Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: China’s nationwide civil aviation cargo and mail volume surpassed 10 million tonnes for the first time in 2025, reaching 10.172 million tonnes, up 13.3% year on year, according to the China Air Transport Development (2026) report released at the China Air Transport Association aviation conference. International routes carried 4.4025 million tonnes, up 22.1% and over 40% of the total. Some 252 new cargo routes opened, including 214 international, while the freighter fleet reached 272 aircraft.

TREE NEWS reports: Three listed Chinese brokerages — China Merchants Securities, Hongta Securities and First Capital — completed their 2026 interim dividend distributions this week, paying out more than 1.7 billion yuan in total. Another 24 brokerages have published interim dividend plans worth over 26 billion yuan. The payouts follow the close of interim earnings disclosures for 2026.

TREE NEWS update: European Commissioner for Economy Valdis Dombrovskis said on September 18 that the eurozone economy performed slightly better than expected in the first half of this year despite energy supply disruptions and extreme summer weather, but the European Commission’s latest assessment expects European growth to slow next year. He urged eurozone members to maintain prudent fiscal policy and fiscal consolidation under medium-term plans, while warning that rising government bond yields across most advanced economies will increasingly affect Europe.

TREE NEWS update: French President Emmanuel Macron said on September 18 that France will push the European Union to take action on energy issues. He also said Washington and Tehran are unlikely to reach an agreement over the Strait of Hormuz in the short term. The remarks point to continued uncertainty over the key oil chokepoint.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s securities-firm private asset management scale reached 6.62 trillion yuan as of end-July, up 2.27% month-on-month and 14.16% from the end of last year, marking a 12-month high and a 10th consecutive monthly increase, data from the Asset Management Association of China showed. Fixed-income products held 5.22 trillion yuan, or 78.83% of the total, up 11.43% from year-end.

TREE NEWS update: Shanghai Electric Group and CITIC Group signed a strategic cooperation agreement on September 18, covering high-end equipment, green energy development, advanced materials, smart infrastructure, international cooperation and diversified financial services. The two plan to build a joint “finance + industry + technology + international” ecosystem. At the same event, Shanghai-FANUC Robotics and CITIC Heavy Industries signed a separate cooperation agreement on intelligent equipment manufacturing, special-purpose robots and smart production line upgrades.

TREE NEWS update: Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, came under airstrike in the early hours of September 19 local time, with the sound of missile interceptions heard over the city. The attack was reported by CCTV News. No casualty figures or claim of responsibility have been disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: Morgan Stanley again limited redemptions at its roughly $7 billion private credit fund in the third quarter, with investor withdrawal requests exceeding twice the amount the fund was willing to repurchase. North Haven Private Income Fund set a 5% redemption cap while investors sought to redeem 11.4% of shares, roughly flat versus the prior three months. Redemptions totaled about $479 million over the three quarters through September, with nearly two-thirds of requests coming from investors already restricted in two earlier rounds.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s 30-year, 10-year and 5-year treasury futures all rose on September 18, with the 30-year contract leading, while the yield on the active 10-year government bond fell to 1.676%. Market participants attributed the strength to differences in economic fundamentals and monetary policy expectations between China and abroad, plus allocation demand from banks and insurers.

TREE NEWS update: MMG has agreed to acquire Anglo American’s Brazilian nickel assets for $500 million, a deal that would mark the company’s first entry into nickel production if approved by the European Commission. The assets — the Barro Alto and Codemin operations, which produce 40,000 tonnes of nickel a year — include two undeveloped projects in Pará and Mato Grosso that could add roughly 100,000 tonnes of annual capacity. An MMG Brazil executive said the company plans to invest billions of dollars in the assets.

TREE NEWS update: A federal judge in Rhode Island ruled Friday that the Trump administration unlawfully terminated a $7 billion solar funding program. The EPA cancelled the “Solar for All” program in August last year, after funds had already been allocated across the country to help low-income communities invest in solar and other home upgrades. The move had drawn legal challenges from multiple stakeholders nationwide.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s Economic Daily, in a commentary by Jin Guanping, rejected accusations of industrial overcapacity leveled at Chinese producers, calling the label a tool used by some countries and economies to defend their own industrial position and contain China’s industrial upgrading. The piece said ignoring one’s own conduct while pressing the issues of Chinese subsidies and overcapacity amounts to double standards and a violation of WTO fair-trade principles, urging multilateralism and open cooperation as global recovery remains weak.

TREE NEWS update: US data center operator CleanSpark Inc. priced its first Meta Platforms-linked high-yield bond at 98.5 cents on the dollar for a yield of 8.25%, with orders topping $10 billion against a deal size of nearly $2.28 billion — more than four times oversubscribed. The five-year notes yield roughly 175 basis points above the average BB-rated corporate bond tracked by Bloomberg.

TREE NEWS reports: OpenAI is projected to burn $280 billion between 2026 and 2030, with free cash flow estimated at negative $278 billion over the period. Revenue for 2026-30 is forecast at $840 billion. The company’s 2030 revenue is projected at $350 billion, up from an estimated $36 billion in 2026.

TREE NEWS update: The USDA confirmed a horse in Grant County, New Mexico, was infected with New World screwworm. On the same day the case was announced, US Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said the country’s largest live cattle import port from Mexico, at Santa Teresa, would reopen as planned on September 24. The USDA has set up a quarantine zone and is releasing sterile flies to contain any spread.

TREE NEWS update: The United States government will host a United Nations conference on artificial intelligence next week. The event is organized under UN auspices and convened by Washington, with no further agenda or participant details disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: Denmark’s prime minister said Denmark will sign an agreement with the United States concerning Greenland during the United Nations General Assembly. The announcement gives no further details on the agreement’s contents or the exact signing date. The UN General Assembly’s high-level segment is held in New York in September.

TREE NEWS update: Trump will meet Venezuela’s acting president Delcy Rodriguez, the US ambassador to the United Nations said. Trump will also hold a multilateral meeting with Gulf leaders. No date or venue for either meeting was given.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump signed the Lindsey Graham 2026 Russia and Iran Sanctions Act on September 18, the White House said in a statement. The law authorizes and expands statutory sanctions, tariffs and prohibitions against Russia, and extends existing sanctions measures against Iran.

TREE NEWS update: US Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren accused President Donald Trump of censoring the media and dragging the United States into an endless war that has driven up prices from gasoline to food. Warren said Trump is trying to cover up his failures and that voters will hold him accountable. She made the remarks in a statement released without a specific date.