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On August 18th, the Ministry of Commerce and eight other departments issued an opinion on further stimulating the vitality of lower-tier markets and boosting consumption in county-level areas. The opinion mentions improving the quality and efficiency of financial services. It guides financial institutions to optimize financial services for the consumption sector in lower-tier markets and strengthens financial support for eligible consumer commercial facilities projects. It supports eligible wholesale, retail, and service enterprises in issuing bonds and listing on the stock exchange. Eligible commercial and trade enterprises that open new chain stores in county-level areas can apply for entrepreneurial guaranteed loans and receive interest subsidies.

On August 18th, nine departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued an opinion on further stimulating the vitality of lower-tier markets and boosting consumption in county-level areas. The opinion mentions expanding the supply of high-quality, reasonably priced goods. It encourages enterprises to actively introduce high-quality products into county-level markets, simultaneously launching new products in eligible counties, and promoting the sharing of the same quality and products between urban and rural areas. It guides enterprises to develop high-quality products that meet the consumption characteristics of county-level areas and supports commercial and trade enterprises in building flexible supply chains based on "own brands + demand-driven production." It also strongly supports the promotion of new energy vehicles, green and intelligent products, and green building materials in rural areas, and expands the coverage of rural charging facilities.

With no substantial progress in the Middle East situation, will crude oil prices continue their slightly bullish trend in the short term? A quick overview of the pre-market crude oil prices (converted between domestic and international markets) in one chart.

On August 18th, nine departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued an opinion on further stimulating the vitality of lower-tier markets and boosting consumption in county-level areas. The opinion mentions developing emerging business models tailored to local conditions. It encourages qualified regions to develop virtual reality, immersive experiences, and "artificial intelligence + consumption," and promotes green consumption models such as secondhand trading and commodity leasing. It also calls for deepening the implementation of a special action to promote healthy consumption and innovating consumption chains that integrate primary, secondary, and tertiary industries.

Weak US consumer data led to a slight rebound in precious metals. A quick chart shows the pre-market prices of gold and silver, converted between domestic and international markets.

On August 18th, nine departments, including the Ministry of Commerce, issued an opinion on further stimulating the vitality of lower-tier markets and boosting consumption in county-level areas. The opinion emphasizes strengthening financial support. It calls for implementing an action plan to revitalize consumption in lower-tier markets, focusing on supporting the upgrading of consumption channels, scenario innovation, and efficiency improvement in county-level areas, addressing shortcomings in daily life services. It also calls for optimizing resource allocation, coordinating relevant funding channels from the central and local governments, integrating and utilizing existing resources, and constructing service facilities in areas such as elderly care, childcare, education, medical care, and sports in county-level areas according to local conditions. Finally, it supports eligible personal consumption loans and loans to service industry operators to enjoy fiscal interest subsidies.

As of 8:30 AM Beijing time, spot platinum rose 0.41% and spot palladium rose 0.16%.

Futures News, August 18th: With no substantial progress in the Middle East situation, crude oil prices are expected to maintain a slightly bullish tone in the short term. The tight PX spot market continues, and the PX market is expected to rise today.

Market sources: South Korea has denied reports that it is discussing making semiconductors its first US investment.

August 18 - According to Al Jazeera, a spokesperson for the Yemeni Armed Forces stated that in the past 24 hours, the armed forces conducted 133 military operations against Houthi militants, focusing on striking their combat capabilities and personnel. The armed forces used rocket launchers, artillery, and drones in these operations, which were carried out by military units stationed at frontline positions.

On August 18th, it was reported that the Yunnan Provincial Department of Education and other departments jointly issued the "Yunnan Province 'Artificial Intelligence + Education' Action Plan." The plan proposes that by 2030, general education in artificial intelligence will cover all educational levels, a team of teachers combining full-time and part-time teachers for general education in artificial intelligence will be established, the artificial intelligence literacy and application capabilities of teachers and students will be comprehensively improved, the scale and quality of artificial intelligence talent training will be significantly enhanced, student learning, teacher teaching, and education governance will be empowered, scientific research innovation and international cooperation will be supported, and an infrastructure and service support system adapted to the needs will be constructed.

