.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Finance, the People’s Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration said a residential mortgage interest subsidy of 1 percentage point annually will apply to loans of up to 1 million yuan for a maximum of five years. For a 1 million yuan commercial first-home mortgage, the policy could cut cumulative interest payments by nearly 50,000 yuan, officials said. Exact savings vary by loan size, term and repayment method.

TREE NEWS update: The United States announced visa restrictions on 27 nationals from Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador and Peru and their immediate family members, citing efforts to combat corruption and drug trafficking. Among those targeted is Bolivian Attorney General Roger Mariaca and several other senior officials.

TREE NEWS update: China presented its “Further Reflections and Proposals on WTO Reform” at a WTO special session on the development track held on the 28th, with Ambassador Li Yongzhe setting out systematic positions on the role of development issues in the reform. The proposals drew broad attention and a positive response from members.

TREE NEWS update: ChaPanda opened a store at the Louvre shopping arcade in Paris, becoming the first Chinese new tea drink brand to enter the space, which already hosts other leading Chinese brands such as Pop Mart. The company now operates more than 130 overseas signed stores, its overseas CEO said, noting that strategic markets value long-term investment and landmark value.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Finance, the People’s Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration said the central government will subsidize commercial personal housing loans for some lower-income groups for the first time. The interest subsidy is intended to cut borrowing costs for new urban residents, young graduates and urban wage-earning families, opening further room for policy action on the demand side.

TREE NEWS reports: Bitcoin recovered to $84,000 after early-week losses, holding what traders described as a trend-defining support zone. The bounce came as the US 30-year Treasury bond yield set a 24-year high, a macro backdrop that has pressured risk assets. Price action then consolidated, with the support level remaining intact.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Finance, the People’s Bank of China and the financial regulator detailed a new mortgage interest subsidy for homebuyers. Eligible loans are capped at 1 million yuan, with the finance ministry covering 1 percentage point of the annual rate for up to five years — roughly a third of the current rate on first-home commercial mortgages. On a 1 million yuan loan, the subsidy can cut cumulative interest payments by nearly 50,000 yuan.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Finance and two other departments set the funding split for interest subsidy programs at 90% from the central government and 10% from local governments. Provincial-level finance departments will determine how the share below the provincial level is divided. The three departments did not specify which lending programs the subsidy applies to.

TREE NEWS update: China’s mortgage interest subsidy policy takes effect on October 1, offering a subsidy of 1 percentage point on residential mortgage rates. Subsidized loans are capped at a maximum size of 1 million yuan. The measure was announced by Xinhua.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China increased its relending quota for agriculture and small businesses by 500 billion yuan, including a 300 billion yuan rise for private enterprises. The adjustment lifts the combined relending and rediscount quota from 4.35 trillion yuan to 4.85 trillion yuan, with the private-enterprise relending quota rising from 1 trillion to 1.3 trillion yuan. The PBOC said the move will further encourage local legal-person banks to expand credit support for agriculture-related and small and micro enterprises, especially small and medium-sized private firms.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China raised the quota of its relending facility for technological innovation and industrial upgrading by 200 billion yuan, lifting the total from 1.2 trillion yuan to 1.4 trillion yuan, and raised the facility’s support ratio from 60% to 100%. The central bank said the adjustment is intended to guide banks to increase lending to small and medium-sized technology firms and support equipment renewal investment in key sectors.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China adjusted several monetary policy tools to expand the scope of its Pledged Supplementary Lending (PSL) program, adding the construction of six network categories — water networks, new-type power grids, computing power networks, next-generation communications networks, urban underground pipe networks and logistics networks — as eligible areas. The move directs policy banks to increase financial support for these “six networks” and aims to boost effective investment and tap domestic demand potential.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China lowered the interest rate on its Pledged Supplemental Lending (PSL) facility by 0.25 percentage points, cutting the one-year PSL rate from 1.75% to 1.5%. The central bank said the adjustment is part of a broader refinement of its monetary policy toolkit and is intended to better incentivize policy banks to support the real economy and serve national strategy.