Real-time News

On January 31st, Peter Cardillo, Chief Market Strategist at Spartan Capital Securities, stated, "I don't want to say that Warsh's nomination as the new Federal Reserve Chairman was entirely unexpected. He has always been considered hawkish, but recently he seems to be converging with Trump's position, making it a bit difficult to assess how the market will accept this nomination. We just need to see if he will be influenced by the White House. My guess is that he won't; he will examine issues very carefully and maintain a certain balance on inflation and the labor market. He may not be as decisive as Powell, but he won't be too far off."

On January 31, NASA announced that the Perseverance rover had successfully completed its first maneuver on the Martian surface using an AI-planned route. According to NASA's website, the demonstration mission, led by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, took place on December 8 and 10, 2025. The mission team used generative artificial intelligence with visual understanding capabilities to analyze high-resolution images taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and data on terrain and slope, identifying key terrain features such as rocks, sand ripples, and boulder deposits. This generated a continuous route with multiple path nodes, helping Perseverance safely traverse complex terrain. Previously, this work was primarily done by ground engineers. Perseverance stored the AI-generated path nodes in its memory and traveled approximately 210 meters on December 8 and another 246 meters two days later.

According to Interfax news agency, production at Kazakhstan's Tengiz oil field has resumed.

On January 31st, the Institute of Finance and Banking of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences released its "China Macroeconomic and Financial Analysis" report for the fourth quarter of 2025, which pointed out that in 2026, my country's economic policy orientation will shift from "strengthening unconventional counter-cyclical adjustments" to "increasing the intensity of counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical adjustments." The macroeconomic and financial analysis team of the Institute of Finance and Banking of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences believes that in 2026, it is necessary to adhere to both policy support and reform and innovation, and to coordinate short-term macroeconomic control with medium- and long-term reform and governance. To this end, they propose three suggestions: First, fiscal and financial efforts should be coordinated to effectively unleash the potential of domestic demand; second, high-quality urban renewal should be used as a lever to stabilize investment; and third, innovative approaches to macroeconomic governance should be adopted to accelerate the repair of the balance sheets of micro-entities.

January 31st - Analysts suggest that Friday's gold price plunge may have been accelerated by a so-called "gamma squeeze." This occurs when prices break through a significant number of option open interest levels. Traders holding short option positions need to buy more futures (or gold ETF shares) to balance their portfolios, and then sell when prices fall back below these levels. For the SPDR Gold ETF, a large number of options with strike prices at $465 and $455 expired on Friday, while CME Group's March and April options also had significant open interest concentrated at $5300, $5200, and $5100.

On January 31st, OCBC strategist Christopher Wong stated that gold's price action "confirms the adage 'a sharp rise is inevitably followed by a sharp fall.'" He believes that while Warsh's nomination as Fed Chair was the trigger, a correction was already inevitable. "It's like one of the excuses the market has been waiting for—to liquidate those parabolic price movements." Precious metals had already paved the way for sharp fluctuations, as soaring prices and volatility put pressure on traders' risk models and balance sheets. Goldman Sachs noted in a report that the record wave of call option buying also "mechanically reinforced the upward momentum," as sellers of these options hedged against rising prices by buying more metal.

On January 31, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Grushko stated that the best guarantee for Ukraine's security is a concrete guarantee of Russia's security, a guarantee that no one in the West has offered. He emphasized, "If we believe that Ukrainian territory will not be used as a bridgehead threatening Russia's security, then Ukraine's security will also be guaranteed." The Russian Foreign Ministry previously stated that any scenario involving NATO member states deploying troops in Ukraine is absolutely unacceptable to Russia and could lead to a sharp escalation of the situation. The Russian Foreign Ministry also stated that statements from Britain and other European countries regarding the possible deployment of NATO troops in Ukraine are incitement to continue the conflict.

