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On April 27th, Berenberg economists stated in a report that the Bank of England may keep interest rates unchanged at 3.75% in 2026, before resuming rate cuts in the future. Data from the London Stock Exchange shows that due to high global energy prices and concerns about inflation, the market has already fully priced in two 25-basis-point rate hikes by the Bank of England this year. Berenberg economists stated that the UK faces a weak economy and a slowing labor market, factors that could curb a significant rise in inflation. The economists also noted that members of the Bank of England's Monetary Policy Committee may wait for data to indicate weak demand and inflation before resuming rate cuts.

The onshore yuan closed at 6.8239 against the US dollar at 16:30 on April 27, up 103 points from the previous trading day.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said: "If Putin and Trump have contact, the Kremlin will report on it."

On April 27th, at Baidu AI Day, Baidu Wenku Cloud Drive jointly released the general-purpose intelligent agent "GenFlow 4.0," a comprehensive upgrade to Office Agent. Individuals and teams can deploy OpenClaw with a single click within the GenFlow 4.0 general-purpose intelligent agent. To date, the GenFlow 4.0 general-purpose intelligent agent has 100 million monthly active users and delivers 200 million tasks per month.

Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi: Today, an economic and fiscal advisory meeting was held to discuss issues such as "infrastructure development," "local finance," and "talent development."

On April 27th, the Ministry of Civil Affairs and two other departments jointly issued the "Administrative Measures for Internet Public Fundraising Service Platforms," clarifying that public fundraising information pages on internet public fundraising service platforms must not include any form of commercial advertising or interactive functions unrelated to public fundraising. The measures will take effect on May 1st of this year. Internet public fundraising service platforms refer to online platforms designated by the State Council's Ministry of Civil Affairs specifically for providing services to charitable organizations conducting public fundraising activities. It is reported that the revised Charity Law stipulates that platforms may not refuse service without justifiable reasons, may not charge fees, and may not insert commercial advertisements. The measures further refine the relevant provisions of the Charity Law and clarify that platforms can refuse to provide services to charitable organizations under specific circumstances. At the same time, platforms are prohibited from accepting donated property on behalf of charitable organizations.

On April 27th, ING analyst Chris Turner stated in a report that the US dollar weakened after media reports that Iran had offered the US a new proposal to end the war. However, he noted that the decline might be limited, as oil prices remain high and investors are assessing how central banks will respond to a situation of rising inflation and weak growth. This week, the Bank of Japan, the Federal Reserve, the Bank of England, and the European Central Bank will all announce their interest rate decisions.

On Monday, April 27, the Hang Seng Index closed down 52.42 points, or 0.2%, at 25,925.65; the Hang Seng Tech Index closed up 37.64 points, or 0.77%, at 4,939.84; the H-share Index closed down 19.3 points, or 0.22%, at 8,756.32; and the Red Chip Index closed down 23.91 points, or 0.55%, at 4,338.55.

April 27th - A survey of businesses' access to financing released by the European Central Bank (ECB) on Monday showed that, affected by the war in Iran, eurozone businesses expect short-term inflation to rise, but long-term expectations remain stable, and wage growth expectations are actually slowing. The survey, covering over 10,000 businesses, including both pre- and post-war responses, showed no signs of a second wave of inflation, easing some concerns ahead of Thursday's meeting. The ECB stated that one-year inflation expectations jumped to 3.0% from 2.6% three months ago, while three- and five-year inflation expectations remained unchanged. Businesses did not raise their wage expectations; instead, they reported a slowdown in wage growth expectations. The ECB stated, "The Middle East war has significantly increased businesses' expectations for selling prices and input costs, but has not affected wage expectations." The survey showed that wages are expected to grow by 2.8%, down from 3.1% three months ago. Businesses expect selling prices to rise by 3.5%, while input costs, including energy, are expected to rise by 5.8%.

On April 27th, the Investor Service and Protection Professional Committee of the Securities Association of China held an enlarged meeting of its chairpersons in Nanning on April 8th. The meeting discussed and exchanged views on the securities industry's implementation of the "15th Five-Year Plan" and strengthening investor protection, and reviewed and approved the Investor Service and Protection Professional Committee's key work plan for 2026. The meeting concluded that during the "15th Five-Year Plan" period, the securities industry should deeply grasp the development opportunities of building first-class investment banks and investment institutions, adhere to prioritizing its functions, implement the requirements of the "Several Opinions on Strengthening the Protection of Small and Medium-sized Investors in the Capital Market," integrate the requirements for strengthening investor protection into the entire process of providing financial services and products before, during, and after the transaction, assume the responsibility of protecting the legitimate rights and interests of small and medium-sized investors, implement investor suitability management responsibilities, improve the efficiency of handling investor complaints and preventing illegal securities activities, and better help investors understand risks, make prudent decisions, invest rationally, and protect their rights in accordance with the law.

