GMT EIGHT - OPPORTUNITIES IN CHINA

1.8 billion Hong Kong dollars! Hong Kong SAR government subsidies for fuel costs.

On April 9th, Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam chaired a special meeting and accepted the proposal of the "Interdepartmental Supervisory Fuel Supply Task Force" after hearing their report. She announced the launch of a commercial diesel subsidy program totaling approximately HK$1.8 billion to alleviate the impact of the international oil price surge caused by geopolitical factors on Hong Kong's social services. Under this subsidy program, the Hong Kong government will provide a subsidy of HK$3 per liter of diesel for a period of two months. This subsidy will mainly benefit public or commercial vehicles that use diesel as fuel, including trucks, franchised and non-franchised buses, minibuses, as well as ferries, passenger ships, work boats, and fishing boats.

TSMC's cumulative sales from January to March reached NT$1.13 trillion, a year-on-year increase of 35.1%.

Lumentum, a leader in optical communication, is expected to have a full order book by 2028, benefiting from the demand for AI.

Lumentum, the leading optical communication company that has received investment from NVIDIA, stated that the demand for its optical communication components from large artificial intelligence data centers in the United States is accelerating, and orders are expected to be filled up until 2028. Lumentum is expanding its production capacity as quickly as possible, but still struggling to meet the demand. Its stock, traded on the Nasdaq, has surged more than 15 times in the past year. CEO Michael Hurlston said in an interview in Tokyo on Friday, "The capital expenditure of large U.S. data centers is very large, and it seems that there is no sign of a peak. Our supply is increasingly unable to keep up with demand. In less than two quarters, all of our orders for full year 2028 will be sold out." Hurlston said that the company is currently making efforts to retrofit existing electronic manufacturing facilities. Compared to building a factory from scratch, the production time of a new factory will be cut in half. He said that Lumentum will invest an additional $100 million in Japan, and this figure may increase to around $250 million.

The first batch of stablecoin licenses in Hong Kong will be announced this afternoon.

Reporters have learned that the Hong Kong Monetary Authority will announce the first batch of stablecoin licenses on April 10 at 5pm, and licensed stablecoin issuers will meet with the media afterwards. Prior to this, the Hong Kong Monetary Authority had completed the final review of the first batch of applications in mid-March 2026 and is currently in the process of official announcements preparation. The Monetary Authority received a total of 36 applications, with plans to issue 2-3 licenses in the first batch, and the regulatory standards are strict. In early February of this year, Norman Chan, the Chief Executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, stated that he aims to issue the first batch of stablecoin issuer licenses in Hong Kong by March this year and emphasized, "The number of licenses issued in the first batch will definitely not be large, with the goal of prudence."

The Hong Kong Monetary Authority will hold a technical briefing session for stablecoin issuers at 5pm this afternoon.

Hong Kong Stock Market Midday Update: Hang Seng Index rises 0.61%, Hang Seng Technology Index rises 1.07%

Hong Kong stocks closed at noon, with the Hang Seng Index up 0.61% and the Hang Seng Technology Index up 1.07%. In terms of sectors, the semiconductor products and equipment, forestry and paper sectors saw significant gains, while the energy equipment and services, as well as the oil and natural gas sectors, experienced significant losses. In terms of individual stocks, DiPu Technology rose by 51.77%, Tian's BlueChip rose by 11.49%, Zhaoyi Innovation rose by 11.37%, Jinshang Machine China rose by 10.69%, and Citic Securities rose by 10.14%; Baojit Pharm-B fell by 14.39%, Fiberhome Optical Cable fell by 9.9%, Pacgen Biopharmaceuticals-B fell by 8.21%, Zhida Technology fell by 7.85%, and Harbin Electric fell by 7.83%.

"National subsidies" continue! The second batch of 62.5 billion yuan in funding has been allocated.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with the Ministry of Finance, promptly allocated the second batch of 62.5 billion yuan in ultra-long-term special national bonds to local governments to support the continued smooth and orderly implementation of the policy of replacing old consumer goods with new ones. Next, relevant departments will continue to guide local governments, reasonably grasp the work pace, optimize and improve the use of funds plan, strengthen fund supervision, standardize subsidy application and fund review, improve subsidy payment efficiency, carry out special rectification for subsidy fraud and abuse, "price increases before subsidy payment", and continue to enhance the effectiveness of policy implementation.