January 31st - According to Yahoo Finance, Kevin Warsh, President Trump's nominee for Federal Reserve Chairman, appeared in newly released Epstein case documents released by the US government on Friday. The documents show that Warsh's name was listed in the email guest list for the "2010 St. Barths Christmas" event, alongside figures such as Russian oligarch Roman Abramovich; he also attended a dinner hosted by British aristocrat William Astor. This revelation occurred on the same day Warsh was nominated for Fed chairman. His main controversy previously stemmed from his relationship with Republican donor Ronald Lauder, who was accused of influencing Trump's interest in Greenland during his first term and holding business interests there. Warsh may now need to address his relationship with Epstein and his 2010 Christmas trip, and there is also speculation that Trump's nomination is related to their shared social circle.

January 31 – With the House of Representatives in recess and unable to consider the appropriations bill, the U.S. federal government entered a technical, partial shutdown at midnight local time on January 31. Analysts point out that although the shutdown is expected to be short-lived, it once again highlights the structural predicament of U.S. fiscal politics. In recent years, temporary funding, short-term extensions, and marginal shutdowns have become the norm in congressional budget battles, with government operations frequently hampered by political disagreements. Currently, the market generally believes that the direct impact of this technical shutdown on financial markets and economic operations is limited, but if subsequent congressional negotiations are again stalled, the risk of a prolonged shutdown and a wider impact cannot be ruled out.

January 31st - According to the UK's Daily Telegraph, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer responded to US President Trump's remarks on Sino-British cooperation in Shanghai on the 30th, stating that ignoring China would be "unwise." "It would be unwise to simply say 'we should ignore it.' You know, French President Macron has already visited (China) and had exchanges, and German Chancellor Merz is also coming to exchange views," Starmer said. "It would not be in our national interest for Britain to be the only country refusing to engage (with China)." Starmer added, "In the past 24 hours, the opening of market access has been warmly welcomed by the business community. They have reported a change in the atmosphere and a significant increase in willingness to cooperate. This is good for our economy."

On January 31st, China Merchants Securities, in its latest research report, also pointed out that its team recently surveyed liquor distribution channels in Henan, Anhui, Sichuan, and other regions. Overall demand is still declining (double-digit decline), but this is in line with previous expectations. Looking at different scenarios, business banquets are mainly small-scale events, mid-to-high-end dining remains sluggish, and gift-giving demand has partially rebounded. There is a clear differentiation among brands, with Moutai showing excellent sales performance due to pre-emptive stockpiling for the Spring Festival, while other brands are under pressure.

On January 31, Michal Baltek, Vice Chairman of the Defense and Security Committee of the Slovak Parliament, stated in an interview with a reporter from China Central Television that the dispute surrounding Greenland is no longer merely a territorial or security issue, but reflects deep-seated challenges to US-EU relations, European strategic autonomy, and the international rules-based system. Baltek also stated that the US's use of trade tools to exert political pressure not only violates the spirit of international law but also undermines the rules-based international trading system.

On January 31st, according to a Weibo post by Lei Jun, Chairman of Xiaomi Group, he will be hosting a live stream at 8 PM on February 1st at the Xiaomi Auto factory laboratory in Beijing, giving viewers a tour of some of the labs. This will be an educational live stream to help viewers understand the development process of the new generation SU7 and to casually discuss some recent hot topics related to Xiaomi Auto, such as the GT7 and resale value.

Algeria's Remote Sensing Satellite-3B was successfully launched.

January 31st - According to the Dongguan Statistics WeChat official account, based on the unified accounting results of Guangdong Province's regional GDP, Dongguan's GDP in 2025 reached 1,276.02 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.0% at constant prices. Specifically, the added value of the primary industry was 3.69 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.5%; the added value of the secondary industry was 716.544 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 4.4%; and the added value of the tertiary industry was 555.787 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 3.5%.

On January 31st, a research report from CITIC Securities pointed out that the Trump administration's domestic and foreign policies are expected to profoundly impact global markets this year. CITIC Securities believes that one of the Trump administration's core objectives is to push down long-term interest rates through personnel changes at the Federal Reserve and a series of initiatives to boost the traditional economy and support the midterm elections. Success would be beneficial for global stock markets and commodities. However, its foreign policy focuses on domestic affairs and voter demands, and may only have a short-term impact on major asset classes. The extent of the fiscal deficit expansion remains uncertain, which is beneficial for gold and non-ferrous metals. The midterm election results are crucial; although Trump has tried his best to gain an advantage, a Republican defeat would be a short-term negative for risk assets other than US Treasuries.