GMT EIGHT - OPPORTUNITIES IN CHINA

Hang Seng China High Dividend Yield Index announces quarterly review results.

Hang Seng Index Limited announced today the annual index review results of the Hang Seng China High Dividend Yield Index as of March 31, 2026. The changes will take effect from April 27, 2026. The number of constituent stocks will remain at 50. Among them, six companies including China Resources Power, New China Life Insurance, Anta Sports, Wanwu Cloud, Taopu, and Haier Smart Home will be newly added; six companies including Xinyi Glass, Yanzhou Coal Mining, China Hongqiao, China Coal Energy, Chow Tai Fook, and China Life Insurance will be removed.

Report: In the first quarter, the actual sales revenue of the Chinese gaming market was 97.172 billion yuan, an increase of 13.38% year-on-year.

The Game Committee of the China Audiovisual and Digital Publishing Association released the quarterly report on the Chinese game industry for the first quarter of 2026. In the first quarter of 2026, the actual sales revenue of the Chinese game market was 97.172 billion yuan, an increase of 2.54% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 13.38% compared to the same period last year. In this, the actual sales revenue of the Chinese mobile game market was 67.623 billion yuan, an increase of 0.36% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 6.28% compared to the same period last year. The actual sales revenue of the Chinese client game market was 24.976 billion yuan, an increase of 11.17% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 39.38% compared to the same period last year. The actual sales revenue of Chinese independently developed games in the overseas market was 6.331 billion US dollars, an increase of 6.23% compared to the previous quarter and an increase of 31.76% compared to the same period last year.

The trading volume of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets exceeded 2 trillion yuan, an increase of 104.1 billion yuan from the same time the previous day.

Shipping Index for European Futures continuous main contract rose by 6% during the day to 2118.00 points.

Early morning closing of commodity futures

Combined shipping index for European futures rose by 4.85%, stainless steel rose by 2.34%, nickel rose by 2.06%, platinum fell by 1.94%, and lithium carbonate rose by 1.84%.

National Development and Reform Commission: This year, we will focus on the infrastructure in the field of "artificial intelligence +" and carry out a series of actions to expand effective investment.

The State Council Information Office held a series of thematic press conferences on the morning of April 17th with the theme of "Starting the '14th Five-Year Plan'". Wang Changlin, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, stated that this year will focus on areas such as "artificial intelligence + infrastructure, urban renewal, national water network, and new energy system to carry out a series of actions to expand effective investment, promote the optimization of supply structure, and expand market demand. In terms of institutional innovation, we will comprehensively carry out "soft construction" work in central investment projects, promote the formation of long-term mechanisms for project construction, implementation, and operation and maintenance. At the same time, we will also leverage the role of the National Venture Capital Fund to guide and promote social capital to support technological innovation and the development of emerging industries.

Guangdong: "Opinions on Supporting Zhongshan to Participate in the Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area to Accelerate High-Quality Development" officially released.

The official WeChat account of the Guangdong Provincial People's Government announced today that the "Opinions of the CPC Guangdong Provincial Committee and Guangdong Provincial People's Government on Supporting Zhongshan in Accelerating High-Quality Development in Participating in the Construction of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area has been officially released. It mentions accelerating the construction of the strategic pivot for integrated development on both sides of the Pearl River Estuary. Deepening the development of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan integration. Advancing the integration of the east and west banks of the Pearl River Estuary with high standards, actively promoting integrated planning, business environment, industry, transportation, innovation, public services, and social governance. Supporting the two cities of Shenzhen and Zhongshan to strengthen overall planning, deepening the mechanism for cross-city land and spatial planning consultation. Speeding up the construction of the Shenzhen-Jiangmen Railway, supporting the planning and research of the Shenzhen-Zhongshan intercity railway. Promoting the quality and efficiency enhancement of the "Shenzhen-Zhongshan Port", accelerating the layout of cross-Pearl River Estuary low-altitude air routes. Planning and constructing the Shenzhen-Zhongshan Economic Cooperation Zone, establishing a cooperation model of "Shenzhen headquarters + Zhongshan base", "Shenzhen chain leader + Zhongshan supporting", and "Shenzhen research and development + Zhongshan transformation", exploring a high-quality development path of regional industrial cooperation.

