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On January 19, the Hurun Research Institute released the "2025 Hurun China AI 50" report, which showed that Cambricon, an AI chip company, ranked first with a value of 630 billion yuan, an increase of 165% over the previous year; Moore Threads, the first domestic GPU company to go public, ranked second with a value of 310 billion yuan; and Muxi, one of the first high-end GPU companies in China to achieve full-process localization, ranked third with a value of 250 billion yuan.

Goldman Sachs issued a report stating that 2026 will be a crucial strategic turning point for China's internet giants. This is due to increased investment in AI-driven consumer (To-C) sectors, intensifying competition to build AI super-gateways, and a more coordinated effort among these giants to defend their core leading positions. Goldman Sachs predicts that some large-cap and small-cap stocks will generate excess returns in 2026, recommending three investment themes: earnings per share realization/growth, narrative shifts driven by AI and globalization, and shareholder returns. The bank also updated its quarterly sub-sector preference rankings, placing cloud computing and data centers, gaming and entertainment, and AI models in the top three. Among the giant stocks, Pinduoduo (PDD.O) is a key recommended stock due to its valuation discount, strong cost-effectiveness, and robust growth in its platform.

January 19th - The Sixth Session of the 16th Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress opened on January 19th. Guangzhou Mayor Sun Zhiyang delivered the government work report. The report mentioned accelerating the establishment of the Greater Bay Area International Commercial Bank.

January 19th - The Sixth Session of the 16th Guangzhou Municipal People's Congress opened on January 19th. Guangzhou Mayor Sun Zhiyang delivered the government work report. The report proposed that in 2026, Guangzhou will strengthen basic livelihood security, develop industry-specific and regional enterprise annuities, and explore a shared development model for talent annuities. It will also optimize the supply system of affordable housing, raising funds to construct 30,000 units (households) of affordable housing.

On January 19th, five departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Carrying Out the Construction of Zero-Carbon Factories." The "Guiding Opinions" propose accelerating the green and low-carbon transformation of energy consumption structures to achieve carbon reduction at the source. Under the premise of ensuring a secure energy supply, factories are encouraged to achieve zero-carbon electricity, heat, hydrogen, and fuel supply. They are also encouraged to develop and utilize distributed photovoltaic, distributed wind power, and biomass power generation according to local conditions, explore direct green electricity connections, and increase the proportion of renewable energy use. Factories with suitable conditions are encouraged to build industrial green microgrids, integrating photovoltaic, wind power, waste heat recovery, and new energy storage and high-efficiency heat pumps to achieve multi-energy efficient complementary utilization. The "Guiding Opinions" also encourage the active development of integrated green hydrogen, ammonia, and methanol projects, and promote the application of clean and low-carbon hydrogen, such as industrial by-product hydrogen and hydrogen produced from renewable energy.

January 19th - The State Council Information Office will hold a press conference at 3:00 PM on Tuesday, January 20th, 2026, where Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min will introduce the relevant situation regarding leveraging the role of proactive fiscal policy to promote high-quality economic and social development, and answer questions from reporters.

Hyundai Motor's stock price continued to rise, last trading at 480,000 won, a gain of 16%.

On January 19th, five departments, including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, jointly issued the "Guiding Opinions on Carrying Out the Construction of Zero-Carbon Factories." The "Guiding Opinions" propose significantly improving energy efficiency and achieving process decarbonization. It focuses on the systematic optimization of production processes, synergistically promoting energy efficiency improvement and process decarbonization. It calls for continuous energy-saving and carbon-reduction diagnostics, technological upgrades, and equipment renewal, and the improvement of energy-saving and carbon-reduction management systems. Factories are encouraged to conduct research on cutting-edge technologies such as new energy-saving and carbon-reduction materials, zero-carbon manufacturing process reengineering, and carbon dioxide capture, conversion, utilization, and storage; and to carry out low-carbon and zero-carbon practices, recycled raw material substitution, waste reduction, efficient recycling, and comprehensive utilization.

On January 19th, at a press conference held by the State Council Information Office, Kang Yi, Director of the National Bureau of Statistics, stated that in December 2025, the year-on-year growth rates of the added value of the service sector above designated size and the service sector production index both accelerated compared to the previous month; the core CPI increase also remained above 1% for four consecutive months, the year-on-year decline in PPI narrowed, and the month-on-month increase rebounded for three consecutive months; the manufacturing PMI and the non-manufacturing business activity index both returned to expansion territory. From a policy perspective, the State Council has deployed a package of coordinated fiscal and financial policies. Policies to expand domestic demand and "new infrastructure" are also being continuously optimized, all of which have created favorable conditions for the start of this year's economic recovery. Looking at the whole of 2026, the supporting conditions and basic trends for my country's long-term economic growth remain unchanged, the general trend of high-quality development remains unchanged, and there is a foundation and conditions to maintain stable and positive economic operation.

January 19th - This morning (January 19th), the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the performance of the national economy in 2025. The added value of the service sector increased by 5.4% year-on-year. Specifically, the added value of information transmission, software and information technology services, leasing and business services, transportation, warehousing and postal services, wholesale and retail trade, and accommodation and catering services increased by 11.1%, 10.3%, 5.2%, 5.0%, and 4.9% respectively.