SpaceX performance details revealed: reported revenue exceeded $18.5 billion last year, with a loss of nearly $5 billion.

According to reports, SpaceX lost nearly $5 billion in 2025.

Buffett's first step down! Berkshire Hathaway (BRK.A.US) has issued a massive 272.3 billion yen bond after his resignation, continuing to boost confidence in the Japanese market.

Berkshire Hathaway issued 27.23 billion yen in bonds for the first time after Buffett's departure.

The second batch of 62.5 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special national bonds to support consumption goods in exchange for old ones has been allocated recently.

Recently, the National Development and Reform Commission, together with the Ministry of Finance, promptly issued the second batch of 62.5 billion yuan of ultra-long-term special national bonds to local governments, in order to support local governments to continue to implement the policy of replacing old consumer goods with new ones in a stable and orderly manner.

Multi-modal large model HappyHorse developed by Alibaba team

The reporter noticed that the multimodal large model HappyHorse, which has recently sparked heated discussions, has registered an account on overseas social platforms, with Alibaba Group as its first follower. Earlier reports claimed that HappyHorse was developed by a team led by Zhang Di from the Future Life Experiment Lab under Alibaba's Taotian Group. Currently, the Future Life Experiment Lab has become independent from Taotian Group and is now part of the AI Innovation Business Unit under the ATH Business Group. Previously, this anonymous model named HappyHorse-1.0 scored 1332 Elo points and ranked first in the text-to-video competition, surpassing the second place Dreamina Seedance 2.0 by nearly 60 points.

National Bureau of Statistics: in March, the year-on-year increase in PPI was 0.5%, and the increase from the previous month was 1.0%.

On April 10, the National Bureau of Statistics issued a document stating that in March 2026, the year-on-year rise in the ex-factory prices of industrial producers nationwide turned from a 0.9% decrease last month to a 0.5% increase.

The Huawei Pura series press conference is scheduled.

Today, Huawei officially announced on its official Weibo account that the Huawei Pura series and new products for all scenarios will be released at 14:30 on April 20. This means that the Huawei Pura 90 series will officially meet everyone. This year, the release time of the Huawei Pura 90 series has been significantly advanced, bringing users a pleasant surprise. It is reported that the Pura 90 series may have major innovations in design aesthetics and imaging functions.

Shenzhen Stock Exchange Announcement: The list of securities under the Hong Kong Stock Connect will include Zhida Technology, effective from April 10, 2026.

OpenAI calls out to investors: computational power has now become a "hard constraint" for products, and we are running faster and harder than Anthropic.

This week, OpenAI revealed to its investors that, thanks to early aggressive investment in computing resources, the company has gained a crucial advantage in its competition with rival Anthropic PBC. Currently, Anthropic is considering an initial public offering (IPO).

Agreement has been signed, but the strait remains closed: Why is Iran still holding onto the Strait of Hormuz after the ceasefire?

Most shipowners are still unwilling to take on the risk of personnel, cargo, and vessel losses.

US software stocks encounter AI "growth crisis" questioning: sector ETF hits near two and a half year low, SaaS index plunges

The software industry is once again experiencing a downturn, and hopes for growth have been "shattered."

2026 Q1 China Mergers and Acquisitions Market Transaction Ranking

In the first quarter of 2026, a total of 1,734 merger and acquisition transactions were disclosed in the Chinese M&A market (including cross-border M&A by Chinese enterprises), an increase of 5.86% year-on-year; the transaction volume was approximately 454.1 billion yuan, an increase of approximately 6.53% year-on-year.

WTI crude oil breaks through $99/barrel, up 0.52% intraday.

Trump said he is "very optimistic" about reaching an agreement with Iran. The Strait of Hormuz is still closed.

President Trump said on Thursday that he is "very optimistic" about reaching an agreement with Iran.

Concerns about inflation rebound continue to intensify, prompting US bond investors to increase their hedging efforts to prevent prices from further falling.

