Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: European Central Bank Vice President Boris Vujcic said the market’s implied interest-rate path mainly reflects energy prices, adding that the ECB’s focus is broader than energy alone. He also said high inflation in the autumn will weigh on the economy.

TREE NEWS reports: WTI crude oil futures fell 5.00% intraday on September 18 to $96.03 a barrel. Spot silver extended its intraday gain to 2.00%, trading at $66.52 an ounce, while spot gold broke above $4,370 an ounce, up 0.69% on the day.

TREE NEWS reports: European Central Bank Vice President Boris Vujcic said global bond yields have climbed to their highest levels since before the financial crisis, driven by inflation and interest-rate expectations and heavy government and tech-company borrowing demand, but this does not constitute a stability threat. He said market bets on further ECB hikes are mainly driven by energy prices, adding that policymakers weigh broader data and standards rather than energy prices alone when setting monetary policy.

TREE NEWS reports: The main crude oil futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell 9% to 732.4 yuan per barrel. The drop marks a sharp single-session decline in the exchange’s most-traded crude contract, with the price quoted at 732.4 yuan/barrel.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s ChiNext Index widened its advance to 3% while the Shenzhen Component Index rose more than 2%, with semiconductors, CPO and photovoltaic equipment among the top-performing sectors. The gains mark a broad rally across growth and technology names on the Shenzhen exchange.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s A-share semiconductor sector continued to climb, with Dongwei Semiconductor hitting the daily limit-up and several other chip-related names posting sharp gains. Enflame Technology, National Technology and Fortune Precision each rose more than 10% in the session. The move extends a sustained rally in Chinese semiconductor equities.

TREE NEWS update: New Zealand has not discussed becoming an ‘associate member’ of the European Union, a spokesperson for Foreign Minister Winston Peters said on the 18th local time. The statement followed remarks by European Parliament President Roberta Metsola that New Zealand could deepen its relationship with the bloc.

TREE NEWS update: Kansai Electric Power Co. said on the 18th that it temporarily shut down the No. 3 reactor at its Mihama nuclear plant in Fukui Prefecture in the early hours of that day, citing the possibility of a pipe leak. The reactor’s operation was halted pending checks on the suspected leak.

TREE NEWS reports: Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi is arranging a meeting with US President Donald Trump on the sidelines of next week’s United Nations General Assembly, with one plan pointing to Sept 22. The talks would be their first face-to-face since Takaichi took office, with the schedule still being finalized.

TREE NEWS reports: A packed economic calendar on Tuesday includes UK August retail sales at 14:00 Beijing time, a Bank of Japan monetary policy press conference by Governor Kazuo Ueda at 14:30, and ECB President Christine Lagarde speaking after the Eurogroup’s informal ECOFIN meeting at 18:30. US August industrial and manufacturing output follows at 21:15, with Fed Vice Chair for Supervision Michelle Bowman discussing stress tests in London at 21:30.

TREE NEWS update: The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate by 25 basis points in a 7-2 vote, its fastest pace of tightening since 1990, sending the yen past 157 per dollar. Japan’s August CPI and core CPI both came in below expectations. The offshore yuan hit its strongest level against the dollar since July 2022, while the yuan’s daily fixing strengthened for an eighth straight session, the longest run since 2023.

TREE NEWS update: Shanxi province issued local government bonds across eight tranches on Wednesday, raising a combined 87.808 billion yuan. The largest tranche was a 5-year general bond of 28.7 billion yuan at a 1.4700% yield with a 5.57x bid-to-cover, while a 20-year special bond raised 19.77 billion yuan at 2.2400% with a 5.10x cover. Tenors ranged from 3+2 years to 30 years.

TREE NEWS update: The Wuhan Municipal People’s Government issued a plan for high-quality development of the digital and intelligent economy during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, targeting an AI industry scale of 200 billion yuan by 2030. The plan also calls for the digital economy’s core industry value-added to reach 20% of GDP and for 300 outstanding AI agent products by the same year.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan’s Nikkei 225 index surged at the open of afternoon trading, extending its gain to 1.8%. The index rose in a straight-line move as the session resumed.

TREE NEWS update: Japan’s 30-year government bond futures erased earlier gains after the Bank of Japan raised interest rates. The 10-year JGB yield narrowed its decline, down 1.5 basis points at 2.975%, while the 2-year yield fell 2.5 basis points to 1.835%. The moves followed the BOJ’s decision to lift rates.

TREE NEWS reports: Standard Chartered says Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh may have removed the biggest obstacle to buying the dollar while creating the biggest obstacle to selling it. The prior barrier to buying was currency-debasement concerns; the barrier to selling was that nominal and real rate differentials made the dollar unattractive as a funding currency, keeping hedging costs high for dollar-asset holders. Warsh may have cut resistance to short-term dollar gains, as the FOMC’s 25-basis-point rate hike reassured markets about chasing higher yields and raised hedging costs.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank of Japan raised interest rates in a move that matched market expectations, but two board members voted against the decision. Hirofumi Suzuki, chief FX strategist at SMBC in Tokyo, said the dissents were slightly surprising and dampened expectations for further hikes, sending a dovish signal. HSBC’s Fred Neumann said the statement’s tone plus the two opposing votes leave doubts over how cautious the BOJ will be on further tightening.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s ChiNext Index climbed 2.11% to lead morning gains, with the Shanghai Composite up 1.04% and the Shenzhen Component up 1.52%. The STAR 50 Index rose nearly 4%, while more than 4,600 stocks across the Shanghai, Shenzhen and Beijing exchanges advanced. Semiconductor, consumer and computing hardware shares led the rally, with half-day turnover reaching 1.33 trillion yuan.

TREE NEWS reports: The Shanghai Composite closed the morning session up 1.04% at 3916.07, while the Shenzhen Component rose 1.52% to 13613.48. The ChiNext Index gained 2.11% to 3368.03 and the CSI 300 added 1.05% to 4507.02. The STAR 50 led gains, climbing 3.93% to 1669.34.

TREE NEWS update: The dollar rose past the 157.00 yen level after the Bank of Japan approved a rate hike by a 7-2 vote. The split decision saw two board members dissent, while the yen weakened through the closely watched threshold. The move extends the dollar’s gains against the Japanese currency following the central bank’s tightening step.