【Morning Brief】Financial Law Draft Opens to Public Opinion; Iran States Position on Strait of Hormuz Passage

Macro News

1. Li Qiang made an important instruction on the spring agricultural production work nationwide, emphasizing the full implementation of the spirit of the National Two Sessions, unwavering efforts to ensure grain production, implementing a new round of 100-billion-jin grain capacity enhancement actions, and high-level guarantees for the stable and safe supply of key agricultural products such as grain, providing strong support for a good start to the 14th Five-Year Plan.

2. On March 20, 2026, the Ministry of Justice, People’s Bank of China, China Banking and Insurance Regulatory Commission, China Securities Regulatory Commission, and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange published the “Draft of the Financial Law of the People’s Republic of China” on their official websites, seeking public comments. The opinions state that the central bank, together with relevant departments of the State Council, will implement macro-control and management of the financial market, and may adopt counter-cyclical and cross-cyclical regulation measures as needed. The opinions also highlight the establishment and improvement of a rapid response mechanism for financial market risks to calmly address major risks such as abnormal market fluctuations, market panic, and liquidity shortages.

3. The People’s Bank of China and the State Administration of Foreign Exchange issued the “Regulations on the Management of Domestic Enterprises’ Overseas Lending.” It proposes that the macro-prudential adjustment coefficient for domestic enterprises’ overseas loans be raised from 0.5 to 0.6, generally increasing the upper limit of overseas lending balances.

4. According to local media in Mexico, a senior official from the Mexican Ministry of Economy stated in an interview that Mexico is considering conducting an “economic security review” of Chinese investments. A spokesperson from the Ministry of Commerce said that China has repeatedly urged Mexico to correct its unilateral imposition of tariffs and expressed serious concern over Mexico’s possible “economic security review” of Chinese investments.

5. Iran’s ambassador to the UK and permanent representative to the International Maritime Organization, Musa, stated in an interview on the 19th that the Strait of Hormuz is open to all ships except those belonging to our enemies.

6. The Ministry of Commerce issued the “Policy Measures to Promote Export of Travel Services and Expand Inbound Consumption.” The measures include 16 specific policies across seven areas: expanding inbound tourism consumption, facilitating inbound business activities, activating inbound sports events consumption, prospering inbound entertainment consumption, expanding inbound health consumption, developing inbound education and training consumption, and improving security measures. Among them, continuous improvement of visa policies and orderly expansion of the scope of unilateral visa-free countries, as well as ongoing optimization of transit visa-free policies.

7. On March 20, the People’s Procuratorate of Xinxiang City filed a public prosecution with the Intermediate People’s Court of Xinxiang City against Shiyongxin, the former abbot of Songshan Shaolin Temple (originally Liu Yingcheng), on charges of embezzlement, misappropriation of funds, accepting bribes as a non-state staff, and giving bribes.

8. Minister of Commerce Wang Wentao met with Tim Cook, CEO of Apple Inc. Wang stated that under the guidance of the diplomatic strategies of the Chinese and U.S. heads of state, the two sides’ economic and trade teams have held six rounds of dialogue and consultation, reaching a series of important consensus. Both sides agree that a healthy, stable, and sustainable China-U.S. economic and trade relationship not only benefits both countries but also has a significant impact on global economic stability and development.

9. U.S. President Trump posted on his social media on the 20th that they are considering gradually downgrading major military actions targeting the Iranian regime in the Middle East, and they are very close to achieving their set goals. Trump also stated that he believes when the U.S. wants to end the conflict with Iran, Israel is also ready to end the conflict.

10. Iran’s foreign minister stated that the UK allows the U.S. to use its military bases to launch military actions against Iran, and Iran will exercise its right to self-defense in response.

Industry News

1. A reporter from Cailian News learned from sources that Musk’s SpaceX team previously purchased equipment from a leading domestic heterojunction device manufacturer, with the order expected to be shipped in the first week of May. Additionally, sources said that the T-Chain cooperation order is still under negotiation, involving multiple TOPCon device manufacturers.

2. The relevant departments of the National Development and Reform Commission and the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs recently organized a symposium with pig breeding enterprises. The meeting required that pig breeding enterprises strictly implement capacity regulation measures, scientifically arrange production and operation, orderly reduce the breeding stock of reproductive sows, reasonably control pig slaughter volume, and promote better supply and demand matching.

3. According to the latest news from the National Healthcare Security Administration, version 3.0 of the grouping scheme for payment by disease type is expected to be released in July this year and officially implemented in January 2027. Payment by disease type means grouping or converting scores for disease diagnosis and treatment, implementing bundled payment for medical institutions.

4. With the rise in international oil prices, according to the current domestic refined oil adjustment mechanism, it is expected that at 24:00 on March 23, the domestic refined oil prices will undergo the sixth adjustment this year. According to Zhuo Chuang Information, domestic 92# gasoline prices will fully rise to the “9-yuan era,” with private car owners needing over 85 yuan to fill a 50-liter tank of 92# gasoline.