At the time when the US and Iran have reached a fragile ceasefire agreement and market uncertainty still exists, the US Treasury market, with a scale of up to $31 trillion, is facing a crucial test.

SMOORE INTL(06969) first quarter revenue of 3.856 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 41.7%

Simore International (06969) announced that for the three months ending March 31, 2026, the group achieved a revenue of RMB 3.856 billion, a year-on-year increase of 41.7%; pre-tax profit excluding tax was RMB 364 million, a year-on-year increase of 42.8%; adjusted post-tax profit was RMB 347 million, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%.

Zimbabwe clarifies conditions for lifting lithium mining export ban? Chinese lithium companies: progress by leading companies will be fast in negotiations

According to local media reports in Zimbabwe, the government recently issued a letter from the Ministry of Mines clearly outlining a package of conditions for lifting the ban on lithium ore exports: companies must provide written commitments to build local ore processing facilities, complete a lithium sulfate processing plant by January 1, 2027, fully declare their mineral resources and ensure that export revenues are fully repatriated; the government will allocate export quotas to each producer, require companies to submit progress reports monthly, and impose a 10% export tax on concentrate. On April 9, several executives of local Chinese lithium companies stated that the specific quota plan has not been officially issued yet, and negotiations are still ongoing, but negotiations with major companies are progressing quickly. The local government's preferred conditions are that the company's mineral reserve scale is large enough, has mining licenses, has an ore processing plant, and traders and small mines are excluded.

US personal spending rate in February was 0.4%, expected 0.5%, previous value was 0.40%. US initial jobless claims for the week ending April 4th was 219,000, expected 210,000, with the revised previous value from 202,000 to 203,000.

Southbound funds today net bought 12.593 billion Hong Kong dollars.

In terms of Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Yingfu Fund and Alibaba-W are the top net buyers with 4.148 billion Hong Kong dollars and 1.104 billion Hong Kong dollars respectively; China National Offshore Oil Corporation is the top net seller with an amount of 3.11 billion Hong Kong dollars. In terms of Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect, Yingfu Fund and China Southern Hengseng Technology are the top net buyers with 1.481 billion Hong Kong dollars and 449 million Hong Kong dollars respectively; Alibaba-W is the top net seller with an amount of 164 million Hong Kong dollars.

Sell LNG to South Asia at a 40% discount during the global gas shortage, using intermediaries to "wash" the origin and avoid US sanctions.

According to informed sources, Russia is trying to take advantage of the tight global natural gas supply situation to attract energy-deficient South Asian countries to purchase its liquefied natural gas (LNG) sourced from facilities sanctioned by the United States.

Cash out nearly 7.3 billion Hong Kong dollars! Major shareholder Prosus reduced its holdings of Tencent (00700) by approximately 13 million shares in the first quarter.

According to official website data, as of April 8th, Prosus still holds approximately 2.067 billion shares of Tencent.

National television channels are eliminating all false medical advertising.

In response to the issue of false advertising, exaggeration, using efficacy as proof, and promoting cure rates in pharmaceutical advertisements on radio and television, the State Administration of Radio and Television carried out a concentrated rectification nationwide starting in August 2025. Together with provincial radio and television administrative departments, they developed specific work plans, implemented measures such as complaint acceptance, monitoring and investigation, judgment and identification, and supervision and rectification, increased enforcement efforts, strengthened collaborative governance, and ensured timely discovery, accurate identification, and effective handling of illegal advertisements. By the end of March this year, all national television channels have completely removed false pharmaceutical advertisements.

Tencent Cloud: Starting from May 9th, the prices of AI computing power, container services, and EMR related products will be increased by 5%.

Tencent Cloud releases announcement on AI computing power, container services, and EMR-related product price adjustments.

Hong Kong stock market midday review: Hang Seng Index fell by 0.35%, Hang Seng Technology Index fell by 1.26%

Hong Kong stocks closed at noon, with the Hang Seng Index falling by 0.35% and the Hang Seng Technology Index dropping by 1.26%. The Hang Seng Connect ETF Yinhua fell by 0.52%, while the Hong Kong Tech ETF Penghua fell by 1.26%. In terms of sectors, the transportation infrastructure sector saw the largest gains, while passenger airlines and insurance sectors experienced the biggest losses. In terms of individual stocks, Kelos Technology rose by 23.88%, Xunce rose by 15.58%, Zhipu rose by 13.13%, Tudatong rose by 12.44%, and Desh -B rose by 11.28%. However, Health 160 dropped by 18.42%, Jingwei Tian Di dropped by 6.41%, Meitu Company fell by 6.33%, Guoen Technology dropped by 6.28%, and China Reinsurance fell by 6.04%.