A-share opening express | A-share differentiation, Growth Enterprise Board continues to rise! Style switch in progress, "new king" and "old god" competing

On April 17, the three major A-share indexes opened with mixed gains and losses, with the ChiNext Index continuing its upward trend. The market style is changing, with a showdown between the "new king" and the "old god."

The Growth Enterprise Market Index rose by 1.00%, currently at 3662.708 points; the Shanghai Composite Index fell by 0.16%, currently at 4049.067 points; the Shenzhen Component Index rose by 0.44%, currently at 14861.816 points.

The stock market has already ignored the war! From "TACO trading" to the AI investment frenzy, is a new bull market unfolding?

Under the strong leadership of technology stocks, the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq reached new highs again. The Nasdaq 100 index, which covers the world's top technology companies and is known as the "barometer of technology stocks," has risen for 12 consecutive trading days.

"Animal spirits" have returned in a more aggressive stance: retail investors are ignoring the Middle East's gunpowder and are sweeping the US stock market with their strongest offensive of 2020.

The Iran conflict once caused oil prices to skyrocket to record levels and triggered intense fluctuations in global financial assets. However, for investors, all of this seems like a distant memory - even though the war has not completely subsided.

Pre-market report of A-shares | First quarter performance skyrockets! Technology stock batch reported good news, 90 billion computing power leader exploded.

On the evening of April 16, technology stocks received a series of positive news, with first-quarter performances exploding collectively.

Aluminum prices rise but fail to conceal decline. Alcoa Corporation's (AA.US) Q1 revenue and profits both fall below expectations, maintaining annual production forecast.

In the first quarter, the revenue of American Aluminum Industry was $3.19 billion, a decrease of 5.3% year-on-year, which was $80 million lower than expected. Adjusted earnings per share were $1.40, lower than the expected $1.55.

WTI crude oil surpasses $94 per barrel, dropping 1.71% intraday.

Broadcom Inc. (AVGO.US) has set a record for its longest winning streak in nearly two and a half years, with stock prices approaching historical highs.

Broadcom stock continues to show strong performance

Shenzhou 21 astronauts successfully completed their third spacewalk.

According to the China Manned Space Engineering Office, at 01:36 on April 17, 2026 Beijing Time, after about 5.5 hours of extravehicular activities, the crew members Zhang Lu, Wu Fei, and Zhang Hongzhang of Shenzhou-21 closely cooperated to successfully complete tasks such as installing space debris shielding devices and inspecting external equipment facilities with the support of the space station robotic arm and ground research personnel. Extravehicular astronauts Zhang Lu and Wu Fei have safely returned to the Tianwen experimental module, and the extravehicular activities have been successfully completed. As of now, astronaut Zhang Lu has conducted a total of 7 extravehicular activities, breaking the record for the number of individual extravehicular activities by Chinese astronauts. In order to further deepen the verification of technologies related to astronauts' long-term residence in orbit and fully utilize the comprehensive benefits of Shenzhou-22 emergency resupplying materials to the space station, after careful deliberation and evaluation, it is planned to extend the crew's in-orbit stay by about 1 month. During the upcoming space journey, the astronaut crew will continue to conduct relevant scientific experiments and technological tests, and celebrate Chinese Aerospace Day and International Labor Day in orbit.

US Stock Market Move | Alibaba Group Holding Limited Sponsored ADR (BABA.US) rose more than 3%, Aliyun announced price increase.

On Thursday, Alibaba (BABA.US) rose more than 3%, to $138.18.

The Dow Jones opened up 0.1%, the S&P 500 rose 0.1%, and the Nasdaq rose 0.1%.

Oracle rose 4.1% and announced a partnership with AWS to expand in the field of cloud networking. Paint manufacturer PPG rose 8.6% and announced a 20% price increase for all products globally. Abbott Laboratories fell 3.8% as its performance guidance fell short of expectations. Allbirds fell 15.0% as the sneaker manufacturer shifted its focus to AI, with a surge of over 8 times in trading yesterday. American TV shopping giant QVC Group plummeted 67.8% and officially filed for bankruptcy protection.

