Daily Buzz: 12 May 2026

Top News

China Confirms Trump Visit This Week

Beijing officially confirmed that US President Donald Trump will visit China from May 13-15, where he will meet with Chinese President Xi Jinping. It will be the first visit by a US president in almost nine years and comes against the backdrop of the Middle East war that has sent global energy and commodity prices skyrocketing, and disrupted supply chains. China has been urging a negotiated end to the war, now in its third month. In addition to geopolitics, the two leaders are also expected to discuss bilateral trade issues that include export and import barriers, and their competition in development of AI technologies, including chip-making. Ahead of the summit, Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng and US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent will meet today in South Korea to discuss economic and trade issues.

Trump Says Iran Ceasefire on 'Life Support'

President Donald Trump said a month-long ceasefire between the US and Iran is on "massive life support" following his rejection of Tehran's latest counterproposal to end the now 73-day war. Iran said its military is ready for any US aggression after Donald Trump renewed his threats against the country. The impasse in resolving hostilities is expected to continue at least until after Trump meets Chinese President Xi Jinping in Beijing this week. The sticking points in any peace deal are control over the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear program. The strait remains essentially closed to Gulf oil exports, keeping crude prices above US$100 a barrel. Public support in the US for the war has plummeted, with Brown University calculating that the average American household has been hit by a US$300 cost from spikes in gasoline and diesel prices since the war began. Benchmark Brent crude futures closed New York trading at US$104.21 a barrel.

UK Prime Minister Faces Rebellion, Calls for Him to Resign

UK Prime Minister UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer appeared to be losing his grip on power even after an impassioned speech to try to salvage his leadership following heavy Labour Party losses in local elections last week. Senior cabinet members, including the home and foreign secretaries, urged him to set a timetable for his departure, and a quarter of Labour backbenchers have called on him to resign. Starmer, according to Sky News, is "weighing his options."

Grievances go beyond the recent election defeats. Starmer got into hot water over his appointment – and later firing – of Peter Mandelson, an associate of convicted pedophile Jeffery Epstein, as ambassador to the US. Many MPs are also unhappy about an array of policy decisions related to judicial reform, winter fuel subsidies, ties with the US and EU, immigration and the blocking of rival Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham's path for a return to Parliament. Nipping at his heels is the right-wing Reform Party, which did well in local elections. Starmer, a lawyer and former director of public prosecutions, took office two years ago in a landslide general election victory that promised voters change after 14 years under five Conservative prime ministers.

India Calls for Public Austerity to Address War Impact on Economy

As high oil and commodity prices begin to take their toll on India's economy, Prime Minister Narendra Modi urged residents of the world's most populous country to postpone gold purchases and foreign travel for a year, use less gasoline, diesel fuel and edible oils, and conserve foreign exchange. He asked farmers to reduce dependence on imported chemical fertilizer. He also suggested people work from home if they can. The appeal for public austerity harks back to measures taken during the covid pandemic. India is the world's largest importer of crude oil and gold, both which drain foreign-exchange reserves.

Top Business

China's Car Sales Plummet for a Seventh Month

China car sales in April fell 21.5 percent to 1.4 million, the seventh consecutive month of decline and the lowest in four years. Domestic sales were down 21.6 percent, with deliveries of combustion-engine cars plunging by a third, and electric cars and hybrids fell 6.8 percent, the China Passenger Car Association reported. Cui Dongshu, association secretary-general, said gasoline-powered cars plunged more than expected on high oil prices, and demand for plug-in hybrids was also sluggish. New energy vehicles accounted for 60.6 percent of total sales.

Amid fierce competition at home, China's carmakers are turning their focus to offshore markets. Car export sales in April surged 80.2 percent, largely on a 112 percent surge in electric and hybrid vehicles as foreign buyers shun gasoline-powered cars amid high fuel prices triggered by the Iran war. China is the world's biggest manufacturer of electric vehicles. Investment bank JPMorgan estimates that Chinese smart cars will control 20 percent of the western European market by 2028.

LDRobot Shares Surge in Hong Kong Trading Debut

China's LDRobot rode the wave of investor zeal for technology stocks on Monday, with its shares surging 128 percent from their offer price as they began trading in Hong Kong after an initial public offering that raised HK$807 million (US$103 million). The share sale was oversubscribed more than 6,700 times by retail investors and 8.5 times by institutional investors. The Shenzhen-based company, which makes robots for home cleaning and industrial uses, said it will use the proceeds to fund research and development, and global expansion. LDRobot reported revenue of 748 million yuan (US$110 million) last year and a loss of 62.5 million yuan.

