International Early Morning News | Hundreds of millions of dollars in OpenAI shares reported to lack secondary market support

AI丨Reported lack of follow-through in the secondary market for OpenAI shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars

OpenAI’s stock in the secondary market is reportedly losing favor, with shares worth hundreds of millions of dollars potentially lacking buyers, prompting investors to quickly shift to its competitor, Anthropic. Separately, a company under Elon Musk’s umbrella, SpaceX, is reportedly secretly filed an IPO application with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. Reports say SpaceX may be seeking a valuation of $1.75 trillion.

Intel to repurchase a factory stake for $11.07 billion

Intel, a chipmaker working to restore its manufacturing strength, agreed to pay $14.2 billion to buy back half of the equity stake in a factory in Ireland that it previously sold to Apollo Global Management.

Middle East situation丨Trump says Iran’s new leadership requested a ceasefire; Iran calls it fake news

The U.S. military is reportedly submitted plans to Trump involving the dispatch of ground forces to seize more than 460 kilograms of highly enriched uranium within Iran. Trump, meanwhile, claimed that the president of Iran’s new leadership is more rational than his previous counterparts and “less extreme,” saying he had just requested a ceasefire from the United States and that he would consider a halt in hostilities only after the Strait of Hormuz reopens; before then, the U.S. would “blast Iran back to the Stone Age.” Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said Trump’s “ceasefire request” statement is entirely baseless.

Middle East situation丨Hegsetz: The U.S. clearly knows that China and Russia are assisting Iran

U.S. Defense Secretary Hegsetz said Washington is well aware that China and Russia are helping Iran, and the U.S. will respond to such actions where necessary.

U.S. launches a rocket carrying out a crewed mission to orbit the Moon

The “Orion” spacecraft for NASA’s “Artemis 2” crewed lunar-orbit flight mission launched to begin a 10-day journey around the Moon, marking the first time in more than half a century that humans have returned to orbit the Moon’s vicinity.

U.S. stocks market update丨Dow closes up 224 points; chip stocks rise

Trump has vowed that the ceasefire will come only after the Strait of Hormuz reopens, but the market is still betting that the war with Iran is nearing its end. The Dow rose 461 points to 4,680 points earlier on Wednesday, and still closed up 224 points, or 0.48%. The S&P 500 was up 0.72%, the Nasdaq climbed 1.16%, and the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index?（Gold Dragon China Index） was up 0.31%. The market is watching the content of a speech Trump delivered on the Iran war on Wednesday evening U.S. time. Alphabet rose 3.4%, Intel jumped 8.8%, Micron gained 8.9%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.82%. Nike’s guidance for this season and full-year revenue disappointed, with its share price plunging 15.5%; Boeing bounced 4.2%.

