Flash News

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Development and Reform Commission Chairman Zheng Shanjie met with Luhut Pandjaitan, chairman of Indonesia’s National Economic Council, during the latter’s visit to China. The two sides held friendly and in-depth exchanges on deepening multi-field practical cooperation between China and Indonesia and reached consensus on the direction of next-step cooperation.

TREE NEWS reports: The Baltic Dry Index, which tracks global dry bulk shipping rates, rose 0.27% to 3,336 points. The reading marks a modest gain for the benchmark gauge of freight costs for commodities including iron ore, coal and grain.

TREE NEWS reports: Spot gold rose 2.0% intraday to $4,351.65 an ounce, while spot silver gained 2.5% to $64.65 an ounce. Crude moved the other way: Brent fell 3.0% to $102.45 a barrel and WTI dropped 2.0% to $95.54 a barrel.

TREE NEWS reports: The UK 30-year gilt yield fell 10 basis points to 5.76% on Wednesday, its largest single-day decline since May. The move marks a sharp pullback in long-dated UK government borrowing costs.

TREE NEWS update: Boeing CEO Kelly Ortberg warned on Wednesday that the company faces a series of challenges in the coming months, including 777X testing that may extend into next year and a weaker cash-flow outlook due to slow production increases on key models. CFO Jay Malave joined Ortberg in outlining the pressures. Ortberg also tempered expectations on new orders from China, saying he expects only “some additional orders.”

TREE NEWS update: Swedish Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson announced his resignation on social media on September 17 local time and submitted his resignation to the Speaker of the Riksdag. The latest vote count gives the right-wing bloc led by Kristersson 173 seats, while the center-left bloc led by former Prime Minister Magdalena Andersson won 176 seats, securing a parliamentary majority. Sweden’s parliament has 349 seats, with elections held every four years.

TREE NEWS update: Weijing Energy Storage said on September 17 that it is handling internally matters related to reports of long-term unpaid employee wages, production halts at some manufacturing bases and staff dismissals. The company said it currently has no information it can disclose to the public. No further details were provided.

TREE NEWS update: The Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange announced that from the settlement on Sept 21, 2026, PTA 2610 contracts will have a 9% price limit; PTA 2611 contracts a 9% margin and 8% price limit; methanol 2610 contracts a 9% price limit; methanol 2611 contracts a 9% margin and 8% price limit; paraxylene 2610 contracts a 9% price limit; and paraxylene 2611 contracts a 9% margin and 8% price limit.

TREE NEWS update: The Bank of England kept its benchmark rate at 3.75% on a 6-3 vote, with chief economist Pill and MPC members Greene and Mann preferring a hike to 4%. The BoE abandoned plans to sell long-dated gilts and will complete the reduction of its £488bn bond portfolio by September 2034, cutting £368bn by end-2034. It raised its inflation forecast to 3.75% by end-2026 and now expects 0.4% third-quarter GDP growth.

TREE NEWS update: A roundtable on multinational investment cooperation was held in Shanghai on Sept 16, co-hosted by the Ministry of Commerce’s Investment Promotion Bureau, the Shanghai Commerce Commission and the Shanghai representative office of AdvaMed (US). Shanghai deputy secretary-general Zhu Min and MOFCOM Investment Promotion Bureau deputy director Yang Yihang attended. More than 50 representatives from foreign medical device, biopharma and health enterprises discussed new paths for high-quality development in the city.

TREE NEWS update: Argentine President Javier Milei submitted a sovereignty defense bill to the country’s Congress. The legislation was presented to lawmakers for consideration, marking a formal step in the government’s push for the measure. No further details on the bill’s contents or its prospects in Congress were provided.

TREE NEWS reports: Brent crude slid 2.5% during the session to trade at $103.17 a barrel. The intraday drop marks a sharp pullback in the global oil benchmark, which has been volatile on supply and demand headlines. No further details were immediately available.

TREE NEWS update: The Bank of England maintained its interest rate guidance and said it stands ready to act if necessary. The central bank gave no further detail on the timing or scale of any future move. The statement leaves policy on hold for now.

TREE NEWS reports: The Bank of England raised its inflation forecast, projecting UK inflation will reach 3.75% by the end of 2026 and edge slightly above 4% in the first quarter of 2027. The central bank also upgraded its third-quarter GDP growth estimate to 0.4%, up from its previous 0.1% forecast.

TREE NEWS update: Bank of England Governor said policy may have to be tightened if the conflict continues. The remark signals the central bank could move toward tighter monetary conditions should the conflict persist, leaving the option of further restraint on the table. No specific measures, timing or figures were given.

TREE NEWS update: The Bank of England said upside risks to UK inflation are greater than in July, warning that indirect effects on CPI may be delayed rather than diminished. It also said £222 billion of gilts maturing by 2035 will be held to maturity.

TREE NEWS update: Bank of England Chief Economist Huw Pill said it is better to contain pressure before it becomes entrenched. The remark, issued as a standalone statement, gives no further detail on the specific pressures referenced or any policy action. Pill’s comment comes as the Bank of England continues to weigh inflation risks against growth.

TREE NEWS update: The British pound showed little short-term movement against the US dollar, trading at 1.3393 after the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged, in line with expectations. The decision leaves the currency near its recent levels as markets had already priced in the hold.

TREE NEWS update: Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney said on September 17 that Canada and the EU are “allies who don’t only stand together when times are good, and who don’t seek zero-sum deals.” Speaking at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France, Carney stressed the shared values and long-standing partnership between Canada and the EU and called on both sides to deepen cooperation.

TREE NEWS update: A Tsinghua University team led by Li Di, head of the astronomy department, published research in Nature Astronomy on September 17, 2026, using FAST and the JVLA to observe the Andromeda galaxy (M31). They identified 118 neutral hydrogen superbubbles and directly estimated the long-term kinetic energy input from supernova explosions, showing it is sufficient to compensate for the dissipation of neutral hydrogen turbulence in M31.