Real-time News

On September 4th, it was reported that Zhipu's launch of its official flagship store on Tmall has sparked widespread discussion. Data shows that within 48 hours of opening, brand searches for Zhipu surged 50 times compared to the previous period, driving a more than 160% increase in sales of subscription products such as AI tokens on Taobao and Tmall. Previously, Tmall launched the AI Space Station (Token Recharge Center), initially connecting major model manufacturers such as Alibaba Cloud, Zhipu, Kimi, MiniMax, and DeepSeek, allowing users to directly purchase related subscription services like "topping up phone credit."

The National Bank of Kazakhstan lowered its policy rate to 16.25%, down from 16.75%. The central bank stated that there is limited room for further rate cuts.

September 4th - The Cuban government announced a series of new policies on September 3rd to further reduce restrictions on foreign investment, foreign trade, and tourism, expanding the operating space for foreign-invested enterprises, joint ventures, and private companies. The new policies announced by the Cuban government include: removing the requirement for foreign-invested and joint-venture companies to hire Cuban employees through intermediary agencies authorized by the Cuban Ministry of Labor and Social Security, allowing direct employment; removing the requirement for joint ventures and domestic investors participating in international economic cooperation to obtain prior approval from the Central Bank of Cuba to open bank accounts abroad, replacing it with subsequent reporting to the Central Bank; updating import and export procedures to allow private companies to directly engage in foreign trade; relaxing restrictions on foreign capital participation in wholesale and retail trade, as well as investment in key areas and historical and cultural heritage sites; introducing tax incentives for ecotourism projects; and allowing foreign companies, foreign-invested enterprises, and non-state-owned entities to participate in tourism transportation and travel agency businesses.

September 4th - According to the Financial Times, officials appointed by the Trump administration, campaign donors, and recently departed government officials are all seeking to profit from U.S. control over Venezuela's struggling energy sector. Companies closely associated with the Trump administration are reportedly actively pursuing deals to secure development opportunities in Venezuelan oil resources. Two sources familiar with the matter revealed that Houston-based oil producer Sable Offshore is in advanced talks with the Venezuelan government and is expected to sign an oil field development contract. Several other companies are reportedly in similar high-level negotiation stages. Brittany Kelm, Sable's vice president of policy and business affairs, was still serving in the Trump administration until last month. Energy company Primavera also signed an oil field development agreement on Wednesday; one of its founders, Fred Ehrsam, donated $1 million to Trump's 2025 inauguration fund.

On September 4th, Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the China Passenger Car Association, published an article stating that in the first half of 2026, the Chinese automotive industry is undergoing profound transformation and fierce competition for existing market share. With the continuous increase in the penetration rate of new energy vehicles, the industry as a whole presents a pattern of "increased revenue but not increased profit" and a "tale of two extremes." While domestic automakers' revenue continues to grow, the growth rate has slowed significantly, and the gap in scale with international giants remains. At the same time, profits in the industry chain are highly concentrated in upstream battery manufacturers, while downstream dealers face a severe survival crisis. Affected by price wars and high inventory, the industry's cash flow and supply chain payment problems are becoming increasingly prominent, and systemic risks are increasing. The following is a detailed analysis from multiple dimensions, including revenue, gross profit, expenses, net profit, inventory, and cash flow. With increasing pressure on the domestic consumer market and high overseas profits, most automakers are experiencing rapid growth in overseas sales, and overseas gross profit is significantly higher than domestic. Going global is the most important way for automakers to break through these challenges.

On September 4th, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice regarding the "Support Plan for Entrepreneurship of Small and Medium-sized Enterprises in Artificial Intelligence (2026-2028)." The notice emphasizes promoting the construction of an open-source entrepreneurship ecosystem. It supports the development and growth of the national-level AI open-source community (AtomGit), strengthening the supply of high-quality open-source resources and service support for AI startups. It encourages AI startups to actively participate in the construction of the open-source ecosystem, contributing open-source models, tools, datasets, and other resources to create a positive ecosystem of openness, collaboration, and sharing. The notice also strengthens the application and promotion of open-source models, tools, and datasets. It guides AI startups to rationally utilize high-quality open-source basic models, development frameworks, toolchains, and open-source datasets according to their actual needs, reducing the costs of technology research and development and product innovation.

French Transport Minister Tabalro: France will test fully autonomous driving and has spoken with Musk.

