Real-time News

On April 23, Carl Ang, an analyst at MFS Investment Management, stated that the Bank of Japan is expected to raise its policy rate from the current 0.75% to 1% in June, and then continue to raise rates every six months until a terminal rate of 1.75% is reached. Ang noted that the Bank of Japan's new consumer inflation indicator shows that potential price growth is only slightly below the bank's 2% target, and this indicator can be used to justify further rate hikes. The analyst also pointed out that the output gap has recently been revised from negative to positive, meaning that the Japanese economy is operating beyond its potential.

The local governor stated that Russia attacked civilian transportation infrastructure in the Zhytomyr region of western Ukraine, resulting in one death.

Japanese Foreign Ministry: Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi held a telephone conversation with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Salman. Both sides reaffirmed their intention to strengthen cooperation in order to de-escalate the situation.

Government data shows that Saudi Arabia's merchandise exports in February 2026 increased by 4.7% compared to February 2025, while oil exports increased by 0.6%.

Government data shows that Saudi Arabia's non-oil exports grew by 15.1% in February 2026.

Hyundai Motor: We saw prices for raw materials such as nickel and steel rise in the first quarter.

The China Earthquake Networks Center officially reported that a magnitude 3.4 earthquake occurred at 13:18 on April 23 in Kuqa City, Aksu Prefecture, Xinjiang (41.17 degrees north latitude, 83.69 degrees east longitude), with a focal depth of 15 kilometers.

A spokesperson for the Australian Department of Home Affairs said: "We are working with software vendors and companies like Anthropic to ensure we understand emerging vulnerability issues."

Hyundai Motor: Its global market share rose to 4.9% in the first quarter, up from 4.6%.

Hyundai Motor: First-quarter revenue was 45.9 trillion won. First-quarter operating profit was 2.5 trillion won. Hybrid vehicle sales accounted for 17.8% of total sales in the first quarter.

April 23rd, Futures News: Economies.com analysts' latest view: Spot gold fell in recent intraday trading, testing the $4700 support level, which was our target level set in our previous analysis. This support provided some positive momentum for gold prices, causing a rebound and partially recovering previous losses. This movement reflects that gold prices are attempting to stabilize after recent selling pressure. Despite the rebound, a cautious approach is still necessary, as gold prices remain below the 50-day EMA, which acts as dynamic resistance and limits the possibility of a full-scale recovery. Furthermore, the short-term corrective uptrend line has been broken. Meanwhile, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) continues to release negative signals after entering overbought territory, which may support the possibility of further pullbacks in gold prices in the near future.

April 23rd, Futures News: Economies.com analysts' latest view: WTI crude oil futures prices have fluctuated significantly in recent intraday trading, having previously touched the resistance level of $95.00, which was also the previously set price target. Due to the strong performance of this resistance level, prices have pulled back to accumulate the momentum needed to challenge it again. Meanwhile, the Relative Strength Index (RSI) shows prices digesting overbought conditions and has formed a negative crossover, explaining the recent brief decline. Nevertheless, prices remain supported by trading above the 50-day EMA, and the previous breakout of the corrective downtrend line also has a positive impact. These factors enhance the possibility of a resumption of the upward trend and an attempt to break through the resistance level.

April 23 (Futures News) – Economies.com analysts' latest view: Brent crude futures extended their recent gains during intraday trading, rebounding from the key resistance level of $100.00, which was previously considered an important price target. This move reflects the market's attempt to alleviate the clearly overbought conditions indicated by the Relative Strength Index (RSI), especially against the backdrop of initial bearish signals. Despite signs of cooling in the short term, prices remain supported by short-term bullish structures, including a descending wedge pattern and continued trading above the 50-day EMA. This further strengthens the overall positive bias and supports the potential for Brent crude futures to continue rising in the near term.

India's preliminary manufacturing PMI for April was 55.9, below the expected 54.1 and the previous reading of 53.9.

On April 23, local time, the Japanese House of Representatives passed a bill to establish a "National Intelligence Agency" in a plenary session. The bill will now be submitted to the House of Councillors for a vote. Since Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi took office last October, the Japanese government has repeatedly stated its intention to establish a new intelligence agency, the "National Intelligence Agency," citing insufficient cooperation among existing agencies in intelligence integration. In March of this year, the Japanese government passed a resolution and submitted a related bill to the Diet, proposing to establish a new intelligence mechanism with the "National Intelligence Council" at its core and the "National Intelligence Agency" as its specific operational body.

April 23 (Reuters) - SpaceX may be grappling with one of the biggest challenges in its chip business: manufacturing graphics processing units (GPUs), key components that power artificial intelligence. Ahead of its anticipated $1.75 trillion initial public offering (IPO) this summer, SpaceX has warned potential investors of its massive spending plans to develop artificial intelligence and other technologies. According to an excerpt from its S-1 registration statement reviewed by Reuters, the company lists "manufacturing our own GPUs" as one of its ongoing "significant capital expenditures." The company filed this document with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission to disclose its risks and financial situation before going public.

On April 23, it was learned from the National Astronomical Observatories of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that an international research team led by Chinese scientists recently released the first results of the "Qianyan" ultra-large-scale cosmological simulation project. The project successfully reproduced the evolution of the universe over billions of years with high precision within a cosmic space spanning approximately 12 billion light-years, providing a high-precision "digital guide map" for exploring the mysteries of the universe. The "Qianyan" simulation used approximately 4.2 trillion dark matter particles and, through N-body simulation technology, accurately tracked the accumulation of dark matter and the formation of cosmic structures, outputting 100 snapshots of cosmic evolution stages. The research team used the extremely complex Abel 2744 galaxy cluster, located approximately 4 billion light-years from Earth, as a verification object, finding a high degree of agreement between the simulation results and actual observations, proving that the standard cosmological model remains applicable in extremely complex celestial environments. The relevant results have been published in the international academic journal *Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society*.

On April 23, at a press conference on the financial operation situation in Guangdong Province in the first quarter of 2026, Zhang Shuangchang, Vice President of the Guangdong Branch of the People's Bank of China, stated that as of the end of the first quarter of this year, a total of 41 entities in the province, including 8 financial institutions, 22 technology-based enterprises, and 11 equity investment institutions, issued technology innovation bonds totaling over 140 billion yuan in the interbank market, achieving "full coverage" of the three types of entities. The Guangdong Branch of the People's Bank of China also collaborated with financial institutions to strengthen the assessment of bond issuance demand, providing a full-process "one-stop" bond issuance service to support enterprises and institutions in need to issue low-cost, long-term technology innovation bonds in the interbank market. Simultaneously, the Guangdong Branch of the People's Bank of China continued to actively promote the technology innovation bond market, guiding financial institutions to increase market-making efforts and creating specialized bond baskets and other products to attract more investors to participate in trading.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama: Our position that healthy investment in Japanese companies will contribute to our economy remains unchanged.

Market news: South Korea and Oman LNG have discussed cooperation on LNG supply chain and helium.