Daily Buzz: 28 August 2026

Death Tolls Rises in Nepal-China Flash Floods Amid Warnings of Fresh Risks

At least 1,200 people are reported missing - about half of them visitors from more than two dozen countries - in Nepal and China's Himalayan region after a massive glacial collapse sent an avalanche of mud and rock crashing hundreds of meters down into a river valley, causing catastrophic flash floods downstream that submerged whole towns and swept away bridges and people trying to flee. Nepalese authorities said 389 people are confirmed dead, with the death toll expected to increase. China's Xizang Autonomous Region abutting the border reported 558 people missing, with three confirmed deaths. A magnitude-5 earthquake hit the region late Thursday, the German Research Centre ‌for Geosciences reported, and both Nepal and China have issued warnings of fresh risks of flooding as two lakes that have developed on either side of their border threaten to burst. The remote region is popular with mountain trekkers and Hindu pilgrims.

Is the Strait of Hormuz Open? Iran and the US Beg to Differ

An oil tanker in the Strait of Hormuz caught fire after it was struck by an unidentified object, the UK Maritime Trade Operations agency said. No injuries were reported. It isn't clear if the incident was caused by an underwater mine, a drone or a missile. Traffic in the waterway that once carried 20 percent of global oil and gas has remained below pre-war levels this week. US allies are skeptical about Trump administration claims that all undersea mines have been removed and the strait is safe for passage, Bloomberg reported. Iran and Oman have agreed on a temporary maritime corridor through the strait that involves sharing revenue, but Tehran claims the narrow waterway won't fully reopen until the US fulfills all the commitments it made under a June initial peace agreement, now expired. The US maintains its naval blockade of Iranian points to stop oil exports that earn the country revenue. Global oil prices rose on Thursday after the Trump administration confirmed there are no ongoing talks with Tehran. Benchmark Brent crude futures rose in New York trading to close at US$89.70 a barrel.

US CIA Chief Makes Unscheduled Trip to Moscow

US Central Intelligence Agency chief John Ratcliffe made a surprise visit to Moscow, reportedly to talk with Russian intelligence services. Both sides were mum on the subject of the talks, but media reports said Ratcliffe was delivering two messages: don't attack NATO territory in the war against Ukraine, and cut off economic and military support to Iran. The New York Times reported that the CIA chief also offered a bleak assessment of the state of Moscow's war against Ukraine.

Top Business

Chalco Posts Record Profit on High Aluminum Prices

Aluminum Corporation of China (Chalco), one of the world's biggest producers, reported first-half net profit surged 68 percent from a year earlier to a record 11.9 billion yuan (US$1.8 billion) on higher aluminum prices and cost controls. Revenue increased 7.8 percent to 125.4 billion yuan. During the period, China imposed cap on production of electrolytic-aluminum despite high domestic and global demand. At the same time, the cost of bauxite ore, which is refined into alumina, the raw material used in aluminum making, declined. The company said its output of metallurgical-grade alumina stood at 7.4 million tons, down 14 percent, but fine alumina output gained 12.5 percent to 2.3 million tons.

Akeso Loss Narrows on Growth in Cancer Drug Sales

Akeso, a Chinese developer of antibody-based therapies, narrowed its first-half loss as sales of its flagship cancer drugs drove double-digit revenue growth. Revenue rose 28 percent to 1.8 billion yuan (US$266 million), while loss attributable to owners narrowed to 424 million yuan from 570 million yuan a year earlier. Commercial sales increased 29 percent to 1.8 billion yuan, accounting for virtually all revenue, led by the bispecific antibodies cadonilimab and ivonescimab. Newer drugs ebronucimab and ebdarokimab also contributed. Research and development spending increased 7.1 percent to 783 million yuan.

