Real-time News

January 19th - According to statistics from the Guangdong Sub-Administration of the General Administration of Customs, in 2025, Guangdong's total import and export of goods reached 9.49 trillion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%, setting a new annual record. This accounted for 20.9% of the country's total foreign trade, an increase of 0.1 percentage points from the previous year, ranking first among all provinces and municipalities for 40 consecutive years, contributing 24.1% to the national foreign trade growth. Specifically, exports reached 6.03 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.5%; imports reached 3.46 trillion yuan, an increase of 7.8%.

Ukraine's Energy Minister: Kyiv will implement projects to improve power transmission from western Ukraine to the east.

January 19th - According to the China Index Academy, due to the relatively delayed Spring Festival holiday in 2026, the traditional off-season for sales will be shifted later, making the performance of the real estate market from January to early February a key window for observing the prosperity of the first quarter and even the whole year.

The Indonesian rupiah fell further to 16,945 against the US dollar, a new low since early April 2025.

On January 19th, George Chevelli, portfolio manager of natural resources at Ninety One, stated that there is more reason to believe that gold prices will consolidate or rise slightly rather than fall sharply. "Gold's upward momentum is strong, but its fundamentals remain solid," he said. These fundamental factors include a weaker dollar, ongoing geopolitical tensions, expectations of a Federal Reserve rate cut, and escalating concerns about fiscal deficits and continued central bank demand.

Market news: A 5.1-magnitude earthquake struck Tonga.

On January 19th, Capital Economics pointed out that US President Trump's threat to impose tariffs on eight European countries in an attempt to "annex" Greenland, even if implemented, would have limited economic impact but would bring more serious political and geopolitical consequences. Chief Economist Neil Schelling stated that the legal basis for such tariffs is unclear, noting that Trump has not followed through on other similar threats. Any tariffs would lead to trade diversions within the EU. The UK and Germany, the US's largest export markets, would be the most affected. A 10% tariff would reduce GDP in both countries by about 0.1%, while a 25% tariff would reduce GDP by 0.2% to 0.3%. US inflation might rise by 0.1% to 0.2%, but this could be offset by other factors. However, any annexation of Greenland could cause irreparable damage to NATO.

Sanbian Technology surged to its daily limit during trading, staging a dramatic "from-the-bottom-to-the-top" reversal, with a trading volume exceeding 2.5 billion yuan.

TBEA Co., Ltd. hit the daily limit in late trading, with a turnover of over 21.7 billion yuan.

According to the government website, Japan’s International Petroleum Exploration Corporation (INPEX) has withdrawn its environmental proposal for the Bonnaparte Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) project in Australia, which has an annual processing capacity of 10 million tons.

Gold and silver prices climbed to new highs on Monday as investors flocked to safe-haven assets after US President Trump threatened to impose additional tariffs on European countries over control of Greenland. EU diplomats said ambassadors from EU member states were preparing retaliatory measures should tariffs be imposed. "Geopolitical tensions have given gold bulls yet another reason to push gold to new highs," said Matt Simpson, senior analyst at StoneX. US stock index futures and the dollar declined as Trump's latest tariff threats boosted investor preference for safe-haven gold, the yen, and the Swiss franc, resulting in a broad-based safe-haven move across the market. "As for silver, the medium-term outlook remains constructive, with a persistent physical supply gap, resilient industrial demand, and safe-haven demand all providing support," said Christopher Wong, strategist at OCBC Bank. "However, given the recent pace of gains, short-term strategies may need to be more cautious." Wong also noted that the gold-silver ratio has fallen sharply from a high of nearly 105 at the end of 2025 to just above 50, indicating that silver has outperformed gold.

Honjo, a joint official from the Nakamichi Reforms Association in Japan, said: "Once legislation is enacted, the food sales tax could be halved within six months."

Volkswagen, Porsche, BMW, and Mercedes-Benz all fell by about 3% in trading on the German electronic securities trading platform Tradegate.

RBC Capital Markets raised its price target for Goldman Sachs (GS.N) from $900 to $1,030.

The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre reports a magnitude 6 earthquake in northwestern Kashmir.

On January 19th, JPMorgan Chase issued a report stating that Li Ning's (02331.HK) recovery will take time, acknowledging the efforts of Li Ning's management to inject new vitality into the brand. After experiencing profit declines of 22%, 6%, and 9% in 2023, 2024, and 2025 respectively, the profit base is already low. The bank expects a slight profit increase of only 2% in 2026, which will still lag behind the expected profit growth of over 10% for Anta (02020.HK) and Xtep International (01368.HK) in 2026. JPMorgan Chase lowered its 2026-2027 profit forecasts for Li Ning by 14% to 15% to reflect weak retail sales trends and continued investment, but raised its 2025 profit forecast based on higher government subsidies. The bank has extended its valuation timeframe to December 2026 (previously June 2026), but maintains its target price of HK$14.6 based on the discounted cash flow method, corresponding to a forward P/E ratio of 11x for 2027. It maintains its "Underweight" rating.

The yield on Japan's 20-year government bonds continued to climb to 3.265%.

Okamoto, a joint official in the Japanese opposition coalition on reform, said: "Securing funding for food tax cuts is crucial."

On January 19th, Goldman Sachs rated PICC Group (01339.HK) H-shares and PICC (601319.SH) A-shares as "Neutral" and "Sell" respectively, with 12-month target prices of HK$6.8 and RMB6.5 respectively based on a sum-of-the-parts valuation method. The bank also gave PICC Property & Casualty (02328.HK) a "Buy" rating, with a 12-month target price of HK$19.7 based on a return on equity valuation method.