Real-time News

February 13th - Data from the China Passenger Car Association (CPCA) shows that pickup truck production and sales are exhibiting strong growth. In January 2026, the pickup truck market sold 49,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 22.5%, reaching a high level for the same period in the past five years. Pickup truck production in January 2026 reached 52,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 29.3%. In January 2026, China's pickup truck exports reached 28,000 units, a year-on-year increase of 12%, but a month-on-month decrease of 13%, with exports continuing to maintain a high proportion. In 2024, pickup truck exports accounted for 45% of total pickup truck sales; in 2025, pickup truck exports reached 50%; and in January 2026, pickup truck exports reached 54%. Many new Chinese pickup truck brands have achieved strong growth through exports, significantly boosting the export performance of Chinese-made pickup trucks.

EU Defence and Space Commissioner Coubilius: The US demands on European defense are "reasonable".

The chart shows that at 23:00 Beijing time on February 13, there will be large foreign exchange options contracts for EUR/USD, USD/JPY, etc. 11 of these contracts have a strike price of over 1 billion. Please manage your risk.

February 13 – The Ministry of Public Security announced on February 13 that the 11th China-US Drug Intelligence Exchange Meeting was held in the United States from February 10 to 12, local time. Inter-agency drug enforcement delegations from China and the US participated in the meeting. During the meeting, both sides conducted in-depth discussions on the drug situation, the cleanup of illegal online information, cooperative cases, chemical control, and anti-money laundering related to drug trafficking. They reported on the latest developments, exchanged opinions and suggestions, and clarified the direction of cooperation. Both sides agreed to jointly promote the healthy, in-depth, and pragmatic development of China-US drug enforcement cooperation on the basis of equality and mutual respect. The China-US Drug Intelligence Exchange Meeting, which began in 2002, is hosted alternately by the drug enforcement departments of the two countries and is an important institutional meeting in the field of drug enforcement between China and the US.

On Friday, February 13, the Hang Seng Index closed down 465.42 points, or 1.72%, at 26,567.12; the Hang Seng Tech Index closed down 48.56 points, or 0.9%, at 5,360.42; the H-share Index closed down 142.47 points, or 1.55%, at 9,032.71; and the Red Chip Index closed down 72.42 points, or 1.64%, at 4,338.34.

February 13th - According to Politico, six European officials stated that they do not expect the Munich Security Conference to achieve much substantial progress in ending the Russia-Ukraine conflict. Two European officials and a senior US official revealed that the US has made it clear to Ukraine that it will not finalize a security guarantees agreement before a general agreement is reached. However, the peace process is stalled due to territorial disputes. A senior government official stated that President Trump is not attempting to use the agreement as leverage to pressure Zelensky. The official stated, "Trump wants to finalize and implement many things before actually signing, not just sign for the sake of signing, which would hinder subsequent peace negotiations." Another source familiar with the matter said that the US, Russia, and Ukraine plan to meet again next week, possibly in Miami or Abu Dhabi, where the US believes any substantial progress is more likely to occur.

On February 13th, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Guidelines on Anti-Monopoly Compliance of Internet Platforms." The guidelines require that platform operators with a dominant market position avoid abusing their market dominance by selling goods at unfairly high prices or purchasing goods at unfairly low prices in the following ways: (i) charging platform operators significantly higher fees than other similar business platform operators under the same or similar market conditions, such as commissions, registration fees, handling fees, membership fees, technical service fees, information service fees, and marketing promotion fees, or increasing these fees beyond the normal range when costs are basically stable; (ii) indirectly charging platform operators unfairly high fees by splitting service items or adding new charges; (iii) paying platform operators significantly lower prices for goods than other similar business platform operators under the same or similar market conditions.

On February 13, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Guidelines on Anti-Monopoly Compliance of Internet Platforms." The guidelines require platform operators to avoid reaching vertical monopoly agreements with trading partners through the following means: (i) automating the setting of resale prices using big data analysis, artificial intelligence, and other technologies; (ii) unifying resale prices using platform rules regarding interface calls, data usage, traffic allocation, promotional activities, store management, and user services; and (iii) directly or indirectly limiting resale prices using user profiling, prediction algorithms, etc.

On February 13, the State Administration for Market Regulation issued the "Guidelines on Anti-Monopoly Compliance of Internet Platforms." The guidelines require platform operators to adhere to four principles—targetedness, comprehensiveness, transparency, and continuity—in conducting anti-monopoly compliance management. This aims to achieve fair rules, ethical algorithms, and compliant competition. Platform operators must earnestly assume primary responsibility for anti-monopoly compliance, improve their anti-monopoly compliance systems, strengthen anti-monopoly compliance management, compete legally, and operate compliantly. They are prohibited from using data and algorithms, technology, capital advantages, or platform rules to engage in monopolistic practices prohibited by the "Anti-Monopoly Law of the People's Republic of China."

On Friday, February 13th, the German DAX 30 index opened 14.41 points higher, or 0.06%, at 24842.24; the UK FTSE 100 index opened 31.21 points higher, or 0.30%, at 10433.65; and the French CAC 40 index opened 0.99 points lower, or 0.01%, at 8339.57. On Friday, February 13, the Spanish IBEX 35 index opened down 43.00 points, or 0.24%, to 17,853.90; the Italian FTSE MIB index opened down 81.45 points, or 0.18%, to 46,141.50; and the Euro Stoxx 50 index opened down 7.69 points, or 0.13%, to 6,003.6.

Taiwan's final GDP annualized growth rate for the fourth quarter was 12.65%, below the expected 12.70% and the previous value of 12.68%.

Spain's final January CPI annual rate was 2.3%, below the expected 2.4% and the previous reading of 2.40%.

Spain's final harmonized CPI monthly rate for January was -0.8%, compared to a forecast of -0.7% and a previous reading of -0.70%.

Spain's final harmonized CPI annual rate for January was 2.4%, below the expected 2.5% and the previous reading of 2.50%.

Spain's final CPI reading for January was -0.4%, in line with expectations and down from -0.40% previously.

February 13th - On February 12th, Ling Ji, Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy Representative for International Trade Negotiations, chaired a roundtable meeting with German-invested enterprises. Representatives from over 60 German companies and associations, including the German Chamber of Commerce and Industry Beijing Representative Office, the German Chamber of Commerce in China, BASF, BMW Group, and Bayer Group, attended the meeting. Relevant departments from the Ministry of Commerce, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the State Intellectual Property Office, and the Cyberspace Administration of China interacted with the German companies, actively responding to their concerns regarding government procurement, intellectual property protection, and optimizing the business environment.

Switzerland's January CPI rose 0.1% year-on-year, below the expected 0.10% and the previous reading of 0.10%.