April 27th - In recent years, tourists have complained about management and service issues at some scenic spots, affecting their travel experience. Man Hongwei, Director of the Resource Development Department of the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, stated that strengthening scenic spot management is a key measure in the concentrated rectification of irregularities in the tourism industry: First, urging rectification at a higher level, requiring local authorities and scenic spots to review the problem list, adhere to a tourist-centric approach, formulate rectification plans for each issue, and implement rectification work within a specified timeframe. Second, strengthening unannounced inspections, organizing regular "check-up" style unannounced inspections, conducting all-day online information collection, broadening channels for problem discovery, strengthening public opinion collection and analysis, conducting on-site investigations with problem lists in mind, and improving the problem supervision mechanism. Third, linking to rating reviews, we will strengthen dynamic management of the quality rating of 5A-level tourist attractions that fail to rectify problems effectively, show poor improvement, or have frequent problems; those that should be downgraded will be downgraded, and those that should have their ratings revoked will have them revoked.

The European Central Bank's survey on corporate financing channels shows that short-term inflation expectations have risen significantly, while medium-term expectations remain stable. Businesses anticipate the Iran war will drive a sharp increase in sales prices, but wage expectations have weakened slightly.

On April 27th, Berenberg Bank economists stated in a report that high energy prices triggered by the Middle East conflict could keep UK inflation at around 3% in 2026, above the Bank of England's 2% target. However, weaker wage growth in the UK should help mitigate the risk of high inflation. "While the war with Iran will keep inflation above target, the UK's inflation problem is unlikely to be more severe than in other countries."

The ECB's survey on corporate financing channels indicates that companies report further tightening of bank lending rates and other lending conditions; corporate profits continue to deteriorate.

On April 27th, UBS-Julius Baer analyst Magdalene Teo stated that the easing cycle in Asia has been put on hold as the Middle East conflict disrupts oil supplies and begins to show its effects on inflation and growth concerns. In her report, she noted that despite the weak yen, the Bank of Japan is widely expected to keep interest rates unchanged this week due to the uncertainty surrounding the war. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) tightened its policy slightly earlier this month to address inflation in advance. Thailand faces the risk of slower growth as its tourism industry, a pillar of its economy, is impacted by rising travel costs. The Philippines may raise interest rates to maintain price stability, while the Indonesian central bank will likely keep rates unchanged to support the rupiah, but a rate hike cannot be ruled out if foreign exchange reserves decline significantly.

On April 27th, European Central Bank (ECB) policymakers made it clear that they value maintaining flexibility in policy options ahead of this week's policy decision. The market has reacted accordingly, lowering its rate hike expectations to approximately 20%. However, this probability is expected to rise to around 63% by the June meeting. Looking at the full year, traders are currently pricing in a rate hike of approximately 58 basis points, roughly equivalent to two subsequent 25 basis point hikes, which is Goldman Sachs' current baseline scenario. Goldman Sachs believes that given the unresolved situation in the Middle East, the ECB is unlikely to take action this week, as policymakers want to preserve policy space while assessing the second-round effects of inflation. The press conference is expected to maintain the tone of recent communications, with ECB President Lagarde potentially stating that the Governing Council will monitor the second-round effects and is prepared to act to ensure inflation returns to 2% in the medium term. Regarding the future policy path, Goldman Sachs expects the ECB to implement two 25 basis point rate hikes in the coming months, the first in June, followed by a move to raise the deposit rate to 2.50% in September.

On April 27th, at the 2026 Beijing International Automotive Exhibition, Unisoc and ADAYO jointly released a new generation AI cockpit platform equipped with the A8880 chip, which achieves a significant leap in CPU, GPU computing power and graphics rendering capabilities.

On April 27th, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the Ministry of Public Security, and the State Administration for Market Regulation jointly released a report this afternoon on the progress of the crackdown on forced shopping in the tourism market. At the press conference, Li Jian, Director of the Cultural Market Comprehensive Law Enforcement Supervision Bureau, stated that the Ministry of Culture and Tourism will soon collaborate with the Cyberspace Administration of China to launch a special campaign to rectify illegal online solicitation. The campaign will focus on prominent issues throughout the entire process of online traffic generation, private domain customer acquisition, and offline group formation, and will take the following measures: 1. Comprehensively eliminate unqualified and counterfeit solicitation entities. 2. Focus on rectifying false advertising in online solicitation. 3. Severely crack down on illegal group transfer and group-buying activities. 4. Resolutely block profit-making channels for "unreasonably low-priced tours." The focus will be on travel agencies that have been investigated and punished according to law or whose travel agency business licenses have been revoked but continue to operate under different identities, as well as price fraud issues in online solicitation of popular tourist routes. A concentrated screening and comparison of abnormally priced tourism products and information will be conducted, and in-depth investigations will be carried out to trace the source and effectively block illegal profit-making channels.

On April 27th, Commerzbank analyst Thu Lan Nguyen stated in a report that market expectations for interest rate hikes by the Bank of England and the European Central Bank appear excessive ahead of meetings later this week, thus putting the pound and euro at risk. LSEG data shows that money market pricing indicates the Bank of England and the European Central Bank will keep interest rates unchanged on Thursday but will raise them twice before the end of the year. "We are particularly skeptical of market expectations regarding the ECB and the Bank of England," Nguyen said. She stated that there is considerable room for these expectations to be reassessed, and therefore, exchange rates could experience significant volatility.