5. ByteDance announced that it has reached a final agreement with Savvy Games Group, a subsidiary of Saudi Public Investment Fund, to sell Mouton Technology for over $6 billion. It is reported that ByteDance has invested heavily in AI, and its overall profit declined in Q4 2025. The sale of Mouton is seen as a strategic move to further focus on AI.

6. At the State Administration for Market Regulation’s Q1 routine press conference yesterday, it was announced that the “Regulations on the Protection of Trade Secrets” have recently been issued. The regulations explicitly include “data” and “algorithms” within the scope of protected technical information, list technical confidentiality measures for remote work and cross-border collaboration scenarios, and clarify that digital means are involved in unfair means of infringing trade secrets.

7. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang admitted the long-term potential of orbital computing in a podcast. Huang said that processing data directly in space (rather than transmitting it back to Earth) is the logical next step. He also hinted that establishing AI data centers in space might be more difficult than expected, with cooling being one of the biggest challenges.

8. The digital renminbi business operation institutions are expected to expand, with 12 commercial banks possibly joining the system connected to the central bank’s digital renminbi platform. The potential expansion list includes: CITIC Bank, China Everbright Bank, Huaxia Bank, Minsheng Bank, China Guangfa Bank, Shanghai Pudong Development Bank, Zheshang Bank, and five local city commercial banks: Bank of Ningbo, Jiangsu Bank, Bank of Beijing, Bank of Nanjing, and Bank of Suzhou.

Company News

1. The Shanghai Stock Exchange accepted the application for the Sci-Tech Innovation Board IPO of Yushu Technology Co., Ltd., with an estimated fundraising amount of 4.202 billion yuan.

2. Dabeinong announced that its former actual controller, Shao Genhuo, has passed away, and his spouse, Mo Yunjie, will inherit 696 million shares, becoming the company’s controlling shareholder and actual controller.

3. Ping An Bank announced plans for a 10-for-5.96 yuan dividend in 2025, totaling 11.566 billion yuan in dividends.

4. Hengli Hydraulic announced that its actual controller and chairman, Wang Liping, has been detained.

5. *ST Aowei announced that it has been filed for investigation by the China Securities Regulatory Commission for suspected information disclosure violations.

6. Industrial and Commercial Bank of China announced revisions to the agency agreement for personal customer precious metals bidding transactions and clarified the margin call ratio.

7. Pengyao Environmental Protection announced that its actual controller, Wang Hongchun, has been prosecuted for suspected insider trading.

8. *ST Mubang announced that due to false records in periodic reports and non-public issuance documents, the company was fined 7 million yuan by the Jiangxi Securities Regulatory Bureau.

9. Jiang Hanxin Cai stated on an interactive platform that the company has adjusted its product sales prices according to market rules, with an overall increase of 20%-40%.

10. UCloud announced plans to raise no more than 1.5 billion yuan through a private placement to fund the Ulanqab Smart Computing Center and related projects.

11. Shenzhen Stock Exchange issued a notice to suspend trading for investors involved in the abnormal trading of “ST Jinlan.”

12. Jiyou Co., Ltd. announced that its stock will be delisted starting March 24, with the stock abbreviation changing to “*ST Jiyou.”

13. Chifeng Gold announced its annual report, with a net profit of 3.082 billion yuan in 2025, a 75% increase year-over-year, and plans to distribute 0.32 yuan per share.

14. Zijin Mining announced plans to repurchase A-shares worth 1.5 to 2.5 billion yuan for employee stock ownership plans or equity incentives.

15. Xiandaogen announced a plan to raise no more than 3.51 billion yuan through a private placement for semiconductor optical component R&D and industrialization projects.

Global Markets

1. The three major U.S. stock indices all declined, with the Dow down 0.96%, losing 2.11% this week, marking four consecutive weeks of decline—the longest weekly losing streak since February 2023; the Nasdaq fell 2.01%, down 2.07% this week, also four weeks down; the S&P 500 dropped 1.51%, down 1.9% this week, four weeks of decline, the longest since March 2025. Major European stock indices closed lower, with Germany’s DAX 30 down about 4.4% this week; France’s index down about 3%; Italy’s index down about 3.2%; the UK’s index down about 3.2%.

2. International oil prices rose, with Brent May crude futures at $112.19 per barrel, reaching the highest since mid-2022, up over 8.77% this week; WTI April crude futures at $98.32 per barrel, up nearly 1.53% this week.

3. International gold and silver prices declined, with spot gold down 3.43% at $4,498.31 per ounce, down 10.37% this week; COMEX gold futures down 2.16% at $4,505.70 per ounce, down 11.07% this week. Spot silver fell 6.89% to $67.801 per ounce, down 15.85% this week; COMEX silver futures down 4.54% at $67.980 per ounce, down 16.28% this week.