Akeso said this week that its ivonescimab drug outperformed AstraZeneca's Imfinzi in a head-to-head Phase 3 trial for biliary tract cancer. The drug has already been licensed to US firm Summit Therapeutics in a multibillion-dollar deal. The trial involved 682 patients with advanced biliary tract cancer, a deadly form of the disease that affects bile ducts attached to the liver and gall bladder. The results showed that patients taking Akeso's therapy lived longer, but Akeso didn't say how much longer.

Vanke Loss Widens as Developer Grapples With Debt Burden

Debt-laden Chinese property developer Vanke, which continues to stave off what could be China's largest-ever default, said its loss widened in the first half to 15 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) from 12 billion a year earlier. Revenue fell a third to 70.2 billion yuan as contracted sales plunged 48 percent. As of June 30, Vanke had debts of about 351 billion yuan, compared with cash and cash-equivalent holdings of 53 billion yuan. About 179 billion yuan of that debt is due within a year. Vanke's losses since 2024 rose to 153 billion yuan. The developer has been operating on the edge of default since a liquidity squeeze and glut of unsold homes triggered a nationwide property slump nearly six years ago, sending many developers into bankruptcy. Vanke has managed to stay afloat with loans from its largest shareholder, Shenzhen Metro, which provided more than 30 billion yuan in loans last year and another 4.5 billion yuan so far this year. The company has been renegotiating repayments with major lenders on due debt this year. A default could have serious repercussions across China's banking sector, which holds a large share of the debt.

Zhipu Unveils Model That Runs Entirely on China-Made Chips

China's Z.ai, more commonly known as Zhipu AI, released the new Ox Alpha model that it says runs entirely on domestically made chips. It's a renaming of the company's low-cost GLM-5.3-Flash, the latest model in the GLM-5 series. Ox Alpha dropped on application interface platforms OpenRouter and OpenCode for testing last week, ahead of its official release. The model set new records for call volume on both platforms, processing tens of trillions of tokens from developers around the world. All of the request traffic was supported by computing power using 100,000 Chinese-made chips. OpenCode said Ox Alpha will be available for free for one week, with a "near-unlimited" quota when the model is fully released. Z.ai shares surged 12.6 percent in Hong Kong on Thursday.

Nvidia Agrees to Buy Hugging Face for US$12.9 Billion, Reports Say

Nvidia has agreed to buy AI platform Hugging Face for US$12.9 billion, The Information reported, citing people familiar with the deal. Nvidia was among the backers, alongside Salesforce and Google, that backed Hugging Face in a US$235 million funding round in 2023 that valued the company at US$4.5 billion, Reuters reported. Earlier this year, the Financial Times reported that Hugging Face rejected a 2025 US$500 million investment offer from Nvidia that would have valued it at US$7 billion.

Economy & Markets

China Life Profit Surges on Investment Gains

China Life Insurance reported a sharp increase in first-half earnings as stronger investment returns boosted results amid improved asset allocation. The insurer posted operating revenue of 434.3 billion yuan (US$64.6 billion), up 81.5 percent from a year earlier Net profit surged 229 percent to 134.5 billion yuan. China Life said growth was driven by deeper integration of insurance liabilities and investment strategies, as well as a 187-billion-yuan improvement in returns from its investment portfolio. New business premiums rose 12 percent to 180 billion yuan on stronger demand for insurance products.

China Industrial Profits Rise, Rate of Growth Slows

China's industrial profits in July expanded 11.2 percent, with growth in the first seven months of this year slowing to 17.6 percent from 18.7 percent in the first half, the National Bureau of Statistics reported. Still, this year's recovery from largely flat growth last year has been driven by the AI boom that is boosting demand for computing power and electronics equipment manufacturing. The integrated circuit industry expanded 18.5 percent in the first seven months, accounting for about 80 percent of gains. Optical-fiber manufacturing profits surged five times. Other expanding sectors included raw materials and petroleum processing. Laggards were steel, cement and furniture manufacturing.

