Category: Flash News

On March 22, the Economic Daily reported that this year is the final year of the 14th Five Year Plan and a crucial year for development towards the 15th Five Year Plan. With the continuous expansion of China’s economic aggregate and the sustained diversification of its structure, coupled with the deepening adverse effects of external environmental changes, the complexity of macroeconomic governance is becoming increasingly high, and the difficulty of policy coordination is also increasing. In this regard, we must adhere to a systematic approach, fully consider the correlation and coupling between various policies, and work together to promote policy implementation and expected guidance, truly achieving smooth policy transition from the “first mile” to the “last mile”.

On March 22, this year’s government work report clearly stated that “we will deepen the comprehensive reform of capital market investment and financing, and vigorously promote the entry of medium and long-term funds into the market”. On March 11th, the Party Committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission held an expanded meeting to deeply study the spirit of the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference, study and deploy specific measures for the implementation of the capital market, and propose to make greater efforts to promote the implementation of the guidance and implementation plan for the entry of medium and long-term funds into the market. The interviewed experts believe that guiding medium and long-term funds into the market is not only a key measure to optimize the structure of the capital market and enhance market stability, but also an important lever to enhance investment and financing synergy and serve the high-quality development of the real economy. Accelerating the construction of a ‘long-term investment’ market ecosystem can provide strong support for stabilizing the stock market and developing patient capital. (Shanghai Stock News)

On March 22, Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Jolly stated in an interview with US media on March 21 that Canada will erect a series of large billboards along US highways to promote opposition to Trump’s tariffs among the American public. Jolly stated that these billboards will appear in 12 “red states” (i.e. states that support the Republican Party).

On the evening of March 21st local time, air raid sirens sounded again over Jerusalem. The Israel Defense Forces stated that preliminary reports indicate that a missile launched from Yemen caused multiple air raid sirens to sound, and details are currently under investigation. Subsequently, an Israeli military spokesperson stated that the Israeli Air Force intercepted a missile launched from Yemen that evening, and the missile was successfully intercepted before entering Israeli territory. This is the fourth time Israel has been targeted by missiles from Yemen since the Israeli military resumed ground operations in the Gaza Strip earlier this week.

On March 22, according to the official announcement on social media from London Heathrow Airport on March 21 local time, “flight operations can now be safely restarted”. Heathrow Airport kindly requests passengers not to travel to the airport without receiving notification from the airline, and expresses the hope for full resumption of operations tomorrow. At around 18:00 on the same day, after the substation fire, the first flight landed at Heathrow Airport. The cause of the fire is still under investigation. According to the London Metropolitan Police, there is currently no indication of ‘malicious behavior’, but given the location of the substation and the impact of the incident on critical infrastructure, the police ‘remain open to it’.

On March 22, the salary negotiations between the German service industry union and Berlin Public Transport Company broke down again on March 21 local time. The union announced that it will hold another strike on March 26th and 27th to express dissatisfaction with salary and benefits. This will be the fifth strike during this year’s salary negotiations.

On March 22, according to the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as of the week of March 18, speculators had reduced the net short position of CBOT U.S. two-year treasury bond futures by 1659 hands to 1220556 hands, the net short position of U.S. five-year treasury bond futures by 32573 hands to 1905940 hands, the net short position of U.S. 10-year treasury bond futures by 144299 hands to 881374 hands, and the net short position of ultra long treasury bond futures by 4236 hands to 247158 hands.

On March 22, according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as of the week ending March 18, speculative net long positions in WTI crude oil futures decreased by 22909 lots to 56328 lots; The net long position of natural gas futures in the NYMEX and ICE markets decreased by 34429 lots to 298465 lots.

On March 22, according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as of the week ending March 18, COMEX gold futures speculative net long positions increased by 18008 lots to 200157 lots; COMEX silver futures speculative net long position increased by 7398 lots to 49645 lots; COMEX copper futures saw a speculative net long position increase of 8739 lots to 22403 lots.

On the evening of March 22nd, the Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement (Hamas) affiliated armed faction, the Kassan Brigade, announced that the organization launched multiple rockets at the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon in response to Israel’s massacre of civilians in Gaza. In the afternoon of that day, the Israeli Defense Forces announced that the Israeli Air Force had successfully intercepted two rockets launched from northern Gaza. In response, the Israeli military subsequently issued an “evacuation order” to some residents in Gaza, stating that they would immediately launch attacks on the area. This is the second consecutive day that Israel has been hit by rocket attacks from the direction of Gaza since the Israeli military resumed ground operations in Gaza earlier this week.