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On January 16, Chuanyi Technology stated on its interactive platform that the first phase of its sodium-ion battery project went into production in 2023, while the second phase is still under construction; the company currently has no cooperation with Unitree Technology.

The People's Bank of China (PBOC) announced today that it conducted 86.7 billion yuan of 7-day reverse repurchase operations, with both the bid and winning bids amounting to 86.7 billion yuan. The operating rate was 1.40%, unchanged from the previous rate.

On Friday, January 16, the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index opened 171.23 points higher, or 0.64%, at 27,094.85; the Hang Seng Tech Index opened 55.02 points higher, or 0.94%, at 5,883.37; the H-share Index opened 63.36 points higher, or 0.68%, at 9,330.22; and the Red Chip Index opened 3.28 points higher, or 0.08%, at 4,156.98.

Hang Seng Index futures opened 0.78% higher at 27,141 points, a premium of 211 points.

On January 16th, Zhang Yuzhuo, Secretary of the Party Committee and Director of the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council (SASAC), stated at a recent meeting of local SASAC leaders that the work of local SASACs during the 15th Five-Year Plan period should strive to achieve five main objectives. These include: a significantly strengthened strategic mission, with more prominent functions in strategic security, industrial leadership, national economy and people's livelihood, and public services, further increasing the contribution of the state-owned economy to economic and social development; a significantly improved level of technological self-reliance, rapid breakthroughs in key core technologies in key areas, and a steady increase in the number of leading technology enterprises; and a significantly optimized layout, with continued consolidation of controlling positions in important industries related to national security and the lifeline of the national economy, accelerated transformation and upgrading of traditional industries, and a substantial increase in the added value of strategic emerging industries.

Samsung Electronics shares rose more than 3%.

January 16th - According to a recent meeting of local State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) officials, as of now, 16 local SASACs nationwide have established R&D input-output evaluation systems. Jiangsu, Hebei, Jilin, Heilongjiang, and other provinces have established long-term linkage mechanisms with science and technology, industry and information technology, and finance departments to jointly support provincial state-owned enterprises in deeply participating in national and provincial key R&D programs and key innovation platform construction, promoting the aggregation of more innovation elements to enterprises. Zhejiang has issued its No. 1 document supporting state-owned enterprise technological innovation for two consecutive years, accelerating the improvement of a collaborative research mechanism of "enterprises posing questions, platforms answering questions, workshops verifying questions, and the market evaluating." The innovation ecosystem continues to optimize. Chongqing promotes deep cooperation between industry, academia, and research, with municipal state-owned enterprises reaching 107 cooperation projects with more than 50 universities and research institutes, including Tsinghua University, and jointly building 33 innovation consortia in various forms. Sichuan has built and put into operation the Southwest Science and Technology Achievement Transformation Innovation Service Platform and continues to promote the construction of 10 pilot-scale verification platforms, including those for new energy materials.

On January 16th, according to Qichacha APP, Aijie Technology (Kunshan) Co., Ltd. was recently established with a registered capital of 400 million yuan. Its business scope includes: sales of intelligent unmanned aerial vehicles; sales of wearable smart devices; sales of intelligent vehicle equipment; and sales of communication equipment. Qichacha's equity penetration analysis shows that the company is wholly owned by Luxshare Precision.

On January 16th, Yoshihiko Noda, leader of the Constitutional Democratic Party of Japan (CDPP), announced plans to submit the application for the formation of a new party with the Komeito Party to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and Communications that morning. The CDPP and Komeito have decided to name the new party, which aims to "unite forces along the middle path," the "Middle Way Reform Alliance." After completing the application process, the two parties will hold a joint press conference on the afternoon of the 16th, with CDPP leader Yoshihiko Noda and Komeito leader Tetsuo Saito making the announcement. Members of the House of Representatives from both parties will then proceed with the necessary procedures to join the new party.

The China Earthquake Networks Center automatically determined that an earthquake of approximately magnitude 3.5 occurred near Tianzhu County, Wuwei City, Gansu Province at 08:39 on January 16. The final result is subject to the official rapid report.

