Category: Flash News

On April 17th, Alcoa announced on April 16th that some of its materials come from Chinese suppliers. Due to the lack of suitable alternative suppliers, the high tariffs imposed by the United States on China will increase the company’s annual costs by $10 million to $15 million.

On April 17, after the issuance of more large-scale government bonds in the first quarter of this year was accelerated, a large amount of new local government special bonds and treasury bond still remained to be issued. According to the latest arrangement of the Ministry of Finance, the first super long term special treasury bond in 2025 and the special treasury bond funded by the central financial institutions will be issued by bidding on April 24. In the face of new changes in the domestic and international situation, the interviewed experts believe that after the “opening” of the two types of special treasury bond, the government bonds will continue to maintain a larger supply, and further accelerate the issuance speed in the second quarter.

On April 17th, with the disclosure of the 2024 annual report of public funds, the full holdings of FOF (Fund of Funds) portfolios, known as “professional buyers,” were announced. From indicators such as the number of funds held, the number of shares held, and the market value of holdings, index funds with lower costs and clear styles are favored by many FOFs, while some active equity funds with stable investment styles and better long-term performance have also been favored by FOFs. According to Wind’s statistics, as of the end of 2024, a total of 1257 active equity funds (including common stock type, equity mixed type, and flexible allocation type) were held by FOFs, with 121 funds holding more than 50 million FOF shares; From the perspective of market value of holdings, there are 100 funds held with a market value of over 100 million yuan.

On April 17th, it has been six months since the official establishment of the stock repurchase and increase in holdings refinancing policy tool on October 18th last year, and listed companies and major shareholders have actively responded. According to data from Wind Information, as of April 16th, 470 A-share listed companies have disclosed a total of 496 repurchase and increase loans, with a total loan amount cap of 96.978 billion yuan, nearly one-third of the initial 300 billion yuan scale. The interviewed experts stated that repurchasing and increasing holdings of loans provides a convenient financing channel for listed companies and major shareholders, helps manage the market value of listed companies, promotes the return of company stock prices to reasonable values, and effectively boosts market confidence. Next, we can further optimize the repurchase, increase holdings, and refinancing policies to better meet the needs of listed companies and major shareholders.

On April 17th, recently, the repurchase activities of Hong Kong listed companies have been heating up. According to Wind statistics, as of the time of press release on April 16th, 112 Hong Kong listed companies have implemented buybacks since April, with a cumulative buyback amount of HKD 8.967 billion. Compared with the same period last month, the number and total amount of listed companies implementing repurchases since April have increased by 286.21% and 171.15% respectively. Since 2025, the total repurchase amount of Hong Kong listed companies has exceeded HKD 50 billion. On the whole, companies that actively implement repurchase are not only concentrated in the financial blue chip and Internet technology sectors, but also some consumer enterprises have increased repurchase efforts. Institutional insiders say that after the recent significant fluctuations in the Hong Kong stock market, there has been a noticeable increase in repurchase activities, which conveys optimism and helps boost market confidence.

① 07:00 Federal Reserve’s Schmid and Logan have a fireplace conversation ② 09:00 China’s March Swift RMB’s share in global payments ③ 09:30 Australia’s March seasonally adjusted unemployment rate ④ 14:00 Germany’s March PPI monthly rate, Switzerland’s March trade account ⑤ 20:15 European Central Bank announces interest rate decision ⑥ 20:30 US initial jobless claims for the week ending April 12 ⑦ 20:30 US March new housing starts annualized, US March Philadelphia Fed manufacturing index ⑧ 22:30 US April 11 EIA natural gas inventory ⑨ 23:45 Federal Reserve Board member Barr delivers speech ⑩ The next day 01:00 US April 18 total oil drilling for the week ending April 18

On April 17, it was learned from the Chinese Academy of Sciences that China’s scientific research team found that by heating the lithium rich manganese based cathode materials of the next generation of lithium batteries, it can help the aging lithium rich manganese based batteries recover voltage and make them “rejuvenate”. This discovery provides a new approach for developing smarter and more durable next-generation lithium batteries. This research was completed by the team of Ningbo Institute of Materials Technology and Engineering, Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the related achievement papers have been published online in the international academic journal Nature.

On April 17th, Iranian Foreign Minister Aragorzi met with visiting Director General of the International Atomic Energy Agency, Grossi, at a party on the 16th local time to discuss and exchange views on the latest developments in technical cooperation and interaction between the agency and Iran. Araghi introduced Iran’s policy and determination to interact and cooperate with the International Atomic Energy Agency within the framework of international law, and emphasized that the agency needs to play a professional and technical role within its own responsibilities and not be influenced by unreasonable pressure from certain parties. He also emphasized that the International Atomic Energy Agency needs to take a clear stance on threats against Iran’s peaceful nuclear facilities. In addition, Alaghi briefed Grossi on the negotiations between Iran and the United States on the nuclear issue and the lifting of sanctions.

On April 17th, with the intensification of stock market volatility and the decline of bond market interest rates, the high dividend and low volatility banking sector has become a “hot commodity” for funds to pay attention to. On April 16th, the overall market continued to fluctuate weakly, with most industry sectors falling and banks independently rising. The CSI Bank Index rose 1.01%, achieving a “five consecutive positive” streak, and multiple bank stocks hit historic highs during the trading session. The latest disclosed Q1 2025 report shows that the banking sector, which has always been undervalued by funds, received multiple fund placements in the first quarter of this year. The interviewed fund companies believe that funds are increasingly focused on the certainty of high dividends and low wave stability, and the value of banks’ fixed income allocation is expected to be further highlighted.

On April 17th, several broad-based ETFs experienced a surge in trading volume and turned red in the closing session, attracting market attention. Multiple market participants have stated that high volume ETFs have been favored by the “national team”, and it is possible that the “national team” has made another move to inject confidence into the market. Recently, market volatility has increased, and funds continue to invest in A-shares through ETFs. Data shows that since April 7th, there has been a net inflow of over 170 billion yuan into stock ETFs. As of April 15th, the total size of 24 ETFs tracking the Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index has once again exceeded the trillion yuan mark.