US Treasury Secretary Yellen urged Congress to quickly pass the Cryptocurrency Market Structure Act.

Intended to reserve shares for retail investors! OpenAI moves towards an epic IPO with a valuation exceeding $850 billion.

OpenAI plans to reserve a portion of shares for retail investors in its highly anticipated initial public offering (IPO).

The financing balance of the two cities increased by 16.13 billion yuan compared to the previous day.

As of April 8, the balance of margin financing on the Shanghai Stock Exchange was 13100.46 billion yuan, an increase of 66.09 billion yuan from the previous trading day; the balance of margin financing on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange was 12646.06 billion yuan, an increase of 95.21 billion yuan from the previous trading day; the total margin financing balance of the two exchanges was 25746.52 billion yuan, an increase of 161.30 billion yuan from the previous trading day.

Shenzhen Stock Exchange: The list of securities eligible for Shanghai-Hong Kong Stock Connect has been adjusted, and Hidrive Intelligence Driving has been included starting from April 9, 2026.

Crude oil spot prices skyrocketed to $124.68, with a premium of nearly $30 over futures! The supply crisis resulting from the difficult ceasefire between the US and Iran is hard to resolve.

Even if the ceasefire agreement is maintained, the deep supply disruptions caused by this ongoing five-week war are unlikely to be resolved, and oil supply will remain tight for some time.

The rising trend of gold price "came to a halt"! Iranian Speaker of Parliament says ceasefire agreement has been violated, gold price briefly broke 4800 US dollars before turning downwards.

Due to the statement from Iran's Parliament Speaker that the temporary ceasefire agreement reached between Iran and the United States has been violated, the price of gold has erased its earlier gains and turned lower.

The speaker of the Iranian parliament criticized the United States for violating the ceasefire agreement, as three out of the ten proposals have been sabotaged.

On Wednesday, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ghalibaf publicly criticized the United States for violating the two-week ceasefire agreement reached between the two parties, adding further uncertainty to the already fragile prospects of the ceasefire.

Federal Reserve meeting minutes: US-Iran war may further drive up inflation, not ruling out possibility of raising interest rates again under certain circumstances.

More and more policy makers are starting to worry that a US-Iran war could further push up inflation, and believe that it may be necessary to raise interest rates again in certain circumstances.

Meta Platforms (META.US) Launches New AI Model "Muse Spark", Stock Price Soars Nearly 9% at One Point

Meta Platforms officially launches the new AI model "Muse Spark," which is its first core achievement released after heavily investing in AI.

Our country successfully launched 21 groups of low-orbit satellites for satellite internet.

At 3:38 am on April 9, 2026, Beijing time, China successfully launched the satellite Internet low-orbit 21-satellite constellation into space using the Long March 6 rocket at the Taiyuan Satellite Launch Center. The satellites entered their planned orbits smoothly, and the launch mission was a complete success. This mission marked the 637th flight of the Long March series of carrier rockets.

The White House: President Trump has issued a proclamation adjusting the automatic spending cuts for the 2027 fiscal year according to the revised Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act.

The Chief Financial Officer of OpenAI stated that they will allocate IPO stocks to retail investors.

The Dow Jones opened up 2.8%, the S&P 500 rose 2.6%, and the Nasdaq rose 3.6%.

Delta Air Lines rose 10.9%, exceeding expectations with adjusted net profit in Q1. Boeing rose 3.9%, reaching a seven-year cooperation agreement with the US Department of Defense. Levi Strauss rose 14.5%, exceeding Q1 performance expectations and raising full-year guidance. TSMC rose 7.0%, with Goldman Sachs raising profit forecasts and setting a target price of $550.

The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose more than 3%, Tiger Securities rose by 8.28%, Century Internet rose by 9.27%, Wanwu Xinsheng rose by 6.85%, Manbang rose by 5.85%, and Jingke Energy rose by 5.29%.