Congo launches the "national trusteeship" model: Nearly 10,000 tons of cobalt will be extracted by 2026, shifting the global cobalt price "center of volatility" upwards?

The Democratic Republic of the Congo's national mining regulatory authority said on Thursday that the country has established strategic reserves of cobalt and other key minerals.

The US has launched an action codenamed "Economic Wrath" against Iran.

On April 16th, local time, US Secretary of Defense Esper said in a press conference that the US Department of the Treasury is initiating an operation codenamed "Maximum Economic Pressure" to impose "maximum economic pressure" on Iran.

In the United States, the initial claims for unemployment insurance for the week ending April 11th were 207,000, lower than the expected 215,000. The previous value was revised from 219,000 to 218,000.

Sichuan launches a special research on the cost and benefit of leading enterprises in the pig industry.

In order to understand the production and operation of leading pig enterprises in Sichuan Province, explore the establishment of a special cost-profit investigation mechanism for leading pig enterprises, and serve the high-quality development of the pig industry, from mid-March to early April 2026, the Cost Investigation and Supervision Bureau of Sichuan Province conducted special investigations at several leading pig enterprises such as New Hope Liuhe, Dekang Group, and Southwest Wen's. The investigation included discussions, field visits, and other forms to have in-depth exchanges on topics such as optimizing pig production capacity, industrial chain layout, intelligent breeding, cost reduction and efficiency improvement, understand the transmission of rising prices of feed raw materials to pig breeding and the difficulties faced by enterprises in production and operation; The establishment of a special cost-profit investigation mechanism for leading pig enterprises, explaining the purpose of the investigation, the scope, and the setting of investigation indicators, and listening to the intentions, actual needs, and opinions of the enterprises. Sichuan Province will take this special investigation as an opportunity to solidly promote the special investigation of the cost-profit of leading pig enterprises, strengthen data analysis, timely reflect the operation of the pig industry, and provide high-quality data support for pig market regulation, stable industry development, and ensuring the supply of people's livelihood.

Ganfeng Lithium: It is expected that the net profit for the first quarter of 2026 will be between 1.6 billion and 2.1 billion, turning losses into profits year-on-year.

Ganfeng Lithium announced that it is expected to have a net profit of 16-21 billion yuan in the first quarter of 2026, compared to a loss of 356 million yuan in the same period last year. During the reporting period, benefiting from the rapid development of the global new energy industry and strong growth in demand for lithium salt from downstream customers, the company's sales prices of lithium salt products have increased significantly compared to the same period last year. In addition, with the release of production capacity of the company's lithium resource projects, the company's cost structure has been continuously optimized. In addition, with the continuous growth of the power battery and energy storage market, the production and sales volume of the lithium battery sector have significantly increased, resulting in a year-on-year increase in the company's operating performance.

Ministry of Industry and Information Technology: During the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, key core standards for the automotive industry will be developed at an accelerated pace.

Today, it was learned from the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology that during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, China will promote and lead the high-quality development of the automobile industry through a series of standardization measures. On the 16th, the new National Automobile Standardization Technical Committee was established in Beijing. The relevant person in charge of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology stated that during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, China will accelerate the development of key core standards for the automobile industry, fully leveraging the leading role of standards. In addition, during the "13th Five-Year Plan" period, the leading role of standards in the automobile industry will also help improve the level of product quality. This includes accelerating the revision of standards such as extreme environmental adaptability of automobiles, cycle life of power batteries, energy consumption limits for new energy vehicles, and electromagnetic environmental adaptability. Furthermore, standards must also guide the innovative application of key technologies. Acceleration of the construction of standard systems in frontier areas such as solid-state batteries and automotive artificial intelligence, promotion of standards such as megawatt-level charging, intelligent chassis, and wide-angle car seats.

Live pig futures contracts rose 4% intraday, now at 11,145.00 yuan.

