Flash News

TREE NEWS update: The Trump administration has formally finalized new, lower fuel economy standards, reversing the Biden administration’s push for automakers to build more fuel-efficient vehicles. The move was announced in a US government notice published Monday. The new rules lower the corporate average fuel economy targets that automakers must meet.

TREE NEWS update: US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has hired Wall Street economist David Zervos as an advisor to the Treasury Department. Zervos, a longtime strategist known for his views on monetary policy and markets, joins the department in an advisory role. The appointment was reported on Wednesday.

TREE NEWS update: The SEC has issued guidance clarifying what crypto protocols may and may not do with their own tokens, including allowing token buybacks. The clarity marks a shift from the Gary Gensler era of the agency. No further details on the scope of the guidance were provided.

TREE NEWS reports: Senator Cynthia Lummis, who chairs the Senate Banking Committee’s digital assets subcommittee and led the CLARITY Act, will not seek another six-year term, while Senator Thom Tillis is leaving at year-end and SEC Commissioner Hester Peirce’s term expires Friday. The exits come as the market-structure bill’s cloture vote failed nearly two weeks ago, with banking, crypto and enforcement groups still fighting over who drafts the next version.

TREE NEWS update: Bitwise’s NEAR ETF has cleared listing and registration hurdles, clearing the way for the NRR product to come to market. The fund plans to stake its NEAR holdings, charging a 0.75% annual management fee plus a separate charge on staking rewards.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Council executive meeting, chaired by Premier Li Qiang, called for the dynamic release of a list of priority-controlled new pollutants and tighter source controls on chemical emissions. The meeting pledged greater cross-department coordination and more policy support for enterprises transitioning to cleaner production, aiming to complete pollution treatment targets on schedule.

TREE NEWS update: Premier Li Qiang chaired a State Council executive meeting that called for rolling out a batch of pragmatic incremental policies, including measures to stabilize the real estate market and boost employment and household income. The meeting urged better use of local government debt quotas, timely adjustments to monetary policy tools, and higher relending quotas for tech upgrades and small business and agricultural lending, while pushing coordinated efforts to steady investment and spur private capital.

TREE NEWS update: Lyu Jinzhou, a former inspector at the Tianjin Port Free Trade Zone Administrative Committee, has been expelled from the Communist Party of China, the Tianjin Municipal Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision said. The commission opened a disciplinary and anti-corruption investigation into Lyu over serious violations of discipline and law, with the move approved by the CPC Tianjin Municipal Committee.

TREE NEWS update: Fourteen Chinese government departments issued a joint document to strengthen cross-departmental supervision of the funeral services industry, targeting pricing, monopolistic practices and forced sales of burial goods. Development and reform authorities will set fees for basic funeral services and review them periodically, while market regulators will investigate price violations, monopolies and unfair competition and crack down on unauthorized or split fee items.

TREE NEWS update: Guotai Junan International has limited services for existing mainland Chinese investor accounts starting September 26, barring deposits and buy orders when accounts log in from mainland IP addresses while allowing withdrawals and sells. The Hong Kong-based Chinese brokerage follows Futu, Tiger Brokers, Longbridge and Valuable Capital in winding down mainland-facing business to comply with regulatory requirements. Accounts logging in from outside mainland China keep full trading and funding functions.

TREE NEWS update: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation barring public officials from issuing meme coins and prohibiting exchanges from listing tokens tied to politicians. The new law targets tokens linked to officeholders, closing a gap that had allowed politically branded digital assets. It takes effect as states move to police crypto activity ahead of federal rules.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China and seven other government departments jointly issued guidance on financial support for the services sector, calling on financial institutions to use credit, bonds and equity tools to back the development of ‘AI plus software.’ The measures target breakthroughs in intelligent coding tools and industrial software, basic software ecosystems and open-source communities, and new business models such as agent-as-a-service and model-as-a-service.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China and seven other departments jointly issued guidance on financial support for expanding and upgrading the services sector, calling for an improved financing system that backs early-stage, small, long-term and hard-tech investment. The document encourages qualified services firms to issue bonds, list and pursue M&A, and promotes venture capital, industrial funds and patient capital. It also calls for using asset securitization and REITs to unlock stable-cash-flow service assets such as logistics, tourism and healthcare.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China and seven other government departments jointly issued guidance on financial support for expanding and upgrading the service industry. National banks are instructed to leverage their funding scale and branch networks and to independently select 3-5 priority areas tied to major national strategies and weak links in the service sector. Local banks must focus on 1-2 industries, while insurers are urged to offer business-interruption, cyber-security, public-liability, health and accident coverage.

TREE NEWS update: The People’s Bank of China and seven other government departments jointly issued guidance on financial support for expanding and upgrading the services sector. The document encourages financial institutions to focus on the funding needs of service-sector businesses and to provide first-time loans, credit loans and medium- and long-term loans. It also calls for innovation in credit products, better intellectual-property pledge financing, and improved credit profiling for small and micro firms.

TREE NEWS update: China’s National Financial Regulatory Administration and the Ministry of Science and Technology jointly convened a tech insurance exchange meeting, calling for expanded insurance coverage focused on major national science tasks and tech SMEs. Insurers are urged to push products into industrial parks, incubators and high-tech zones, and to embed risk assessment, monitoring and hazard checks across the R&D, pilot testing and commercialization chain. Insurance institutions were also told to strengthen teams, talent and performance assessment while accumulating tech risk data and improving actuarial pricing.

TREE NEWS update: Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and the Accounting and Financial Reporting Council signed a new memorandum of understanding extending financial reporting, audit and compliance cooperation to licensed virtual asset service providers. The agreement brings licensed crypto firms under the same reporting and audit oversight framework the two regulators already apply to traditional financial institutions.

TREE NEWS update: The Shanghai Stock Exchange issued a regulatory work letter to Shanghai Xinhua Media Co. over recent share price volatility, the bourse said. The letter names the listed company as its subject and concerns matters related to the stock’s price swings. Xinhua Media’s shares had risen by the daily limit for five consecutive trading sessions.

TREE NEWS update: California Governor Gavin Newsom signed legislation barring public officials from launching memecoins, his office said. Newsom also signed several other bills, including one intended to set clearer rules for restitution when investors lose money in crypto scams. The memecoin ban takes direct aim at President Trump’s crypto ventures.

TREE NEWS update: China’s State Administration for Market Regulation released 13 rapid food testing methods capable of screening for 18 risk substances, including pesticide residues such as triazophos, chlorothalonil and thiamethoxam in produce, hormone and anti-inflammatory drug residues like dexamethasone, analgin and flunixin in meat and dairy, and antibiotic residues including chloramphenicol and streptomycin in honey and aquatic products. The methods are simpler and faster than laboratory testing and can be used for on-site screening at wholesale markets, supermarkets and catering units.