Flash News

TREE NEWS reports: Federal Reserve Governor Michael Barr said the central bank likely cannot reach its 2% inflation target in time unless policy is adjusted, adding that the last rate hike was appropriate and further tightening may be needed. Barr’s remarks signal continued caution on inflation even as markets weigh the path of US interest rates.

TREE NEWS update: Anthropic said in its IPO prospectus that rogue, out-of-control AI agents pose uncertain legal risks. The disclosure, made in the filing for its planned listing, flags the legal exposure the company could face from autonomous AI systems. No further details were given.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission said licensed virtual asset trading platform DFX Labs Company Limited reported four websites, including “dfx[.]cn” and “dfxcn[.]com”, as fraudulent. The regulator has added the sites to its list of suspicious virtual asset trading platforms. The SFC published the notice on September 30.

TREE NEWS update: Robinhood CEO Vlad Tenev said the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission issued a no-action letter to Tesla on September 30, clearing the way for a shareholder voting program aimed at retail investors. Tenev said shareholders should find it easier to vote when millions of people own stock in a public company. Robinhood already uses in-app messaging, retail voting programs and earnings Q&As to connect companies directly with shareholders.

TREE NEWS update: Alpaca Securities Pte. Ltd., the Southeast Asia headquarters of US brokerage infrastructure firm Alpaca, has received in-principle approval from the Monetary Authority of Singapore for a Capital Markets Services license. Once conditions are met and the license is formally granted, the company plans to offer brokerage and custody services in Singapore to financial institutions and fintech firms across Southeast Asia. Alpaca noted the in-principle approval is not a full license and services cannot yet be offered on that basis.

TREE NEWS update: European Central Bank Governing Council member Demarco said higher core inflation could support the central bank taking action, in remarks that pointed to a possible interest-rate move. The comments flag the ECB’s focus on underlying price pressures as it weighs its policy path.

TREE NEWS update: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer is expanding the panel’s prediction-market investigation to Hyperliquid Labs, Crypto.com and PredictIt owner Aristotle Exchange, seeking identity-verification and suspicious-trading records. The request marks a widening of the congressional probe beyond the platforms initially targeted. No response from the three firms was disclosed.

TREE NEWS update: House Oversight Committee Chairman James Comer has asked Hyperliquid, Crypto.com and PredictIt for records on identity checks and trade surveillance, citing reports of a Hyperliquid short placed before an October 2025 tariff announcement became public. The requests are part of a congressional insider-trading probe into the three platforms.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Commerce Ministry said the EU tool some member states are pushing to create, modeled on the US Section 301, is a protectionist and unilateral measure that would backfire and destabilize China-EU trade and global supply chains. Beijing said the two sides are continuing talks under their trade and investment consultation mechanism, and warned it will respond firmly if the EU imposes discriminatory restrictions on Chinese firms or products.

TREE NEWS update: The White House has disclosed an executive order named America.gov. No further details of the order’s contents, scope or effective date were provided in the disclosure.

TREE NEWS update: US President Donald Trump said he will sign a strong executive order on artificial intelligence that renames AI as ‘Super Intelligence.’ Trump said the technology will never be suppressed and that he does not want to make AI too complicated. No signing date or further details were given.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Public Security published eight typical cases of new-type organized crime, covering offenses including loan-sharking fraud schemes and public-opinion extortion, state broadcaster CCTV reported. The cases were released as examples of emerging organized-crime methods. No further details on individual cases, arrests or amounts were given.

TREE NEWS update: Bitwise has launched NRR, the first US spot NEAR exchange-traded product, which charges a 0.75% fee and stakes its NEAR holdings in-house. Staking rewards are passed through to shareholders via net asset value. The listing marks the first US spot ETF tied to the NEAR token.

TREE NEWS update: The 2026 Financial Street Forum will be held in Beijing from October 19 to 22, with State Council approval, co-hosted by the Beijing Municipal Government, the People’s Bank of China, the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, Xinhua News Agency and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange.

TREE NEWS update: The SEC charged multiple entities, likely run by individuals overseas, with defrauding hundreds of retail investors, including many in the U.S., through investment confidence scams that used WhatsApp and other platforms to lure victims. The schemes totaled at least $15 million, the agency said.

TREE NEWS update: UK Prime Minister Burnham said the government will introduce a strengthened leasehold reform bill before Christmas, and will submit an enhanced Water Bill to parliament that removes the ban on public ownership of water companies. If private water firms serve the public interest, they will be supported; if not, public ownership will be considered. Burnham said public control and being anti-business are two different things.

TREE NEWS update: China’s Ministry of Transport, National Development and Reform Commission, Ministry of Finance and Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued guidance on deepening reform of urban bus operators. The document calls for tying support for new-energy buses and power battery replacement to the large-scale equipment renewal policy, and requires city and county governments to fund public transport from their own budgets and step in when operators miss annual revenue targets.

TREE NEWS update: Chinese and Hong Kong police dismantled a cross-border underground banking syndicate operating in Guangdong and Hong Kong in a coordinated May crackdown, state media reported. More than 170 suspects were arrested, over 15 million yuan in involved funds were frozen, and seized assets were valued at about HK$170 million. The operation was directed by China’s Ministry of Public Security.

TREE NEWS update: US House Speaker Mike Johnson said the United States can pursue both safety and innovation in artificial intelligence at the same time. Johnson, the top Republican in the House of Representatives, did not announce any specific legislation or policy measures in the remarks. The comment comes as Washington weighs how to regulate AI without slowing domestic development.