Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: US sector ETFs opened mostly lower on Thursday, with the regional banks ETF down 1% and the banking and utilities ETFs each down nearly 1%. The broad declines came in early trading as the main industry funds tracked the market’s opening moves.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Commerce said it is responding to media reports that the European Union wants China to voluntarily restrict exports of hybrid vehicles to Europe or face higher tariffs. A ministry spokesperson took a reporter’s question on the matter. No further details on China’s position were given in the statement.

TREE NEWS update: Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman did not comment on the economic or monetary policy outlook. No further remarks or policy signals were given. The absence of guidance leaves market expectations for the Fed’s next move unchanged.

TREE NEWS update: Federal Reserve Governor Michelle Bowman said the Fed’s supervisors should have known about Silicon Valley Bank’s vulnerabilities as early as March 2022, more than a year before the bank failed. She said the supervisory delay was not the result of the Fed’s earlier deregulatory measures. The Fed will consider final revisions to its stress tests in the coming weeks.

TREE NEWS reports: The S&P 500 opened 19.41 points higher, up 0.25% at 7,657.17. The Dow Jones Industrial Average opened up 48.74 points, or 0.09%, at 51,826.78, while the Nasdaq Composite opened up 103.79 points, or 0.39%, at 26,522.09.

TREE NEWS update: The Nobel Foundation said on September 18 that each 2026 Nobel Prize will carry a cash award of 12 million Swedish kronor, an increase of 1 million kronor (about 680,000 yuan) per prize. This year’s laureates will be announced between October 5 and 12.

TREE NEWS reports: Multiple Chinese private banks have pulled medium- and long-term time deposits, with the withdrawal now extending to 2-year products. Keshang Bank quietly delisted its 3-year and 5-year fixed deposits from online channels, while Jiangxi Yumin Bank removed its 3-year product from its app after cutting its rate this year. Zhongguancun Bank’s 2-year 1.8% deposit shows as sold out and Fumin Bank’s 2-year product is also delisted.

TREE NEWS reports: US law firm Weil is studying merger options after the departure of key partners in its core practice areas. The firm has not announced a specific transaction or counterparty. The review comes as the legal sector faces pressure to scale amid shifting demand.

TREE NEWS reports: US industrial production was unchanged in August, posting 0% month-on-month growth, below the 0.3% increase economists had expected and down from a 0.2% gain in July. The flat reading points to a pause in factory output as the third quarter progressed.

TREE NEWS reports: US capacity utilization for August came in at 76.3%, just under the 76.4% expected, and unchanged from the prior reading of 76.3%. The figure measures how much of the nation’s industrial capacity is in use, a gauge of slack in the economy. The reading held flat month over month.

TREE NEWS reports: WTI crude oil reversed into positive territory and last traded at $97.47 a barrel, after earlier falling more than 2% in the session. The intraday swing marks a sharp turnaround for the US benchmark, which had been under pressure before recovering.

TREE NEWS reports: Bank of Japan Governor said he does not rule out consecutive interest-rate hikes, aiming to pre-emptively contain inflation, with the Middle East, AI and exchange rates cited as key variables. The remarks came as Nasdaq futures rose 0.6% on a tech rebound, the yen came under pressure, Brent crude fell 2%, gold neared $4,400 and the onshore and offshore yuan both strengthened past 6.7.

TREE NEWS update: Turkey’s sovereign wealth fund bought stocks on Thursday in a bid to stem a sharp market selloff. The move by the state-run fund places it directly in the market as a buyer of equities during the slump. No size for the purchases was disclosed.

TREE NEWS reports: Kirill Dmitriev, Vladimir Putin’s chief economic envoy and head of Russia’s sovereign wealth fund, and AfD co-leaders Alice Weidel and Tino Chrupalla are preparing to meet next year to discuss restoring Russian natural gas supplies to Germany, two people familiar said. Talks over a possible March meeting underscore close ties between Moscow and the far-right party, which is blocked from government by rival parties but leads German voter polls.

TREE NEWS reports: HSBC Holdings is in early talks with investors about a significant risk transfer (SRT) transaction covering more than $1 billion in loans used to finance data centers and other AI infrastructure, people familiar with the matter said. The London-based bank is seeking to hedge its exposure to data center-related lending as banks increasingly weigh similar trades amid the AI investment boom. Terms, including the size of the deal, are still subject to change.

TREE NEWS reports: The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield broke above 5% for the first time in nearly three years, extending a months-long selloff in the world’s largest bond market. High inflation, a widening budget deficit and a wave of corporate debt issuance drove the move, with the yield later climbing to its highest level since 2007 as rising global supply risks pushed oil prices higher. Some investors are now citing the elevated yields as an attractive buying opportunity.

TREE NEWS update: French President Emmanuel Macron said he will convene a Group of Seven energy meeting. The announcement gave no date, venue or agenda for the gathering. No further details were provided.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism released its 15th Five-Year Plan for the cultural industry, calling for qualified cultural enterprises to raise funds through listings, equity and bonds. The plan urges banks to step up credit support for cultural firms and asks financial institutions to design products suited to the sector, part of a push to better match financial services with cultural-industry demand.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Culture and Tourism issued the Cultural Industry Development 15th Five-Year Plan, calling for cultivating patient capital in the cultural sector and expanding long-term investment. The plan encourages social capital to invest in cultural projects, supports private enterprises’ participation, and directs government investment funds toward high-quality projects while curbing idle or wasteful construction.

TREE NEWS reports: The Baltic Dry Index rose 1.02% to 3,370 points, tracking rates for moving dry bulk commodities by sea. The index is a composite of capesize, panamax and supramax vessel rates. No further details were disclosed.