Overseas quick focus

￭ Trump reportedly said that his stance on NATO membership for the U.S. is no longer just “reconsideration,” stressing that he will not be constrained by NATO, describing NATO as “a paper tiger,” and adding that Putin knows this too.
￭ JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon said the U.S. needs to permanently eliminate any threats from Iran; if it cannot meet this goal, both the market and the global economy are likely to be hit.
￭ Trump signed an executive order to tighten the mechanism for mailed ballots ahead of the midterm election in mid-November. It includes requiring the federal government to establish a list of U.S. citizens in each state who are eligible to vote, and requiring that absentee ballots can only be mailed to voters on the states’ approved list of mail ballot recipients.
￭ New York Mayor Eric Adams lifted the ban on TikTok, allowing the app to be used again on government electronic devices.
￭ Richmond Fed President Thomas Barkin said businesses still view high oil prices as only a short-term problem, and there is currently no clear sign that high oil prices have led consumers to cut spending, or to change public inflation expectations in a worrying way.
￭ Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug GLP-1 received U.S. FDA approval for market launch, to help patients lose weight or maintain weight-loss effects.
￭ ADP: U.S. private job positions grew by 62,000 in March, beating expectations. U.S. retail sales rose 0.6% month-on-month in February, outperforming estimates. U.S. ISM manufacturing index rose to 52.7 in March, above expectations.
￭ U.S. 10-year Treasury yields fluctuated and rose as much as 2.5 basis points to 4.336%. U.S. 2-year Treasury yields rose 2.03 basis points to 3.8133%.
￭ UK 10-year Treasury yields briefly plunged 13.9 basis points to 4.777, with German government bond yields of the same maturity also falling to a two-week low.
￭ The U.S. dollar index fell as much as 0.64% to 99.32; the euro rose 0.61%, and the Japanese yen rose 0.28%.
￭ Bitcoin rose as much as 1.56% to $69,260.
￭ Spot gold continued to climb for a fourth day, rising as much as 2.69% to $4,792.96 per ounce; it closed at $4,758.31, still up 1.95%.
￭ New York crude oil futures fell as much as 4.81%, hitting a low of $96.5 per barrel, then closed at $100.12, down 1.24%; Brent crude futures slid 2.7% to $101.16.
￭ International Energy Agency (IEA) Executive Director Birol said that as supply is reduced due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz, disruptions to Middle East oil supply in mid-April will worsen and will also affect Europe.
￭ Iranian President Pezeshkian published an open letter to the American people, saying U.S.-Iran relations have been badly misunderstood. Iran’s people have no hostility toward people in the U.S. and other countries, while the U.S. has amassed numerous military bases and forces around Iran, creating a threat. Iran’s response is certainly not about starting a war or aggression. He also said the U.S. has effectively become Israel’s proxy, carrying out strikes against Iran, and that its policy is heavily influenced by and manipulated by the Israeli regime.
￭ Iran continues to attack neighboring countries in the Middle East, which in turn led to the Kuwait airport fuel tank catching fire and Qatar’s oil tanker being damaged, with no casualties.
￭ Iran’s Supreme Leader Mujtaba issued a written speech on Islamic Republic Day, calling on people to plant trees and commemorating those who died in the conflict between the U.S. and Israel.
￭ Bank of England Governor Andrew Bailey said the market is still acting too hastily and has already priced in expectations that the Bank of England would raise rates to respond to a war involving Iran, which has impacted the UK economy.
￭ British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that the UK will convene meetings involving about 35 countries this week to discuss how to restart the Strait of Hormuz, which has been disrupted by the war in the Middle East.
￭ Pan-European Stoxx 600 closed up 2.5%. UK, France and Germany shares rose 1.85%, 2.1% and 2.73% respectively.
￭ Japan’s Prime Minister Sanae Takagi had talks with French President Emmanuel Macron, and both sides reached agreement on strengthening key mineral supply chains, as well as on cooperation in rare earth procurement.
￭ Premier Li Qiang, during a recent investigation in Sichuan, emphasized advancing the construction of new-type power grids and accelerating the optimization of the energy mix.
￭ Mainland China chain tea drink retailer Bawang Tea (Bawang Tea Co., Ltd.) released by its parent company Chaji Holdings. In the fourth quarter of last year, net profit was RMB 28.538 million, down 95.67% year-on-year.
￭ Taiwan draft dodging case: according to information, the actor “Prince” Chiu Sheng-yi, from the “Bubbling Boys” (棒棒堂男孩), was handcuffed by police and taken back to the police station for investigation on Wednesday morning, and was granted bail that afternoon.