US Fed Official Voice Inflation Concerns

Three officials in the US Federal Reserve system attending the annual gathering of global central bankers in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, expressed continuing concerns about the US inflation. Inflation is "still stubborn and it's still sticky," and we've got to continue to find ways to get it back to 2 percent, ‌Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid told on CNBC on the sidelines of the high-profile conference. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said of price pressures, "I don't want to prejudge anything, but I believe now is the time to act." Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee said his biggest fear in the short run continues to be prices rising out of control. "Everybody should be on edge," he said, noting higher energy costs associated with the Iran war. "We better be mindful because if inflation starts going up again, it's very hard to get rid of it."

UBS Issues Its First Panda Bonds

Swiss bank UBS priced its inaugural 2-billion-yuan (US$298 million) issue of panda bonds in the China interbank bond market with a coupon rate of 1.78 percent, the tightest spread to date for panda bonds issued by a foreign financial institution. The issue was more than three times oversubscribed. Panda bonds are yuan-denominated debt instruments issued on the Chinese mainland by foreign governments, financial institutions and multinational corporations.

South Korea Central Bank Raises Rates to Cool Inflation

South Korea's central bank on Thursday raised rates a quarter point to 3 percent, its second straight increase, to cool prices after core inflation in July hit 2.6 percent, the highest level in more than two years. The Bank of Korea said inflation is expected to remain above its target for a "considerable time."

Corporate

Fosun Profit More Than Doubles as Asset Management Recovers

Fosun International, a Chinese conglomerate spanning healthcare, tourism, consumption and insurance, said first-half profit surged 160 percent to 1.72 billion yuan (US$253 million), even as revenue edged down 0.4 percent to 87 billion yuan. The rebound was driven largely by its wealth division, where profit jumped to 1.3 billion yuan from 243.1 million yuan. Its asset-management business swung to a profit of 86.9 million yuan from a 974.8-million-yuan loss a year earlier, helped by stronger operating performance and improved capital markets. Insurance revenue rose 9.2 percent, supported by Fosun Insurance Portugal and Peak Reinsurance. The improvement, however, was uneven. Healthcare profit declined 4.5 percent, while the "happiness division" loss widened to 519.6 million yuan as weaker consumer demand weighed on Yuyuan and Lanvin Group. Industrial operating profit rose 17 percent to 3.7 billion yuan. Total debt declined 2.6 percent from the end of 2025 to 218.31 billion yuan after Fosun generated more than 12 billion yuan from asset disposals.

Victory Giant Profit Rises on Demand, Share Placement Gain

Victory Giant Technology, a Chinese maker of printed circuit boards used in AI servers and other electronics, said first-half revenue rose 29 percent to 11.6 billion yuan (US$1.7 billion), while net profit attributable to shareholders increased 33 percent to 2.9 billion yuan. Headline profit growth was boosted by a 595 million yuan gain on a share placement. Profit excluding oont-time items rose a slower 12.5 percent to 2.4 billion yuan. The company said demand remained strong as it expanded production into higher-value boards for AI computing, data centers and high-performance computing. But gross margin narrowed by 3 percentage points to 33.2 percent as operating costs rose faster than revenue. Finance expenses jumped nearly eightfold because of foreign-exchange losses and higher interest costs. Extrapolated figures show second-quarter profit, excluding one-time items, fell about 5.3 percent from a year earlier.

Bilibili Profit Surge 55 Percent on Advertising Growth

Bilibili, a popular Shanghai-based video-sharing platform, posted a net profit of 339.1 million yuan (US$ 50 million) in the second quarter, a 55 percent increase from a year earlier. Net profit margin rose to 4.3 percent from 3 percent. Revenue rose 8 percent to 7.9 billion yuan. Advertising remained the key revenue driver, surging 28 percent to 3.1 billion yuan. Bilibili Chief Executive Chen Rui credited high-quality content for enhanced user engagement. He said AI integration is enabling the company to execute its mission with greater precision and scale. Average monthly active users reached 371 million.