On August 18th, it was reported that Alphabet, Google's parent company, is offering Australian dollar bonds with four maturities, one of which is as long as 20 years. Sources previously revealed that Google plans to raise approximately A$5 billion (about US$3.6 billion) in this round of financing. Last month, Alphabet raised its capital expenditure forecast for this year to as high as US$205 billion, reigniting concerns about how large tech companies will recoup profits from their trillions of dollars in artificial intelligence investments. Currently, among large US companies, Alphabet ranks second only to Amazon in utilizing the global debt market to finance its AI projects. In addition to the US market, Alphabet also plans to issue bonds in currencies such as the Swiss franc, British pound, euro, Canadian dollar, and Japanese yen in 2026.

Tokyo Electron's stock price fell 4%.

The Nikkei 225 index opened down 375.98 points, or 0.54%, at 68,844.27 on Tuesday, August 18.

On August 18th, according to US media reports on the 17th, Jared Kushner, US President Trump's son-in-law, who is currently visiting the Middle East, stated that the "demilitarization" process in the Gaza Strip could begin within 30 days. Kushner made these remarks during an interview with Fox News after meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem. He said, "We could see progress as early as 30 days, hopefully starting to clear some weapons and filling in some tunnels within the next 60 to 90 days." He also threatened that if Hamas fails to fulfill its promises, "Israel will receive stronger support from the United States and other parties." Kushner further stated that the US will not allow reconstruction in the Gaza Strip before demilitarization is achieved. Furthermore, the US "will not restrict Israel's right to self-defense" should an imminent threat be faced.

On August 18th, Wang Qing, chief macro analyst at Golden Credit Rating, stated that the recent zero volume of 7-day reverse repurchase operations, coupled with the overnight reverse repurchase operation conducted in mid-August, indicates that the People's Bank of China (PBOC) is now more precise in its control of market interest rates. This suggests that market interest rates will operate more smoothly in the future. Furthermore, it implies that overnight reverse repos may gradually replace 7-day reverse repos, becoming the PBOC's core policy tool for short-term liquidity adjustment.

August 18th - BHP Billiton's annual profit rose by nearly a third, driven by higher commodity prices, and for the first time, its copper revenue surpassed its iron ore revenue. BHP Billiton announced on Tuesday that its underlying profit for the fiscal year ending in June reached $13.2 billion, a 30% increase year-on-year, exceeding analysts' expectations. The company also announced a final dividend of 99 cents, equivalent to a 72% payout ratio. Copper prices surged to record highs during the past fiscal year, and iron ore, another core product of BHP Billiton, continued its strong performance. BHP Billiton expects global copper demand to increase from approximately 34 million tons currently to 50 million tons per year by 2050. However, with declining grades and aging mines, BHP Billiton's copper production at its Chilean mines is currently declining, prompting the company to invest billions just to maintain production.

[Compiled by: Daily Tech News Roundup (August 18)] Artificial Intelligence: 1. Anthropic's annualized revenue surpassed $65 billion before its IPO. 2. ByteDance signed an agreement with the Motion Picture Association of America to strengthen copyright protection for its AI models. 3. Nvidia partnered with SB Energy to develop an 8-gigawatt hyperscale AI data center in Ohio, USA, and invested $1.5 billion in SB Energy. 4. Nvidia: OpenAI pledged to deploy Nvidia's AI infrastructure on a large scale by 2030, corresponding to a computing business scale of approximately $600 billion. Other: 1. Meta's exorbitant lawsuit will begin its trial on Tuesday. 2. Jiuguang released a humanoid robot capable of lifting a 50-kilogram barbell. 3. CITIC Capital's acquisition of Alibaba's Lingxi Interactive Entertainment has officially taken effect. 4. Xiaomi Auto: Xiaomi SU7 series deliveries surpassed 500,000 units in 28.5 months. 5. Unitree Robotics achieved a 2-meter high jump and a top speed of 12.66 m/s, surpassing the world records for both standing high jump and running speed.