Category: Flash News

On May 3rd, according to the Ministry of Transport, on May 2nd, 2025 (the second day of the Labor Day holiday), the cross regional personnel flow in the whole society was 292.754 million, a decrease of 12% month on month and an increase of 3.6% year-on-year. Among them, the railway passenger volume was 19.55 million, a decrease of 15.4% month on month and an increase of 11.1% year-on-year. The flow of personnel on highways (including non operational small passenger trips on highways and ordinary national and provincial roads, as well as operational passenger traffic on highways) was 268.93 million, a decrease of 12% month on month and an increase of 2.7% year-on-year. The passenger volume of waterway transportation was 2.123 million, a month on month increase of 28.7% and a year-on-year increase of 48.1%. The passenger volume of civil aviation was 2.151 million, a decrease of 7.9% month on month and an increase of 15.5% year-on-year.

On May 3rd, German chemical giant BASF issued a warning on May 2nd regarding the recent increase in tariffs imposed by the United States. The group stated that although the direct business impact is still “controllable” at present, the unilateral measures of the US are undermining the stability of the industrial chain, leading to a decline in customer confidence and intensified order fluctuations. BASF’s Chief Financial Officer Dirk Elfman pointed out on the same day during the release of the group’s first quarter financial report that the volatility of tariff policies, the unpredictability of further decisions by the United States, and possible response measures from other trading partners are impacting global market sentiment. According to him, the overall economic environment of the group in the first quarter was weaker than expected, and the external risks faced by the enterprise were much higher than the judgment at the beginning of the year.

On May 3rd, during the May Day holiday, gold prices continued to decline. The real-time gold price of Shenzhen Shuibei, a domestic gold distribution center, has synchronously fallen to 780 yuan/gram. The sharp drop in prices has stimulated onlookers to flock, leading to a surge in market traffic. On May 2nd, the reporter went to Shuibei for an on-site visit. At 2pm, the gold shops at Shuibei Jinzhan Jewelry Plaza and Shuibei Wanshan in Shenzhen were completely blocked. Some tourists from other places are carrying suitcases to ‘go shopping’. A gold recycler reported that the scale of gold recycling has been rapidly increasing since mid April. Especially when the price of gold recycling once soared to over 800 yuan, many customers queued up to make appointments for gold recycling. The scale of recycling during the May Day holiday was also very large, so busy that it was “soft handed”, and the daily recycling volume was twice as much as usual. (First Financial)

On May 3rd, experts both domestically and internationally in the United States have recently issued warnings that the so-called “reciprocal tariff” policy will severely damage their own economy. South African scholar Tan Zhili also expressed a similar viewpoint. He believes that the US tariff policy first hits the US itself. To some extent, the United States is “self destructing its face” and “cutting off its own path”. The United States is putting itself in a very passive position, and the number of countries willing to trade with it is decreasing. Global trade is shifting from traditional Western centers to other emerging centers, and many countries are beginning to break free from their dependence on the US dollar. Taking the African Free Trade Zone as an example, I believe that African countries now have the motivation to accelerate their integration policies. In addition, regions such as Southeast Asia will accelerate economic integration and maintain their internal diversity. (CCTV News)

On May 3rd, an article in the Economic Daily stated that improving the price formation mechanism for the transfer of contracted land management rights is not to change the market formed prices and turn them into government pricing, but to better play the role of the government and prevent market failure. We must resolutely correct the practice of forcibly promoting land transfer through administrative means. Whether the contracted land is transferred, how to determine the price, and how to choose the form are all decided by the farmers. The farmers the final say, and cannot set targets and tasks to force the farmers out of the land. Improper practices such as incorporating transfer area and transfer ratio into performance evaluations or policy rewards, and using land transfer rate as planning indicators or project application conditions in some places should be corrected in a timely manner. While improving the price formation mechanism, it is also necessary to establish a risk prevention mechanism. Various regions should continue to carry out investigations and risk mitigation of non-standard behaviors of social investment entities in rural land transfer, and strengthen risk assessments of long-term and large-scale land transfer. For projects with a large area of land management rights transfer, involving many farmers, and high operational risks in the entire village (group), the transfer parties can negotiate to establish a risk guarantee fund, or the transferee can purchase performance guarantee insurance to improve their performance ability.

On May 3rd, the Korean Central News Agency published a military commentator article titled “The US military surge will be an unwise choice to further increase domestic security uncertainty. The article states that the simulated interception of enemy intercontinental ballistic missiles at the Fort Greeley military base in Alaska, which was observed by the US Secretary of the Army, has recently been made public. This training is essentially an aggressive military operation that treats the nuclear war with North Korea as a fait accompli. If the United States did not pursue a nuclear war with North Korea, North Korea’s strategic nuclear force aimed at the US mainland would not have occurred, let alone the so-called “interception”. At the end of the article, it is stated that North Korea will build the strongest attack and defense capabilities to overwhelmingly counter any form of military threat posed by the US military surge against North Korea, curb the risk of a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula, and ensure regional power balance. (CCTV News)

On May 3rd, according to the Ministry of Transport, on the second day of the May Day holiday, the expected cross regional personnel flow in the whole society is over 290 million. The railway passenger flow has reached a new high, driving tourism along the route, while the highway traffic volume remains at a high level. The transportation department is fully committed to ensuring the safe and smooth travel of passengers.

On May 3rd, the Trump administration requested the Supreme Court to allow the Department of Government Efficiency to access the social security system. According to court documents, the social security system preserves personal records of almost everyone in the United States, including school records, bank account information, salary information, and medical and mental health records of people with disabilities. The Trump administration has stated that the government efficiency team needs authority to address waste issues in the federal government. Previously, a judge in Maryland restricted access to the social security system by government efficiency teams under federal privacy laws.

On May 3rd, the Association of Shoe Distributors and Retailers in the United States sent a letter to the White House this week requesting an exemption from President Trump’s so-called “equivalent tariffs,” stating that these tariffs pose a “survival threat” to the footwear industry. It is reported that this letter was signed by 76 shoe brands, including Nike, Adidas, Skechers, and Adama. The letter stated that many companies producing affordable footwear cannot afford such high tariffs and cannot pass on these costs. If the equivalent tariffs are not immediately lifted, these companies will have to go bankrupt. The association stated that many orders have been put on hold and American consumers’ shoe inventory may soon run low.

On May 3rd, according to the US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC), as of the week ending April 29th, US speculators reduced their net short positions in the S&P 500 CME by 10014 lots to 249462 lots, while stock fund managers increased their net long positions in the S&P 500 CME by 18407 lots to 826250 lots.