International Morning Brief | Iran's Foreign Ministry: No Negotiations with US, Will Continue Exercising Right to Self-Defense

Middle East Situation | Iranian Foreign Ministry: No Negotiations with the U.S., Continuing Self-Defense Rights

The Iranian Foreign Ministry states that Tehran has not engaged in negotiations with the United States but has received multiple requests from other countries regarding mediation talks and has responded accordingly. Iran will continue to exercise its right to self-defense. Additionally, high-ranking U.S. government officials revealed to the media that Vice President Vance will travel to Pakistan to attend discussions on a plan to end the Iran conflict over the weekend.

Xi-Trump Meeting | White House: Trump to Visit China in Mid-May to Meet Xi Jinping

The White House announced that Trump will meet Xi Jinping in Beijing from May 14 to 15. Trump and First Lady Melania will also host Xi Jinping for a reciprocal visit in Washington later this year.

Federal Reserve | Milan: Rate Hike Expectation Raised by 0.5% Due to Disappointing Inflation Data

Federal Reserve Board member Milan stated that due to disappointing inflation data since his December rate forecast, he has raised his end-of-year interest rate expectation by 0.5%.

IPO | SpaceX Rumored to Submit Listing Application as Early as This Week, Raising Over $75 Billion

Elon Musk’s SpaceX is reportedly preparing to submit an IPO application to U.S. regulators as early as this week, aiming to raise over $75 billion. This could become the largest fundraising in history for a new stock, surpassing the previous $50 billion estimate by 50%.

Dow Jones Closes Up 304 Points, Near 600 Points Intraday

Optimism that diplomacy will lead to Iran ceasefire drove a sharp decline in international oil prices. The Dow rose 594 points to 46,718 intraday, closing up 304 points or 0.66%. The S&P 500 gained 0.54%, Nasdaq increased 0.77%, and the China Dragon Index rose 1.86%. Nvidia and Amazon gained 2% and 2.2%, respectively. ARM launched its own chips for the first time, with ADR soaring 16.4%. Intel and AMD plan to raise CPU prices, both gaining over 7%.

Market Highlights and Briefs

• U.S. White House trade advisor Navarro said Powell plans to stay at the Fed after his term ends, which is “absolutely harmful.” Powell’s term ends in May, and former Fed director Waller has been appointed as his successor.
• The White House announced the appointment of the first batch of members to the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology (PCAST), including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, and Oracle founder Larry Ellison.
• The Trump administration exempted summer gasoline sales regulations to ease oil prices during the Iran war.
• Bloomberg reports that Meta will lay off hundreds of employees as part of restructuring, involving sales, recruitment, Metaverse, and Reality Labs teams.
• Google launched three compression algorithms aimed at efficiently compressing caches without degrading AI large model output quality.
• U.S. import prices rose 1.3% month-over-month in February, versus an expected 0.5% increase.
• U.S. weekly mortgage rates hit an 11-month high, rising to the highest level since October last year.
• U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fell up to 5.53 basis points to 4.3045%, while 2-year yields dropped 4.03 basis points to 3.8484%.
• The dollar index fluctuated, rising 0.22% to 99.65; the yen fell 0.51%, and the euro declined 0.45%.
• Bitcoin briefly rose 2.79% to $72,013.
• Putin signed an order restricting Russian gold exports. Currently, gold accounts for about 47% of Russia’s $809 billion in foreign exchange reserves.
• Spot gold prices surged 2.83%, reaching $4,602.34 per ounce.
• U.S. EIA reported a weekly crude oil inventory increase of 6.926 million barrels, versus an expected 470,000 barrels.
• NYMEX crude fell as much as 6.38%, to $86.46 per barrel, closing at $90.32, down 2.2%. Brent crude dropped 7.02% to $97.15, closing at $102.22, also down 2.2%.
• Iran armed forces spokesperson said all U.S. military bases in the Middle East have been destroyed, some U.S. commanders and soldiers have left bases and are hiding elsewhere. Iran is conducting searches and calls on regional countries to expel U.S. troops.
• Iran’s Revolutionary Guard claimed to have shot down a U.S. F-18 fighter jet over southeastern Bandar Abbas, which subsequently crashed into the Indian Ocean.
• Iran’s armed forces said the regional situation has changed, and the rules of passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be redefined. Any party associated with Iran’s enemies will have no right to passage.
• Hungary and Ukraine continue to have energy disputes. Hungarian Foreign Minister Szijjártó announced a gradual halt to natural gas supplies to Ukraine.
• Danish Prime Minister Frederiksen resigned to the King of Denmark, initiating a new government formation process after her coalition suffered a heavy defeat in the election. As her Social Democrats remain Denmark’s largest party, she may serve as Prime Minister for a third term after negotiations.
• ECB President Lagarde said the ECB is still assessing the impact of the Iran conflict and will not take policy action until the scale and duration of the impact are clearer.
• Bank of England Monetary Policy Committee member Green said that last week’s rate hike was not supported.
• Pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 1.42%, with UK, France, and Germany indices rising 1.42%, 1.33%, and 1.41%, respectively.
• Due to Chinese government reminders for citizens to avoid travel during the Spring Festival holiday, Chinese tourists’ duty-free sales at Japanese department stores in February fell about 40% year-over-year.
• China Coast Guard stated that recent routine law enforcement training near Huangyan Island was disrupted by a large number of Filipino vessels intruding into Chinese waters.
• Pinduoduo’s Q4 net profit fell 10.59% year-over-year, revenue increased 12.03%. Full-year profit declined 11.62%, revenue grew 9.65%.