Local quick focus

￭ The ADR Hong Kong stock proportion index closed at 25,423, up 129 points from Hong Kong. HSBC (00005) rose 2.8%, CLP (00002) rose 0.8%, Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (00388) and AIA (01299) both rose 0.3%, and Alibaba (01299) fell 1.2%.
￭ Hang Seng Index night futures closed at 25,301, a premium of 7 points.
￭ The Census and Statistics Department released that the provisional estimate of total retail sales value for February was HK$35 billion, up 19.3% year-on-year, outperforming the expected growth of 12.2%.
￭ The chairman of the Hong Kong Retail Management Association, Yu Guoanyi?, said that when combining the first two months of this year, retail sales grew 11.8% year-on-year, which is ideal and reflects an improvement in consumer sentiment. Jewelry and watch retail sales have also benefited from rising gold prices, while large-scale event activities have continued to attract travelers from the Mainland to visit Hong Kong; therefore, the overall retail start-of-year momentum is strong.
￭ Starting Wednesday, all taxis in Hong Kong must provide at least two types of electronic payment methods. The Transport Department Commissioner Jackie (?)谢詠誼 said drivers have no particular difficulty in using them. PayMe by HSBC users and HSBC credit cardholders can also make cashless payments on more than 3,500 taxis across Hong Kong.
￭ Since last year, the government began resuming the collection of hotel accommodation rent tax. Secretary for Culture, Sports and Tourism Sam? 罗淑佩 said there are currently no plans to freeze the hotel accommodation rent tax or adjust the tax rate.
￭ The Secretary for Health and Medical Services Lo Chung-mau said that as of the end of last year, the authorities had received 731 applications for the registration or enrollment of non-local trained nurses, among which 394 approved applications had taken effect. This is less than 1% of more than 75,000 nurses in Hong Kong.
￭ Buildings Department announced the restart of the application scheme for irregular building works under the New Territories exemption scheme. The submission period runs from the 1st day of this month to March 31 next year, lasting one year.
￭ For the trial hearing of the fire at Wangfu? (宏福苑), a property management representative testified that in the major renovation of Hongfuyuan, the voting by authorized tickets was generally common. During the term in office, they had not conducted any checks on the authenticity of the authorized tickets—“cross it out and sign it.” He also said the Independent Review Unit (ICU) of the Housing Bureau would notify engineering consultant Hong Yi a week earlier that it will conduct an on-site inspection.
￭ Macau Gaming? Regulatory? and Coordination Bureau announced that in March this year, gaming revenue was MOP 22.612 billion, up 15% year-on-year and ahead of expectations; up 9.6% month-on-month.
￭ Standard Chartered Hong Kong announced it has become one of the first banks in Hong Kong to offer the “FPS” cross-border payment service, in an instant and 24x7 manner, to process payment transactions of up to HK$1 million or RMB per transaction for overseas financial institutions and payment technology companies.
￭ Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing (00388) said that among 2,005 Hong Kong-listed companies in the fiscal year ended December 2024, 39 companies needed to suspend trading because they were unable to publish their 2025 full-year results with the agreement of their auditors, down clearly from 67 companies last year. The number is also the lowest since 2023.
￭ Core? (Shanghai listed) Chipscreen? Microelectronics (688521.SH) submitted a listing application to HKEX, proposing to list on the Main Board in Hong Kong.
￭ AR eyewear company XREAL submitted a listing application to HKEX, proposing to list on the Main Board in Hong Kong.
￭ Bank of East Asia (00023) announced it will increase its holdings by buying additional floors in the Bank of East Asia Financial Building in Shanghai Lujiazui, which will be held long-term by the group.
￭ Wharf Real Estate’s first-quarter sales value exceeded RMB 10.4 billion, far above the same period last year, with cumulative sales of 862 units.
￭ MTR (00066) said it has decided, at the request of developers or consortia intending to bid, to extend the deadline for tendering the property development project for Phase 2 of the Yuen Long Kam Tin Road Station project to 2:00 p.m. on the 20th of this month.
￭ BYD (01211): March vehicle sales were approximately 300,200 units, down 20.45% year-on-year.
￭ XPeng (09868): March deliveries of new vehicles were 27,415 units, up 80% month-on-month.
￭ Li Auto (02015): March deliveries of new vehicles were approximately 41,053 units, up 11.94% year-on-year.
￭ Leapmotor (07489): March deliveries of new vehicles were 15,019 units, up 50.1% year-on-year and up 79.7% month-on-month.
￭ Chery (09973): In March, total sales of the top five brands were 228,500 vehicles, up 15.03% year-on-year; total sales for the first three months were 566,100 vehicles, down 3.14% year-on-year.
￭ Xiaomi Auto disclosed that in March, total deliveries across all Xiaomi models exceeded 20,000 units. Among them, the next-generation SU7, whose deliveries began on March 23, accumulated deliveries of more than 7,000 units within 9 days.
￭ HKEX equity disclosure: after Maoji? Kwai Chung (01716) announced the disposal on March 12, Wang Jiawei (Orient Rise) reduced its stake in the market about a week later by 1.59 million shares, at an average price of HK$3.2003 per share, raising about HK$5.0885 million. After the disposal, its equity interest fell to 1.9%. At the beginning of last month, Maoji Kwai Chung finalized the disposal, and Orient Rise and others did not follow along to sell the shares they held with the controlling shareholder using the “black paper” sale.