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Real-time News
May 21 – Despite a sharp rise in Australias unemployment rate in April, the job market remains relatively tight. Ernst & Young Chief Economist Cheryl Murphy stated that the 5.8% underemployment rate is well below pre-pandemic levels, while labor demand appears to remain high, with businesses continuing to report difficulties finding suitable workers. Murphy added that the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) recently warned of the risk of rapid price increases due to rising petrol prices. She indicated that the RBA may need to further tighten monetary policy.On May 21st, Goldman Sachs released a research report stating that Baidus (09888.HK) first-quarter results this year showed accelerated growth in cloud revenue, especially GPU-based cloud services. The bank expects Baidus AI-driven business to grow by over 30% year-on-year, primarily benefiting from the robust growth of its AI cloud infrastructure (over 50% year-on-year). The bank anticipates that by the end of 2026, the contribution of AI-driven business will surpass that of traditional/other businesses. Management revealed at an analyst conference that Baidu aims to outpace the market and major peers in cloud business growth in the coming quarters. The company observed that token usage is shifting from training to inference, which will help Baidu Cloud expand its customer reach. The report quoted management as saying that the Wenxin Yiyan model is currently lagging behind, and future R&D will focus on revitalizing model capabilities, prioritizing the development of Wenxin Yiyan to drive MaaS (Model as a Service) revenue. Goldman Sachs expects a mid-term gross margin target of 35% to 40% for the GPU cloud business, while the gross margin for traditional CPU and memory services will be 25% to 30%. Management aims to reduce the holding company discount by having AI-driven businesses account for more than 50% of total revenue and by rapidly growing core cloud/chip revenue.May 21 – The 2026 APEC Trade Ministers Meeting will be held in Suzhou, attracting approximately 700 representatives from 21 APEC economies and international organizations. A global investment promotion conference is also being held concurrently, attracting business representatives from over 30 countries and regions, with US-based companies making up the largest number of attendees. Suzhou hopes to leverage this event to promote international trade and economic cooperation. Data shows that foreign investment in Chinas high-tech industries increased by 30.7% year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, while R&D and design services grew by 127.8%. Foreign companies are accelerating their expansion in the Chinese market, particularly in the new energy and medical fields, increasing investment and R&D, and driving global trade and economic development.Analysts point out that Saudi Arabia has been forced to shut down some oil fields due to disruptions in oil exports caused by the war with Iran, which has led to a disruption in natural gas supply. It is expected that Saudi Arabia will burn more imported fuel oil for power generation this summer.According to Nikkei, the Arafura rare earth project in Australia will begin construction in September.