A federal judge in California has reportedly ruled that the U.S. Department of Justice's demand for voter data from states is "unprecedented and illegal."

On January 16th, Futures reported that oil prices ended their consecutive rise and experienced a significant correction. Fluctuating news dampened market confidence in fuel oil, with downstream buyers cautious in accepting high-priced orders, leading to a cooling of demand. It is expected that fuel oil trading will remain stable with most participants observing the market, with some minor price drops to boost volume in certain areas.

On January 16th, Galaxy Securities pointed out that on January 15th, 2026, the People's Bank of China (PBOC) released the December 2025 financial data and held a press conference. The December financial data showed two important positive signals: firstly, it again indicated that the shift of household savings was underway; secondly, corporate medium- and long-term loans showed signs of recovery. At the press conference, the PBOC introduced eight structural monetary policy measures and emphasized that in the implementation process, they would be coordinated with fiscal policies such as fiscal subsidies, guarantees, and risk cost sharing. At the same time, the PBOC pointed out that there is still room for reserve requirement ratio (RRR) and interest rate cuts this year. The easing of structural monetary policy tools was first implemented in January, consistent with previous predictions. Galaxy Securities believes that current monetary policy is characterized by a high degree of coordination with fiscal policy. A 50 basis point RRR cut in the first quarter is still expected to be implemented, maintaining ample liquidity to support government bond issuance. A comprehensive interest rate cut still needs to wait for the right opportunity. Stabilizing expectations (external), stabilizing employment (internal), and stabilizing the market (financial) will be the main themes for observing the possible implementation of a comprehensive interest rate cut.

On January 16th, a research report from CITIC Securities stated that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) lowered the interest rates of various relending tools by 25 basis points. However, this measure is not a traditional reduction in the reverse repo rate or LPR (Loan Prime Rate), but rather a targeted effort through structural tools. We believe this move will help boost banks' lending activity, promote stable credit growth, and alleviate pressure on bank interest rate spreads to some extent. Regarding aggregate policy, the PBOC indicated that there is still room for reserve requirement ratio (RRR) and interest rate cuts this year. However, given the continued strong export performance and relatively strong short-term economic momentum, we expect short-term policy easing to be restrained, with the total reduction in the reverse repo rate for the year likely to be around 10 basis points. As for exchange rates, the PBOC continues its policy stance of "maintaining basic stability at a reasonable and balanced level." We believe that in the short term, the policy focus remains on preventing exchange rate overshooting, improving expectation management, and enhancing enterprises' exchange rate hedging capabilities, rather than gaining a trade competitive advantage through exchange rate adjustments.

On January 16th, CITIC Securities pointed out that new social financing in December 2025 was 2.21 trillion yuan, a decrease of 0.65 trillion yuan year-on-year. The decline in social financing year-on-year was in line with expectations, due to government bond issuance leading the way and weakened support from a high base. Corporate lending improved marginally in December, likely mainly due to banks' proactive pre-launch project preparations. Retail lending remained sluggish, with expectations for a recovery in demand driven by macroeconomic recovery and coordinated policy efforts. The proactive fiscal policy and relatively loose monetary policy are expected to continue in 2026, with government bonds remaining a significant driver of social financing growth. Credit growth is projected to remain around 7%-8% in 2026, but a genuine improvement in bank fundamentals will require further improvement in credit demand and economic expectations.

On January 16, the U.S. Senate passed a bill approving billions of dollars in funding for several federal research agencies, rejecting the Trump administration's proposed budget cuts to research and space programs. Under the bill, the National Science Foundation (NSF) will receive $8.75 billion for research in areas such as quantum information science and artificial intelligence, significantly higher than the White House's proposed 57% budget cut. Democratic Senator Van Hollen stated that the funding will support nearly 10,000 new research projects, covering more than 250,000 researchers, faculty, and students.

European Central Bank Chief Economist Lian: Current interest rate levels set a benchmark for the coming years. If the benchmark scenario holds true, there is no discussion of interest rate changes in the near term.