January 19th - The restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant in Japan, originally scheduled for January 20th, has been postponed due to an equipment alarm setting error. The Kashiwazaki-Kariwa plant, operated by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO), has been shut down since the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake. Currently, the necessary local approvals for restarting the plant have been completed, and Unit 6 was originally scheduled to officially restart on the 20th.

On January 19th, 2026, the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers (CAAM) held its 2025 Standards and Regulations Annual Meeting in Beijing. In his concluding remarks, Ye Shengji, Chief Engineer of CAAM, emphasized that CAAM's group standards should focus on industrial transformation and upgrading, and the construction of an innovation system in emerging key areas such as new energy and intelligent connected vehicles, particularly focusing on improving the quality and reliability of new energy vehicles. To this end, CAAM will coordinate and deploy the development of group standards for key areas of quality and reliability, aiming to develop a batch of highly original, innovative, and advanced high-level group standards for complete vehicles, component systems, and key components within 1-2 years.

Futures Commentary by Everbright Futures: On Monday morning (January 19), precious metals strengthened, with spot gold breaking through $4,680/ounce, continuing to reach new highs. Last week, gold fluctuated upwards, with London spot gold rising 1.92% weekly. Over the weekend, the US announced a 10% tariff on European countries that sided with Denmark on the Greenland issue. Affected by geopolitical changes, gold prices fluctuated with a slight upward bias in the short term. 1. The US may pause interest rate cuts in January, and the most anticipated Fed Chair candidate has changed. Regarding economic data, the US December CPI rose 2.7% year-on-year, in line with expectations and the previous value; core CPI rose 2.6% year-on-year, in line with the previous value, slightly lower than the expected 2.7%. The slower-than-expected core inflation level in the US has created momentum for subsequent Fed rate cuts, but the probability of maintaining the current rate remains high based on the probability of a January rate cut. Significant disagreements continue within the Fed regarding the subsequent rate cut path. The Kansas City Fed President stated that there is currently no reason to cut rates, as doing so could harm progress in curbing inflation and would also be detrimental to the labor market. 1. In terms of news, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell is under criminal investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. Central banks around the world issued a joint statement in support of Powell, responding to the Trump administration's use of legal means to pressure central banks and threaten their independence. The U.S. President stated his desire for Hassett to continue serving as a White House advisor, and Rick Riddell's candidacy for Federal Reserve Chairman is gaining momentum. 2. In terms of geopolitics, despite NATO countries deploying military personnel to Greenland, the U.S. government stated that this does not hinder U.S. objectives regarding Greenland and announced tariffs on eight European countries starting February 1st, up to the "complete acquisition of Greenland." Tensions in Iran are escalating, with the White House stating that the Trump administration is closely monitoring the situation and retains all options. Trump has spoken with Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu. 3. Against the backdrop of the Federal Reserve potentially pausing interest rate cuts in January, geopolitics has become a short-term focus. The U.S.-Venezuela conflict, the situation in Greenland, and the situation in Iran have once again caused global investors to feel uneasy about frequent geopolitical conflicts. Especially before the situation in Iran becomes clearer, the short-term enthusiasm for gold is unlikely to subside.

According to NHK, Tokyo Electric Power Company will postpone the restart of the Kashiwazaki-Kariwa nuclear power plant.

January 19th - Today (January 19th), the Hainan Provincial Information Office held a press conference to introduce the progress of the Hainan Free Trade Port's customs closure in the first month and answer reporters' questions. Guan Jirong, Executive Deputy Director of the Hainan Provincial Deepening Reform Office (Free Trade Port Working Committee Office), stated that since the official launch of the island-wide customs closure operation on December 18, 2025, the Hainan Free Trade Port has achieved the expected goals of a smooth start and initial results. Overall, it presents a positive trend of comprehensive policy implementation, smooth and efficient "first-line" operations, stable and orderly "second-line" operations, effective stimulation of vitality, and overall controllable risks.

January 19th - According to data from the National Bureau of Statistics, China's total grain output for the year reached 714.88 million tons, an increase of 8.38 million tons, or 1.2%, compared to the previous year. Summer grain output was 149.75 million tons, a decrease of 0.1%; early rice output was 28.51 million tons, an increase of 1.2%; and autumn grain output was 536.62 million tons, an increase of 1.5%. By variety, wheat output was 140.07 million tons, basically unchanged; corn output was 301.24 million tons, an increase of 2.1%; rice output was 209.04 million tons, an increase of 0.7%; and soybean output was 20.91 million tons, an increase of 1.3%. Total pork, beef, mutton, and poultry output for the year reached 100.72 million tons, an increase of 4.2% compared to the previous year, exceeding 100 million tons for the first time. Pork output was 59.38 million tons, an increase of 4.1%; beef output was 8.01 million tons, an increase of 2.8%; mutton output was 4.96 million tons, a decrease of 4.2%; and poultry output was 28.37 million tons, an increase of 6.7%. Milk production reached 40.91 million tons, an increase of 0.3%; poultry egg production reached 34.98 million tons, a decrease of 2.5%. The total number of pigs slaughtered throughout the year was 719.73 million, an increase of 2.4%; the number of pigs in stock at the end of the year was 429.67 million, an increase of 0.5%.

German government bond futures rose to their highest level since December last year, last up 25 basis points to 128.39.