On September 4th, the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology issued a notice regarding the "Artificial Intelligence SME Entrepreneurship Support Plan (2026-2028)." The plan focuses on strengthening the supply of inclusive computing resources. It promotes the pooling and flexible allocation of computing resources through the China Computing Power Platform, providing efficient and low-cost computing power support for startups. The plan further implements the special action to empower SMEs with inclusive computing power, constructing edge computing facilities as needed, enhancing the support capabilities of computing-network integration, and strengthening the supply of inclusive intelligent computing power. It also optimizes the functions of the computing resource matching zone on the China SME Service Network and the SME zone on the China Computing Power Platform to promote efficient matching of computing resources with the needs of startups.

September 4th - European natural gas prices are on track for a fourth consecutive week of gains. A renewed conflict in the Middle East has heightened market concerns about the duration of supply disruptions and winter fuel inventory levels. On Friday, benchmark European natural gas futures prices fluctuated, but the weekly gain still exceeded 7%. In recent days, both European and Asian natural gas prices have risen to their highest levels in over three years. Following a period of relative calm, escalating military clashes between the US and Iran have further fueled market tensions. With the heating season approaching, Europe is facing pressure to replenish its natural gas reserves. Currently, European natural gas storage facilities are at only about 66% capacity, the lowest level for this time of year on record. The situation is even more dire in Germany, where natural gas storage facilities are at only about 54% capacity.

French broadcaster BFM TV: France will announce a €1 billion aid package for farmers to help them cope with the effects of the summer heatwave.

September 4th - The State Council Information Office will hold a press conference at 3:00 PM on Monday, September 7th, 2026, inviting Vice Minister of Commerce Yan Dong, Vice Governor of Zhejiang Province Hu Wei, and Mayor of Hangzhou Du Xuliang to introduce the relevant information about the 5th Global Digital Trade Expo and answer questions from reporters.

On September 4th, the Bank of Korea stated that South Korea's leading advantage in memory chip production capacity is expected to further expand, thanks to the aggressive expansion of domestic production facilities by Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. The Bank of Korea anticipates that new chip factories coming online by 2028 will increase South Korea's monthly wafer production capacity by approximately 600,000 wafers.

UMC's sales in August reached NT$25.04 billion, a year-on-year increase of 30.7%.

September 4th - German factory orders exceeded expectations for the third consecutive month, indicating that the recovery momentum of Europe's largest economy is accelerating. Data released by the German Federal Statistical Office on Thursday showed that factory orders rose 2.5% month-on-month in July, with June's increase revised to 3.7%. Large orders for ships, trains, and aircraft were the main drivers of the growth. Excluding these categories, orders actually declined, with the automotive sector experiencing the most significant drop. A similar trend was observed in the less volatile three-month average. Recent data suggests that the German economy appears to be gradually emerging from years of sluggish performance. With improved exports, the German government is investing hundreds of billions of euros in upgrading the military and infrastructure, while companies are also investing heavily in artificial intelligence. Optimism was particularly boosted by the upward revision of Germany's second-quarter GDP. Germany's second-quarter GDP growth was revised upward from the initial 0.2% to 0.3%. Meanwhile, several confidence indicators have rebounded, and manufacturing companies' performance in August reached its best level since 2022.

On September 4th, the Jiangxi Provincial Hydrological Monitoring Center upgraded its flood warning to yellow at 11:26 AM. Due to heavy rainfall, it is predicted that within the next 4 hours, the Ganjiang River section in Xiajiang County will experience flooding exceeding the warning level by approximately 0.5 meters; within the next 16 hours, the Ganjiang River section in Ji'an City will experience flooding exceeding the warning level by approximately 1.8 meters; within the next 22 hours, the Ganjiang River section in Zhangshu City will experience a peak flow of approximately 15,200 cubic meters per second; and within the next 28 hours, the Ganjiang River section in Nanchang City will experience a peak flow of approximately 16,000 cubic meters per second.

Morgan Stanley raised its target price for Maersk from 10,000 Danish kroner to 16,100 Danish kroner.

September 4th - The military and political authorities of Odessa, Ukraine, reported on the 4th that Russian troops attacked the city early that morning, resulting in one death and at least three injuries. A residential building and vehicles in Odessa were damaged in the attack. Authorities are currently conducting operations at the scene.