Real-time News

On April 16th, the Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) held its first policy briefing on the ChiNext board reform and its first training session on local government information dissemination policies on April 15th, providing an in-depth interpretation of the overall situation and specific measures of the ChiNext board reform. More than 200 people attended the meeting, including officials from the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) General Office and Issuance Department, the Shenzhen Municipal Government, financial offices of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and key prefecture-level cities, as well as representatives from securities companies, venture capital institutions, asset management institutions, listed companies, and companies intending to apply for ChiNext board listing.

Futures News, April 16th: Overnight oil prices saw a slight adjustment. Negative news and cost factors dominated the fuel oil market, resulting in quiet trading and a wait-and-see attitude. Downstream risk aversion increased, limiting acceptance of high-priced resources. It is expected that fuel oil trading today will see some consolidation and some further declines.

Shenzhen Stock Exchange: The list of securities eligible for the Hong Kong Stock Connect has been adjusted, with Hesai-W added, effective April 16.

The yield on Japan's 40-year government bond rose 3.0 basis points to 3.845%.

April 16th - According to MiniMax, MaxHermes, the world's first cloud-based sandbox for Hermes, has officially launched. MaxHermes is described as a cloud-based, self-evolving AI assistant built by MiniMax based on the Hermes Agent. With its unique learning loop mechanism, MaxHermes automatically extracts reusable skills from each complex task completed and saves them as independent documents. In subsequent use, these skills are loaded as needed and continuously improved based on new user feedback.

The yield on Japan's 30-year government bonds rose 2.5 basis points to 3.610%.

As of 8:30 AM Beijing time, spot platinum rose 0.67% and spot palladium rose 0.27%.

According to foreign media reports on April 16th, Malaysian crude palm oil futures on the Bursa Malaysia Derivatives Exchange (BMD) are likely to open higher on Thursday morning, following gains in external markets. International crude oil futures rose firmly on Wednesday as shipping in the Strait of Hormuz remained disrupted and hopes for a US-Iran peace deal were dashed. Lower-than-expected US soybean oil inventories boosted Chicago soybean oil prices, which will also help Malaysian crude palm oil futures in early trading. A weaker ringgit also contributed to the rebound in palm oil futures, as it made palm oil priced in the ringgit more affordable for buyers holding foreign currency. However, Malaysia's increase in palm oil export tariffs for May, coupled with slowing export growth and increased palm oil production, will limit the market's rebound momentum.

According to NewsNation: The Pentagon press briefing will be held at 8 p.m. Beijing time tonight.

Market news: An explosion occurred in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. The mayor stated that air defense forces are on the scene.

On April 16, White House documents revealed that US President Trump issued several pipeline permits on Wednesday, including one for a new pipeline aimed at facilitating the transport of crude oil and petroleum products between the United States and Canada. The permit was awarded to Bakken Pipeline for the construction of pipeline facilities in Burke County, North Dakota. He also issued other permits for the maintenance and operation of existing pipelines in North Dakota and Michigan, near the border.

Fitch: Countries in the Asia-Pacific region are shifting the costs of curbing the energy shock to the public sector.

Explosions were heard in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine, on the 16th local time. Air raid sirens had been sounded earlier in the city.

According to Politico, the White House will hold a conference call with U.S. oil executives on Thursday.

1. The three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.15% to 48,463.72 points, the S&P 500 rose 0.8% to 7,022.95 points, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.59% to 24,016.02 points, marking its eleventh consecutive day of gains. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit new closing highs. Caterpillar fell more than 3%, Merck fell more than 1%, leading the decline in the Dow. Allbirds surged more than 582%, triggering the circuit breaker mechanism multiple times during the session. The company announced a complete transformation, shifting from footwear manufacturing to AI computing infrastructure services. The Wind U.S. Tech Giants Index rose 2.22%, Tesla rose more than 7%, and Microsoft rose more than 4%. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose 0.75%, Pony.ai rose nearly 8%, and Zai Lab rose nearly 6%. 2. European stock indices closed mixed. The German DAX index rose 0.09% to 24,066.7 points, the French CAC40 index fell 0.64% to 8,274.57 points, and the UK FTSE 100 index fell 0.47% to 10,559.58 points. 3. International precious metals futures generally closed lower. COMEX gold futures fell 0.75% to $4,813.90 per ounce, and COMEX silver futures fell 0.53% to $79.11 per ounce. 4. The WTI crude oil futures contract rose 0.12% to $91.39 per barrel; the Brent crude oil futures contract rose 0.08% to $94.87 per barrel. 5. Most London base metals rose, with LME zinc up 1.72% to $3,400.0/ton, LME aluminum up 1.71% to $3,624.0/ton, LME lead up 1.63% to $1,966.5/ton, LME nickel up 0.08% to $18,220.0/ton, LME copper down 0.06% to $13,276.0/ton, and LME tin down 1.65% to $49,500.0/ton.

Japanese Finance Minister Satsuki Katayama: Regarding the exchange rate issue, we have agreed to further strengthen communication with US Treasury Secretary Bessenter.

Market news: Faraday Future has revised its $10 million equity investment agreement, increasing the investment amount to $12 million. The revision removes the anti-dilution clause, aiming to strengthen the protection of existing shareholders' interests.

Ukraine's Deputy Minister of Economy: The US-Ukraine Joint Reconstruction Fund is expected to approve a second project this summer, potentially involving the energy sector. A third joint reconstruction fund project will be announced later this year.

Market news: European Central Bank officials indicated they prefer to keep interest rates unchanged in April.