Hong Kong stock market midday report: Hang Seng Index up 1.38%, Hang Seng Technology Index up 2.98%

Hong Kong stocks closed at midday, with the Hang Seng Index up 1.38% and the Hang Seng Technology Index up 2.98%. The Hang Seng Stock Connect ETF rose 1.42%, while the Hong Kong Stock Connect Technology ETF increased by 2.01%. In terms of sectors, the semiconductor products and equipment and durable consumer goods sectors saw the biggest gains, while hotel and resort REITs and construction materials sectors saw the biggest losses. In terms of individual stocks, Sige New Energy rose by 83.53%, Longpan Technology by 22.31%, Birun Technology by 21.41%, Dipu Technology by 19.43%, and Tianshu Zhixin by 14.66%. On the other hand, Guoxia Technology fell by 14.96%, Guoquan by 14.15%, Lanshi Technology by 14.14%, Guofu Quantum by 11.56%, and Xuanzhu Biotech-B by 7.88%.

Spot silver's intraday increase has expanded to 2.00%, now trading at $80.54 per ounce.

The trading volume of the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock markets exceeded 1 trillion yuan, a decrease of 120.4 billion yuan compared to the previous day.

Hedge fund Elliott disclosed a position in Da Jin Industrial, causing the stock price to soar 14%, the largest increase since 2009.

Daikin Industries encountered strong buying in the Tokyo stock market, with its stock price surging 14% in Thursday's early trading, marking the largest intraday gain since 2009.

The Shenzhen Component Index rose by 1.00% to close at 14643.858 points; the Shanghai Composite Index rose by 0.39% to close at 4042.724 points; the ChiNext Index rose by 1.62% to close at 3572.072 points.

Ignore the noise of war! "Wall Street Number Crunchers" are calling for technology stocks to dominate. The clarion call for a new bull market has sounded.

After going through a series of initial violent sell-offs, it seems that the investment power of Wall Street institutions is now keeping these war-related noises at bay.

Two-week surge of 200%! Avis Budget Group, Inc. (CAR.US) epic short squeeze followed by another showdown between the bulls and bears: the short interest ratio of outstanding shares has risen to 58%

Although Avis stock price surged over 200% in the 10 trading days up to Tuesday, causing short sellers to suffer nearly $2.5 billion in market value losses, short positions are still continuing to rise.

Spot silver rose 2% intraday and is now trading at $80.51 per ounce.

The direction of foreign exchange trading has changed! The halo of the US dollar as a safe haven is fading, and expectations of depreciation are regaining control of the market.

Due to the US-Iran ceasefire weakening the safe-haven demand that previously supported the US dollar, international investors are increasing their efforts to hedge against the risk of US dollar depreciation. As of April 10, investors' hedging ratio against the US dollar rose to 63%, the highest level since the same period in 2024.

Federal Reserve Beige Book: US-Iran war exacerbates uncertainty, labor market enters "hire and fire" mode

The latest release of the Fed's Beige Book shows that the US-Iran war has quickly become a major source of uncertainty facing business operations, affecting key decisions such as hiring, pricing, and capital expenditures.

Federal Reserve officials warned of inflation risks and said that the central bank may remain on hold for an extended period of time.

Federal Reserve officials have recently made intensive statements, emphasizing that high oil prices and continuous supply shocks may keep inflation high, thereby limiting the space for monetary policy to shift.

White House: Optimistic about Kevin Warsh "on time" taking over as Chairman of the Federal Reserve.

Sell computing power rather than sell shoes! Allbirds (BIRD.US) "transformed into AI" overnight, with its stock price skyrocketing over 400%. Why is the market buying into it?

"Silicon Valley God Shoes" Allbirds enters the GPU computing power rental track.

Contemporary Amperex Technology (03750) achieved a net profit attributable to shareholders of 20.738 billion yuan in the first quarter, an increase of 48.52% year-on-year.

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Ltd. (03750) announced that in the first quarter of 2026, the operating income was 1291.31 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 52.45%; the net profit attributable to shareholders of the listed company was 207.38 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 48.52%; and the basic earnings per share was 4.58 yuan.

The Dow rose 0.03% at the opening, the Nasdaq rose 0.21%, and the S&P 500 rose 0.15%. Star tech stocks Microsoft rose 1.24%, Tesla rose 0.72%, and Meta Platforms rose 0.68%. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell 0.2%, with NIO falling 3.15% and XPeng Group falling 3.13%.

National Bureau of Statistics: Intends to explore new trading models such as word element trading.