Mixue Profit Slides on Higher Costs

Mixue, China's largest low-cost tea chain, said first-half revenue edged up 2.3 percent from a year earlier to 15.2 billion yuan (US$2.2 billion) but profit fell 15 percent to 2.3 billion yuan. The company cited pressure from rising costs, as the cost of sales increased 4.1 percent, outpacing revenue growth as Mixue invested in higher-quality ingredients. Gross margin slipped to 30.4 percent from 31.6 percent. The company has built a multinational network selling freshly made milk tea, fruit drinks and ice cream for as little as 2-8 yuan (29 US cents to US$1.18). As of June 30, it had 63,987 stores across 17 countries, including 4,378 overseas outlets. Its signature Snow King cartoon logo has been expanded from drinks into animation, comics and merchandise.

InnoCare Swings to Profit on Drug Growth, Licensing Income

InnoCare Pharma, a Chinese biotech focused on cancer and autoimmune diseases, swung to a second-quarter net profit of 137 million yuan (US$19 million) from a loss of 50 million yuan a year earlier, supported by stronger drug sales and licensing income. Revenue jumped 74 percent to 608 million yuan, while drug sales rose about 42 percent to 468 million yuan. For the first half, InnoCare reported profit of 240 million yuan, turning from a year-earlier loss of 36 million yuan a year earlier. Revenue rose 56 percent to 1.1 billion yuan, including a 43 percent gain in drug sales to 918 million yuan. The company recorded 213 million yuan in revenue from collaboration deals, mainly related to milestone payments under its licensing agreement with Zenas BioPharma. Its core BTK inhibitor orelabrutinib remained the company's main commercial product, while newly launched tafasitamab and zurletrectinib began contributing to sales. InnoCare spending on research and development rose nearly 11 percent to 497 million yuan.

Tsingtao Posts Flat Profit Amid Weak Domestic Demand

Tsingtao Brewery, whose namesake brand is the largest selling Chinese beer in the US, said first-half net profit was flat at 4 billion yuan (US$595 million) as revenue declined 4.1 percent to 19.7 billion yuan. Revenue from external customers on the Chinese mainland fell to 19 billion yuan from 20.8 billion yuan, while it grew to 234. 8 million yuan from 229 million yuan overseas. Tsingtao said it sold 4.5 million kiloliters of beer in the six months. Research and development spending rose 18.5 percent. The company, citing a weak consumer market in China, said it upgraded its Classic Series of brews, with White Bear and Light Dry brands showing strong growth. The Qingdao-based company, China's second-largest brewery, was founded in 1930 by German brewers.

Yili Profit Falls on Asset Writedowns

Chinese dairy producer Yili reported a 20 percent decline in first-half net profit as charges for asset impairment weighed on earnings despite signs of recovery in the dairy market. The company posted revenue of 64.3 billion yuan (US$9.6 billion), up 4.1 percent from a year earlier, while net profit fell to 5.8 billion yuan. Yili booked 2.5 billion yuan in asset impairments, including a 1.6-billion-yuan writedown on goodwill related to its infant formula unit Ausnutria Dairy. The company said China's dairy supply-demand balance is improving, with raw milk prices stabilizing after industry capacity cuts. Yili has also strengthened control over milk supplies by increasing its stake in farming company Youran Dairy.

Haier Reports Lower Profit on Weaker Demand, Higher Costs

Qingdao-based household appliance maker Haier Smart Home, the listed arm of the Haier Group, announced first-half net profit dropped 14 percent from a year earlier to 10.3 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) on a 2.8 percent decline in revenue to 152 billion yuan. The company cited weaker domestic consumer demand after China scaled back its subsidy program on old goods traded in for new ones, along with higher costs of raw materials such as copper and aluminum. Overseas sales were strong but the stronger yuan affected their value when converted to the company's books. Haier has been diversifying its brands. In addition to its namesake brand, Haier also markets under the labels Casarte, Leader, GE Appliances, Fisher & Paykel, Aqua, Candy and Evo.