Category: Flash News

On February 22, the Shanghai Stock Exchange issued a regulatory work letter regarding the pledge of equity by the actual controller and controlling shareholder of Suzhou Hanchuan Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd., involving listed companies, directors, supervisors, senior management personnel, controlling shareholders and actual controllers, intermediary institutions and their related personnel.

On February 21st, economists predict that the inflation indicator favored by the Federal Reserve will accelerate its rise in the short term, prompting policymakers to maintain high interest rates for a longer period of time. According to Bloomberg’s latest survey of economists, the core personal consumption expenditure (PCE) price index, excluding volatile food and energy categories, is expected to increase by 2.6% in the first quarter, higher than last month’s expectation of 2.5%. Economists also expect the overall PCE and consumer price index to accelerate this year. Therefore, forecasters now believe that Fed officials will not cut interest rates again until July, while the last survey predicted a rate cut in May. The minutes of the Federal Reserve’s January meeting released earlier this week showed that officials are inclined to keep interest rates unchanged amid stubborn inflation and uncertain economic policies of the Trump administration.

On February 21st, American consumers’ expectations for long-term inflation rates have risen to the highest level in 30 years, and respondents are concerned that Trump’s tariff hikes will lead to price increases. According to a consumer confidence survey by the University of Michigan, consumers expect prices to rise at a rate of 3.5% per year over the next five to ten years, the highest level since Bloomberg compiled data in 1995.

On February 21st, the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office issued a statement stating that during his inspection of the Tulkarem refugee camp in the West Bank, Prime Minister Netanyahu had instructed the Israeli Defense Forces to increase their forces in the Judea Samaria region of the West Bank and carry out more military operations in the West Bank. Since the ceasefire agreement in the Gaza Strip came into effect on January 19th, the Israeli military has continued to launch military operations in the West Bank.

On February 21st, according to US media reports on the 20th, US President Trump will sign an executive order as early as this week to dissolve the United States Postal Service Management Committee and bring this independent federal agency under the management of the Department of Commerce. This move may affect trillions of dollars worth of e-commerce transactions. The Washington Post reported that the United States Postal Service Board of Governors announced on the 20th local time that if Trump removes members of the board or attempts to change the independent status of the Postal Service, the board plans to sue the White House. After the report was released, a White House spokesperson stated that such an executive order was not planned. USPS Director DeJoy announced earlier this week that he will resign.

On February 21st, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov strongly condemned the NATO Secretary General’s stance on the conflict in Ukraine during a media interview. Lavrov said that based on the information obtained by the Russian side, NATO Secretary General Rutte exerted pressure on Ukrainian President Zelensky to persuade him not to attend the negotiations until certain specific conditions were met. NATO Secretary General’s actions seriously violated his duties. NATO has not yet responded to this.

On February 21st, Figure AI, a humanoid robot company, announced a new robot model called Helix on February 20th local time. Helix combines visual data and language prompts for real-time control of robots. Figure AI states, “With just natural language queries, (robots) can pick up thousands of household items of various shapes, sizes, colors, and material characteristics

On February 21st, Meixue Ice City disclosed the listing documents for its global offering, initiating the IPO process and planning to list on the main board of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on March 3rd. Meixue Ice City plans to issue 17.0599 million shares globally, including approximately 15.3539 million shares for international issuance and approximately 1.706 million shares for public issuance in Hong Kong. After deducting underwriting fees and commissions paid for the global offering, as well as other estimated offering expenses, Meixue Ice City is estimated to receive a net proceeds of approximately HKD 3.291 billion from the global offering at a price of HKD 202.50 per share. Meixue Ice City has introduced 5 cornerstone investors in this IPO, including UK asset management giant M&G Investments, HongShan Growth under Sequoia China, Persistence Growth Limited under Boyu Capital, and HHLR Fund under Hillhouse Group, L.P.、 Long-Z Fund I, a subsidiary of Meituan Dragon Ball, LP and others subscribed for a total of 200 million US dollars (approximately 1.558 billion Hong Kong dollars).

On February 21, Smeglutide, the “magic drug for weight loss” sweeping the world, has the effect of reducing blood sugar, reducing weight and improving cardiovascular health. It is not only popular among weight loss people, but also has become an effective means to treat diabetes. Previous evidence suggests that such drugs require sustained use to maintain their efficacy. However, a recent study found that the one-year discontinuation rate of this type of drug is as high as 40-60%, which may be related to the purpose of use, weight loss effect, and drug price. The study was published on January 31, 2025, in JAMA Network Open, a journal of the American Medical Association. The authors were from Truveta Inc, a US healthcare data platform company, and the University of Pennsylvania.

On February 21st, Finance Minister Lan Fo’an published an article in People’s Daily titled “Implementing More Active Fiscal Policies to Promote Continuous Economic Recovery and Improvement”. It is mentioned that comprehensively grasping the connotation requirements of more proactive fiscal policies. 2025 is the final year of the 14th Five Year Plan. We need to implement a more proactive fiscal policy, continue to make greater efforts and give more awesome, play a good policy “combination punch”, and strive to translate positive factors in all aspects into development achievements. One is to increase the fiscal deficit ratio, increase expenditure intensity, and accelerate expenditure progress. The second is to arrange larger scale government bonds to provide more support for stable growth and structural adjustment. The third is to vigorously optimize the expenditure structure, strengthen precise investment, and pay more attention to benefiting people’s livelihoods, promoting consumption, and increasing momentum. Fourthly, we will continue to make efforts to prevent and resolve risks in key areas, promote the smooth operation and sustainable development of the fiscal system. The fifth is to further increase transfer payments to local governments, enhance local financial resources, and secure the bottom line of the “three guarantees”.