Economy & Markets

Chinese Inflation Picks Up Pace

Inflation in China gained pace in April, with consumer prices accelerating to 1.2 percent year-on-year from 1 percent in March, and prices at the factory gate rising 2.8 percent from a 0.5 percent rise a month earlier. The wider inflation reported by the National Bureau of Statistics reflects higher global prices of energy and other commodities filtering into the economy from the Iran war, now in its third month. Japanese investment bank Nomura analysts said reflation in producer prices the past two months will be welcomed by Beijing after three years of deflationary pressure, CNBC reported. China has largely been shielded from the worse effects of higher oil prices by tapping its stockpiles and expanding renewable energy sources, but analysts said that buffer will weaken the longer the Middle East war continues.

China Stocks Rally as AI Frenzy Lifts Chipmakers

Chinese stocks rallied on Monday as investors kept their focus on technology shares, not events in the Middle East war. Semiconductor and AI-linked shares drove trading volumes to a four-month high. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 1.1 percent, the Shenzhen Component climbed 2.2 percent, and the Nasdaq-style ChiNext index jumped 3.5 percent. Combined volumes on Shanghai and Shenzhen exchanges exceeded 3.54 trillion yuan (US$520 billion). Chipmaking and computing hardware stocks led gainers, with companies in memory chips, graphics processing units and optics surging. Rare earths, innovative drugmakers, solar firms and commercial aerospace shares also advanced, while shipping, gold and lithium-related stocks weakened. Among China's biggest movers, electronics chemicals producer Hubei Sinophorus Electronic Materials surged 20 percent to a record. The frenzy for AI-related stocks also propelled South Korea's Kospi index to a record close.

Motley Fool Warns Investors of Market Warning Signal

Motley Fool, a US-based financial and investment advisory firm, said stock markets are flashing a warning signal seen only twice in the past: before the Depression of the 1930s and before the collapse of the dot-com bubble in the early 2000s. It cited what is known as the S&P 500 Shiller CAPE Ratio, a metric that compares the current price of the index with its inflation-adjusted earnings. A high reading indicates an overvalued market. Historically, the ratio is around 17, but in 2026, it's hovering near 40. Leading up to the dot.com bubble burst, it hit 44. Motley Fool said the reading doesn't necessarily mean a crash or depression but it does suggest that the market is "incredibly pricey right now" and suggested investors look for undervalued stocks.

Corporate

Sino Pharma Signs Hepatitis B Marketing Deal With GSK

Sino Biopharmaceutical said one of its subsidiaries has entered into an exclusive agreement with UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline to market GSKs bepirovirsen hepatitis B drug. The five-year deal also grants GSK the ability to review certain early-stage pipeline drugs from Sino Biopharma for potential collaboration outside China. No figures on the value of the deal were disclosed. An estimated 75 million people on the mainland suffer from chronic hepatitis B.

Jinko Solar to Sell Down Stake in US Factory

China's Jinko Solar said it will sell its controlling stake in a solar module factory in Florida for US$192 million to mitigate regulatory risks from the US government. The 75 percent stake will be reduced to 25 percent in the sale to US private equity firm FH JKV Holdings. Several other Chinese solar companies have already taken steps to divest equity in US assets a Washington hardens its policies on foreign solar companies, Yicai Global reported.

Aramco Posts 25 Percent Rise in Q1 Profit

Saudi Aramco, the world's biggest oil producer, reported a 25 percent jump in first-quarter net income from a year earlier to US$32.5 billion. The earnings report covers only the first month of the Iran war, now in its third month. Aramco has been using a cross-country land pipeline to shift oil exports from the Persian Gulf to a port on the Red Sea to avoid Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. Profit exceeded forecasts. "Our East-West Pipeline has reached its maximum capacity of 7 million barrels of oil per day," Aramco Chief Executive Amin Nasser said in a statement.

Mingzhu Plastic to Build New China Factory

Mingzhu Plastic, a Chinese supplier of plastic materials and lithium battery separators, announced plans to invest almost 3.4 billion yuan (US$497 million) to build a South China production base to increase capacity. The base will be located in Guangzhou and will eight wet-process lithium-ion battery separator production lines and seven polyethylene pipe production lines.

Former Mercedes-Benz Executive Named to Lead Volvo Cars in China

Geely-owned Volvo Cars appointed former Mercedes-Benz China executive Duan Jianjun as president and chief executive of its Greater China operations, replacing Yuan Xiaolin in a surprise management reshuffle announced on Monday. Yuan played a key role in Geely's acquisition of Volvo Cars in 2010. Duan left Mercedes-Benz China at the end of April after serving as president and chief executive of that company's sales arm since 2023, its first Chinese chief executive. He brings more than three decades of experience across sales, branding, marketing and after-sales operations.