Category: Flash News

On February 21st, three empty bus explosions occurred in the southern suburbs of Tel Aviv, Israel on the evening of February 20th local time. The local police suspect that it may be a terrorist attack and have launched an investigation. There are currently no reports of casualties. After preliminary investigation, the local police stated that there were at least 5 identical explosive devices at the scene, of which 3 had already exploded and 2 had been discovered and dismantled by the police. According to The Times of Israel and Israeli Channel 12 television, all five explosive devices are equipped with timing devices and are expected to detonate simultaneously the next morning. One of the unexploded explosive devices weighed 5 kilograms and had the words’ Tulkarem’s Revenge ‘written on it. Tulkarem is a city where the Israeli military has recently conducted large-scale military operations in the West Bank of the Jordan River.

On February 21st, District Judge Christopher Cooper of the Federal Court in Washington, D.C. ruled on February 20th that the Trump administration can continue to lay off federal employees on a large scale, rejecting union requests to prevent Trump from significantly reducing approximately 2.3 million federal employees. It is reported that the ruling on that day is temporary and the lawsuit is still ongoing.

On February 21st, Scott Rubner, Global Markets Managing Director and Tactical Expert at Goldman Sachs, stated that as retail and institutional buyers lose momentum, the US stock market may enter a correction zone. The cash flow dynamics began to undergo a dramatic change on Monday, and I am currently monitoring the correction, “Rubner wrote in a report to clients on Thursday. Despite the uncertainty surrounding tariffs and the path of Federal Reserve interest rates, the US stock market still hit a record high on Wednesday. The strong rise is due to the resilience of corporate profits and the strong inflow of retail and institutional investors. However, Rubner wrote that these dynamics may change starting from Monday. For retail investors who are flocking to the US stock market at a record pace this year, their demand is expected to slow down before the March tax season. The flow of funds from pension funds may also ‘lose momentum’, which Rubner attributed to seasonal trends. January and February are usually the months with the strongest annual asset allocation, and by March, capital inflows weaken.

On February 21st, Game Station CEO Ryan Cohen increased his stake in Alibaba to $1 billion. Cohen is known as the king of meme stocks because he helped trigger an explosive rebound in gaming stations and other businesses during the pandemic. According to insiders, in recent months, his personal stake in Alibaba has increased to about $1 billion, or approximately 7 million shares. The large bet on Alibaba reflects Cohen’s optimism about China’s long-term economic growth prospects. (Wall Street Journal)

On February 21st, Danilo Rivera, the director of the Guatemalan Immigration Department, stated at a meeting that as of February 18th, 2025, Guatemala has received 6073 repatriated immigrants, the vast majority of whom are from the United States. According to a report released by the Guatemalan Immigration Department, there were 562 minors among the repatriated immigrants, of whom 191 were unaccompanied. It is reported that the Guatemalan government has formulated multiple plans to assist in the repatriation and resettlement of immigrants, including the establishment of shelters. According to data from the Guatemalan Immigration Department, a total of 4406 families and 10741 repatriated immigrants returned to Guatemala by air and land throughout 2024.

On February 21st, the Argentine government announced in an official bulletin on February 20th that President Millet signed a decree to officially restructure the country’s largest state-owned bank, the National Bank of Argentina, into a joint-stock company. According to the decree, after the restructuring, the government will hold 99.9% of the shares, and the remaining 0.1% will be held by the Argentine National Bank Foundation.

On February 21st, Goldman Sachs strategists stated that foreign exchange traders underestimated the risk of the Trump administration implementing new tariffs, which will boost the attractiveness of the US dollar and enhance its prospects for further appreciation. In summary, not all tariffs have the same impact on foreign exchange, “Goldman Sachs strategists Karen Reichgott Fishman and Lexi Kanter wrote in a report on Thursday. But given the shrinking risk premium of major cross exchange rates in recent weeks, we once again believe that the tariff risk seems to be underestimated, which makes it more attractive to long the US dollar now

On February 21st, Polish Prime Minister Tusk issued a three-point statement regarding the Ukraine crisis and the strengthening of EU security: firstly, providing funds from frozen Russian assets to assist Ukraine. The second is to strengthen air policing, the Baltic Sea Sentinel operation, and border security between the European Union and Russia. The third is to quickly adopt new fiscal rules to provide funding for the security and defense of the European Union.

On February 21st, the team led by Yu Jintai from Huashan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University recently made significant scientific breakthroughs through 5 years of clinical and basic research, and discovered a new therapeutic target FAM171A2 for Parkinson’s disease for the first time in the world. The newly discovered therapeutic targets and candidate new drugs in this study have the potential to intervene in Parkinson’s disease in its early stages and delay disease progression. The relevant research results were published online on February 21st Beijing time in the international academic journal Science.

On February 21, the winning yield of the US Treasury Department’s newly issued US $9 billion 30-year inflation protected treasury bond (TIPS) was 2.403%, the highest level of bonds in the same period since 2001, and less than 1 basis point from the pre issuance trading level at the bid closing at 1 p.m. EDT.