Hong Kong’s Top Two Restaurants Among Asia’s 50 Best

The 2026 Asia’s 50 Best Restaurants awards ceremony was held in Hong Kong for the first time, with Hong Kong’s Maximal and Wing taking first and second place respectively.

Local Highlights and Briefs

• The ADR Hong Kong Stock Index closed at 25,342, up 6 points from the Hong Kong market. HSBC (00005) rose 1.6%, CLP (00002) up 0.9%; Tencent (00700) down 1.9%, Alibaba (09988) down 1.5%, Meituan (03690) down 0.8%.
• Hang Seng night futures closed at 25,268, down 68 points.
• The Competition Commission filed a lawsuit accusing a bidding cartel of collusion to secure nearly HKD 700 million worth of contracts at Tai Po Hong Fu Estate and other estates.
• The ICAC charged five individuals with corruption related to major building maintenance projects at three estates, involving about HKD 90 million.
• CLP announced that from April 1, the fuel adjustment charge will increase from 39.2 cents to 39.8 cents per kWh, the first increase since January last year.
• HK Electric stated that if the Iran conflict persists or worsens, fuel adjustment charges are likely to rise.
• The Financial Secretary approved a 2.65% increase in the overall fixed salary of HKMA staff, with an additional 1.35% performance bonus.
• The State Council appointed Cheung Tung-mui as Deputy Director of the Hong Kong and Macau Affairs Office, and Yang Weiqun as Deputy Director of the Macau Liaison Office.
• CityU Associate Professor Du Du was convicted of offering HKD 1,000 bribes to a property agent to avoid paying deposit compensation, sentenced to 4.5 months in prison, with HKD 20,000 bail pending appeal, under conditions including not leaving Hong Kong.
• Financial Secretary Paul Chan said the PBOC and HKMA are exploring upgrades to the digital renminbi wallet.
• Development Bureau plans to expand parts of Aberdeen Typhoon Shelter into a yacht tourism complex, including about 200 yacht berths and 250 residential units.
• Cheung Kong (00001)’s Panama port subsidiary, PPC, announced that after the illegal takeover of the Balboa and Cristobal container terminals by the Panamanian government, it has increased its international arbitration claim against Panama to over USD 2 billion.
• Bloomberg reports that Sun Hung Kai Properties (00016) secured a HKD 20 billion five-year syndicated loan.
• China Eastern Airlines (00670) signed an aircraft purchase agreement in Shanghai for 101 Airbus A320neo series aircraft.
• Pop Mart (09992) reported a 3.09-fold increase in profit last year, but its stock plummeted 22.5% on Wednesday, wiping out about HKD 65.5 billion in market value.
• TVB (00511) reported nearly HKD 59.29 million profit last year, proposing to rename as “Wireless Group.”
• China Life (02628) posted a 44.09% annual profit increase last year.
• Kingsoft Cloud (03896) narrowed net loss to RMB 936 million, with total revenue up 22.78%.
• Kuaishou (01024) profit grew 21.4%, with adjusted net profit up 16.54%.
• China Taiping (00966) profit surged 2.21 times; final dividend of HKD 1.23 per share, up 2.51 times.
• Emperor Watch & Jewelry (00887) profit increased 78.56%, with a final dividend of HKD 0.0114.
• Conch Venture (00586) profit grew 11.17%, with a final dividend of HKD 0.3.
• Sing Tao (01105) net loss narrowed to HKD 78.27 million, no final dividend.
• Fosun International (00656) subsidiary, Club Med, is considering an IPO in Hong Kong.
• AI visual algorithm company Genshin Impact (06636) closed midday Wednesday, with oversubscription of about 4596 times for the public offering.
• Collaborative robot company Huayuan Robotics (01021) closed midday Wednesday, with oversubscription of about 5063 times.
• Businessman Yu Jinji sold a large house at 8 Weizhou Street, Kowloon Tong, for HKD 190 million, holding the property for over half a century, earning over HKD 189 million profit, appreciating 252 times.