The National Bureau of Statistics is soliciting public opinions on the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Construction of High-Quality Data Sets in Industries". It proposes to innovate the business model of industry high-quality data sets, improve the long-term operation mechanism of data sets, encourage data sets to be listed for trading in data circulation service agencies such as data exchanges, develop diverse service forms such as "subscription model", "market model", "customized model", etc., and promote the business model to evolve from selling basic data packages to calling application programming interfaces, model-based solutions, and full-stack services. Explore new trading models such as word element trading, build a data set value system based on quantifiable and pricable word elements.

National Bureau of Statistics: Plans to cultivate a group of leading enterprises in data labeling, unicorn enterprises, and gazelle enterprises.

The National Bureau of Statistics solicits public opinions on the "Implementation Plan for Promoting the Construction of High-Quality Data Sets in the Industry". The draft for soliciting opinions proposes continuously promoting the pilot testing of data labeling. It guides the first seven cities tasked with the pilot testing of data labeling to continuously strengthen the data labeling industry. It lays out a phased plan to establish a number of innovative data labeling pilot zones in regions with strong innovative capabilities, good development foundations, and unique industrial features. It orderly guides regions with the necessary conditions to carry out pilot zone construction in a targeted manner to avoid following the crowd, prevent homogenization and low-level redundant construction, promote close coordination between the upstream and downstream of the data labeling industry chain, and form industrial agglomeration effects. It nurtures a group of leading data labeling companies, unicorns, and gazelle enterprises to strengthen the data labeling industry.

The Shanghai Stock Exchange will launch new medium-term options and quarterly futures, expanding its stock index dividend product line.

CATL: RMB 69.57 cash dividend per 10 shares

Ningde Times announced that the company's 2025 A-share equity distribution plan is as follows: based on the existing total A-share capital of 4.408 billion shares, excluding repurchased shares of 4.376 billion shares, a cash dividend of RMB 69.57 will be distributed to all shareholders for every 10 shares held. The equity registration date is April 21, 2026, with the ex-dividend date and cash dividend payment date set for April 22. The total amount of this dividend is approximately RMB 30.445 billion. There will be no capital reserve fund converted into share capital or bonus shares issued.

Alibaba Cloud: Adjusts the service prices for some MU model units on the large model service platform Bai Lian.

Aliyun announcement: In order to continue to ensure the stable supply of underlying hardware, improve the quality of platform operation and maintenance services, and respond to changes in the cost of computing power in the market, we will make moderate adjustments to the service prices of some MU model units. The product affected is the large model service platform "Bailian", with price increases ranging from 2% to 7%.

Market news: The US and Iran have reached a "principled" consensus on extending the ceasefire.

OLED version of iPad Air may be released next year.

According to South Korean media ETNEWS, Apple will launch an OLED version of the iPad Air in the first half of 2027, with industry insiders believing that the release date will be in March or May. This means that in the future, only the standard digital series of the iPad product line will continue to use LCD display panels.

The experimental spacecraft has completed multiple key technology verifications in orbit.

Journalists learned today from the Innovation Academy of Microsatellites of the Chinese Academy of Sciences that on March 30, 2026 at 19:00, China's independently developed light boat test spacecraft was successfully launched into orbit. It has completed the initial flight control test, actively raised to a 600-kilometer orbit to conduct long-term trials, marking a significant breakthrough in China's new generation of low-cost cargo spacecraft technology verification.

Eurozone industrial output in February month-on-month increased by 0.4%, higher than the expected 0.3%, and the previous value was revised from -1.50% to -0.8%. Eurozone industrial output in February year-on-year decreased by 0.6%, slightly better than the expected -1%, and the previous value was revised from -1.20% to -1.10%.

Hong Kong Exchange (00388) Chen Yiting: Extending trading hours is the trend, but may not be suitable for Hong Kong stocks.

HKEX (00388) CEO Charles Li attended the HSBC Global Investment Summit in 2026 and expressed that although extending trading hours is inevitably becoming a trend and is also what investors are currently pursuing, it may not be suitable for the Hong Kong stock market, so careful consideration is necessary.

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New York Comex silver prices rose 1% intraday, now at $80.14 per ounce.

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