Real-time News

Musk: Tesla's V15 Autopilot is far safer than humans in completely unsupervised and complex situations.

April 9th - According to CNN, the latest satellite images provided by the European Space Agency show thick black smoke rising from the Abqaiq processing facility in Saudi Arabia's Atatürk. This comes after reports that Iran launched an attack on Wednesday. According to Saudi Aramco, the Abqaiq plant is the world's largest crude oil stabilization unit, supplying approximately 5% of the world's oil. The facility processes sour crude oil into sweet crude, which is then transported to Saudi Arabia's east and west coasts via the "East-West Pipeline." Due to severe trade disruptions caused by the war with Iran, this pipeline is one of only two routes in the region that bypass the Strait of Hormuz.

On April 9, Li Xingqian, Vice Chairman of the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade (CCPIT), met with a delegation led by Antonio Noronha, President of the Portugal-China Chamber of Commerce and Industry, in Beijing. They exchanged views on deepening exchanges and cooperation between the Chinese and Portuguese business communities, serving the development of foreign-invested enterprises in China, and deepening international cooperation in industrial and supply chains.

On April 9th, Taobao Flash Sale officially launched voice search capabilities for its AI Agent entry point for catering merchants – AI Store Assistant. Taobao Flash Sale's AI "Search" supports voice command execution, making it the industry's first merchant AI Agent service capable of directly invoking execution windows and completing complex operation loops. For example, it can help merchants perform tasks such as order inquiries, product management, and blocking malicious customers with a single sentence.

Today, the China Center for Promoting the Development of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) released the "2025 SME Development Environment Assessment Report." The report selected 50 typical cities as assessment targets, evaluating indicators such as market environment, legal environment, financing environment, innovation environment, and policy environment. The results show that the overall development environment for SMEs in my country is improving year by year. The gap in development environment between cities and regions is narrowing, market access barriers are being broken down at an accelerated pace, the construction of a unified national market is deepening, and the balance of regional development is gradually improving. Questionnaire surveys show that the overall satisfaction score of SMEs with the development environment has increased from 74.60 points in 2020 to 84.54 points in 2025. With various policies working together to stabilize employment, businesses, markets, and expectations, the optimization of the SME development environment continues to show results.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama: This Middle East conflict has made us realize that the impact of overseas markets on Japanese government bond yields may be greater than expected.

On April 9th, following the announcement of a ceasefire agreement between the US and Iran, a key question remains: will this provide sufficient certainty for oil tankers? Joe Brusueras, chief economist at financial services and consulting firm RSM US, stated that confidence-building measures in the coming days are crucial for resuming transport. Re-establishing insurance mechanisms for tankers is necessary, meaning clarifying the conditions Iran might impose, which are currently unclear. Iran's foreign minister stated that safe passage over the next two weeks "will be possible through coordination with the Iranian armed forces and with full consideration of technical limitations." Even without considering the specifics of these "technical limitations," pre-war supply levels cannot be restored overnight. ClearView Energy Partners noted in a briefing that restarting closed facilities and shut-down oil fields could take weeks to months. Economist Brusueras also stated that numerous oil and refining facilities in oil-producing countries were damaged during the war. Production and refining capacity in the region is expected to take three to six months to fully recover to pre-war levels. Regarding natural gas, damage to Qatar's liquefied natural gas export infrastructure could take years to fully repair.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama: Since February 26, there has been unnecessary volatility in the market.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama: (When asked whether to extend the term of government debt) It is crucial to formulate a plan for issuing Japanese government bonds based on market demand.

Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Minoru Kihara: A stable energy supply in Asia is crucial to the supply chain.

April 9th - GeoQuant, a risk analytics firm affiliated with Fitch Ratings, stated that high fuel prices ahead of state elections are putting pressure on subsidy policies, posing rising fiscal and political risks to Malaysia. The government has already cut fuel subsidy quotas by one-third to control costs and maintain fiscal discipline. However, public concerns about fuel prices could intensify ahead of the elections. If fuel prices fall, a prudent policy response could support Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim and potentially pave the way for early federal elections. However, if fuel prices remain high, it could force the government to implement more austerity measures, putting pressure on state elections and potentially postponing the federal elections scheduled for February 2028.

On April 9th, Pony.ai-W (02026.HK), in partnership with Verne and Uber, launched commercial Robotaxi operations in Zagreb, the capital of Croatia, becoming the first publicly accessible Robotaxi service in Europe. Starting immediately, Zagreb residents can book a ride through the Verne app, and the service will later be integrated into the Uber app. Initially, the service covers approximately 90 square kilometers, encompassing Zagreb's central urban area and Zagreb Airport, operating daily from 7:00 AM to 9:00 PM. The service area will be gradually expanded to cover the entire city in the future.

Hong Kong-listed auto stocks continued their upward trend, with Geely Automobile (00175.HK) and Chery Automobile (09973.HK) rising by more than 4%, NIO-SW (09866.HK) rising by more than 3%, and Leapmotor (09863.HK) and others following suit.

Former Honduran President Hernández: The U.S. Court of Appeals has overturned his guilty verdict and ordered the judge to drop the charges against him.

On April 9th, economists at Mizuho Securities stated that while the upward pressure on oil prices caused by the Middle East conflict is significant, government subsidies are expected to largely offset its impact on Japan's energy costs. Meanwhile, the impact on commodities (mainly food) will gradually emerge, with inflation in these categories projected to peak between spring and summer 2027, implying a lag of four to six quarters. They added, "As security in the Strait of Hormuz and full normalization of shipping are expected to take time, crude oil prices are likely to remain high in the short term."

The Hong Kong-listed AI application sector rallied, with Zhipu (02513.HK) rising over 5%, RoboSense (02498.HK) gaining nearly 5%, and MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) and Youjia Innovation (02431.HK) following suit.

April 9th - According to statistics from the Hengqin Border Inspection Station of the Zhuhai Border Inspection General Station, as of 00:00 on April 9th, 2026, the total number of inbound and outbound passengers at the Hengqin Port this year exceeded 10 million, 29 days earlier than last year (May 7th, 2025), setting a new record for the fastest passage since the port opened. This reflects the vigorous momentum of increasingly close exchanges and deepening integration between Hengqin and Macao. Regarding vehicle clearance, since the beginning of this year, the "joint one-stop" lanes at the Hengqin Port have processed over 1.17 million inbound and outbound vehicles, of which 66% are Macao-registered vehicles. The clearance time for a single vehicle has been reduced to less than 100 seconds. It is understood that the port will also upgrade its "no-card-swipe" clearance lanes this year, further accelerating both passenger and vehicle clearance.

On April 9th, the highest 7-day annualized yield of Tencent Wealth Management's "Current Account +" was 1.3160%, and the lowest was 0.7700%. The highest 7-day annualized yield of WeChat Pay's "Lingqian Tong" was 1.0720%, and the lowest was 1.0150%. The highest 7-day annualized yield of Alipay's "Yu'ebao" was 1.2240%, and the lowest was 1.0010%.

April 9th - Today (April 9th), the 42nd Chinese Antarctic Expedition, organized by the Ministry of Natural Resources, and the icebreaker "Xuelong" successfully returned to China and docked at the domestic base pier for Chinese polar research. The expedition team successfully completed all its planned tasks. This expedition set new records in terms of the number of personnel, the amount of routine supplies, and the workload, achieving fruitful results.