Qatar has begun the process of restoring production at its liquified natural gas export facilities.

Today, southbound funds saw a significant net sell-off of 21.574 billion yuan. In the Hong Kong Stock Connect (Shanghai) channel, Ying Fu Fund and Xiaomi Group-W saw net sell-offs of 7.046 billion Hong Kong dollars and 1.486 billion Hong Kong dollars respectively. Alibaba-W had the highest net buying amount of 831 million Hong Kong dollars. In the Hong Kong Stock Connect (Shenzhen) channel, Ying Fu Fund and China National Offshore Oil Corporation saw net sell-offs of 1.83 billion Hong Kong dollars and 1.321 billion Hong Kong dollars respectively. Alibaba-W had the highest net buying amount of 1.168 billion Hong Kong dollars.

The ambassador of Iran in China answered whether the Strait of Hormuz is toll-collecting.

In response to the widespread attention of foreign media on whether the Strait of Hormuz will be charged, Iran's ambassador to China, Fazli, stated on the 8th in Beijing that Iran has not yet officially launched a charging plan and standard. Iran will refer to the current toll standards of other waterways in the world and international law to make a decision.

Director of Hong Kong Immigration Department Guo Junfeng has been reappointed until June 30, 2027.

The Director of the Hong Kong Immigration Department, Guo Junfeng, will reach retirement age on April 9, 2026. He has been granted an extension until June 30, 2027.

Midday Report: The ChiNext Index surged 4.8% in the morning, with both the gold and AI industry chains showing widespread gains.

The three major indexes of A shares rose collectively in the morning session. As of noon, the Shanghai Composite Index rose by 1.92%, the Shenzhen Component Index rose by 3.87%, the Growth Enterprise Index rose by 4.81%, and the Beishiz 50 rose by 3.51%. The total market turnover was 1.5525 trillion yuan, an increase of 474.6 billion yuan from the previous day, with over 5000 stocks rising across the entire market. In terms of sector performance, precious metals, AI applications, CPO, PCB, airport shipping, cloud computing, commercial aerospace, and semiconductor sectors led the gains. On the other hand, oil and gas exploration and services, coal mining and processing, and chemical raw materials sectors led the declines. On the market, the temporary ceasefire between the US and Iran took effect, improving market risk appetite. CPO, PCB, and other computing hardware stocks rose sharply, with Zhongjixuchuang hitting a new historical high in intra-day trading. Stocks such as Jianqiao Technology and Guanghe Technology also hit the limit up. Gold stocks followed the rise in international gold prices, with Western Gold hitting the limit up, and Xiaocheng Technology and Hunan Silver following suit. AI application concept stocks also performed strongly, with Blue Light Label up by 20%, and ZheWen Interconnect and Delicai Stock among the 10+ stocks that hit the limit up. In addition, sectors such as semiconductors, commercial aerospace, and computing power leasing also rose. On the other hand, after the ceasefire between the US and Iran, international oil prices plummeted. Oil and gas stocks followed suit, with companies like Zhongman Petroleum, Becken Energy, and Blue Flame Holdings hitting the limit down, while China National Offshore Oil and Quan Oil Stock leading the declines.

The Shanghai and Shenzhen 300 Index futures rose 3.0% to 4,496.00 points.

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Warner pharmaceutical factory: The drug registration certificate for fumaric acid fumarate tablets "Fonola" has been approved.

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Spot platinum fell more than 3% to $2031.85 per ounce.

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Cambridge Technology: The controlling shareholder and its concerted parties plan to collectively reduce their shareholding by no more than 2.69%.

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The German Minister of Economy stated that she proposed to reduce taxes for low-income families and groups promoting economic development simultaneously.

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According to a flash news of Every Economic Network, Guojin Securities issued a research report on April 10th, giving a "buy" rating to Deye Company (605117.SH). The reasons for the rating mainly include: 1) Energy storage driving performance growth, while pressure on photovoltaic and home appliance businesses; 2) Benefiting from global energy shortages, high growth in Q1 performance, laying the foundation for the whole year's prosperity. (Daily Economic News)

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