Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: China’s major A-share indices closed lower on the day, with the Shanghai Composite ending at 3875.60, down 0.41%. The Shenzhen Component fell 0.33% to 13409.91, the ChiNext Index dropped 0.40% to 3298.31, and the CSI 300 slipped 0.45% to 4460.16. The STAR 50 lost 0.61% to 1606.29, while the CSI 500 and CSI 1000 closed at 7654.98 and 7548.82, down 0.37% and 0.51% respectively.

TREE NEWS reports: China’s commodity futures closed sharply lower, with the pure benzene main contract hitting the limit down. Crude oil dropped more than 6%, styrene fell over 5%, fuel oil lost more than 4%, and paraxylene and liquefied petroleum gas each declined over 3%. Bucking the trend, the container shipping Europe route rose more than 8% and lithium carbonate gained over 3%.

TREE NEWS reports: The main benzene futures contract on the Dalian Commodity Exchange fell to its daily limit on Wednesday, trading at 8,601 yuan per tonne. The move marks a limit-down session for the DCE’s most-active benzene contract, with the price locked at the exchange’s lower bound for the day.

TREE NEWS reports: The World Meteorological Organization said in its State of Global Water Resources report released on September 17 that 2025 was one of the driest years for global rivers in 35 years. Terrestrial water storage continued a near-decade-long decline, and major glacier regions lost ice for a fourth consecutive year. The WMO warned the global water cycle is becoming more erratic and harder to predict, posing long-term risks to water security.

TREE NEWS update: The Federal Reserve raised its benchmark rate by 25 basis points to a 3.75%-4.00% target range on September 16, its first hike since 2023 and the first policy move under new Chair Kevin Warsh, in a unanimous 12-0 vote. The dot plot lifted the 2026 year-end median rate to 4.1% from 3.8%, with 16 of 18 officials seeing at least one more hike this year. The S&P 500 fell 0.44%, the Dow dropped 1.21% and the Nasdaq closed roughly flat.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 0.3% higher at 64,136.25, while the broader Topix rose 0.8% to 4,094.19. South Korea’s Kospi ended essentially flat at 6,715.41.

TREE NEWS update: Ukraine’s Kyiv city military administration said a Russian attack on the capital’s civilian infrastructure on 17th local time injured 16 people by 8 a.m., including two children. Warehouses, office buildings and residential blocks were damaged across several districts of Kyiv. Russia has not yet responded to the accusation.

TREE NEWS reports: CryptoQuant analyst Darkfost said Bitcoin’s trading range is narrowing between an active-supply support level near $71,300 and a capital break-even resistance level around $79,800. He noted the support price was tested twice in late 2023 before the current cycle began, while BTC stalled twice near the invested-capital cost-basis zone that year before breaking into a new cycle — a pattern he said resembles current market conditions.

TREE NEWS reports: Apollo Global Management is in talks with SoftBank Group to increase the size of a loan from $5.4 billion to $9 billion, helping the Japanese company expand its bet on AI giant OpenAI. The financing discussions were reported by Bloomberg. The deal would deepen SoftBank’s exposure to OpenAI.

TREE NEWS reports: The main container freight index futures contract for the Europe route rose as much as 4.00% during the trading session, reaching 2,132.0 points. The intraday gain marks a sharp move in the shipping-linked contract, which tracks freight rates on the Asia-Europe lane.

TREE NEWS reports: DBS foreign exchange strategist Philip Wee said the Federal Reserve’s rate hike does not necessarily mean the dollar will enter a sustained uptrend, noting it is not a US-led hiking cycle like 2022. He said the Fed is catching up with other major central banks to counter inflation risks and prevent energy price shocks from triggering second- and third-order effects. DBS expects the dollar index (DXY) to remain in the 96-102 range formed since mid-2025.

TREE NEWS reports: The head of Japan’s banking lobby group said Japanese government bond yields may climb further. The comment signals expectations of continued upward pressure in the JGB market, a key gauge for global rates and risk assets. No specific level or timeframe was given.

TREE NEWS update: The Tianfu Furong Bridge, a key control project of the Chengdu-Leshan expressway expansion, completed a dual-span synchronous rotation in the early hours of September 17. Each span is 116 meters long and 36.1 meters wide, with a combined rotating weight of 86,000 tonnes, crossing the Chengdu-Guiyang high-speed railway and the Chengdu Ring Expressway. The expansion project runs 136 km from Chengdu to Leshan, with over 80% of sections already open to traffic.

TREE NEWS reports: Japan and the United States are negotiating the construction of a semiconductor plant as part of an investment plan, Nikkei reported. No details on the plant’s location, size, cost or timeline were disclosed. The talks add to a widening push by both governments to expand domestic chip manufacturing capacity.

TREE NEWS reports: The main crude oil futures contract on the Shanghai Futures Exchange fell more than 6% intraday, trading at 788 yuan per barrel. The decline marks a sharp single-session drop for the exchange’s benchmark crude contract.

TREE NEWS update: Galactic Energy announced on September 17 that it will launch its Ceres-1 sea-based commercial rocket, mission designation Hai Dui Yangcheng Kuo, at a near-term opportunity. The Chinese company provides space launch services, with core products including the reusable Pallas-1 medium-to-large liquid rocket and the light solid-fuel Ceres-1 series.

TREE NEWS update: Fangda Carbon said at its 2026 interim results briefing on September 17 that its 6N-grade graphite, used mainly in optical fiber and semiconductors, has entered mass supply to leading optical fiber, silicon semiconductor and silicon carbide semiconductor companies, replacing imported equivalents. The company is also expanding into the semiconductor epitaxy market with ultra-high-purity isostatic graphite, semiconductor-grade high-purity carbon powder, porous graphite and carbon felt.

TREE NEWS update: Applied Materials plans to invest $5 billion in India over the next ten years. The US semiconductor equipment maker disclosed the decade-long commitment without specifying which facilities or business lines the capital will fund. India has been courting global chip-equipment and manufacturing firms as it builds out a domestic semiconductor supply chain.

TREE NEWS update: Qinghai issued a 10-year general local government bond worth 6.0000 billion yuan at a coupon rate of 1.7400%. The bid-to-cover marginal multiple was 1.26 times against an expected 1.74 times. The bond is a general obligation of the provincial government, sold in the domestic interbank market.

TREE NEWS update: Infineon Technologies’ headcount in India increased 28% over the past year, the company’s CEO said. The German semiconductor maker’s India staffing expansion marks one of the clearest figures yet on its local hiring pace. No total headcount, timeline beyond the trailing twelve months, or investment figure was disclosed.