Daily Buzz: 4 December 2025

Moscow Denies Obstructionism in Peace Talks

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said "it wouldn't be correct" to say that Russian President Vladimir Putin rejected US proposals for peace during talks with US negotiators on Tuesday, batting back at accusations that Russia has no interest in ending the war in Ukraine. Peskov said the five hours of talks found some things acceptable and some not, without elaborating. "This is a normal working process and a search for compromise," he said. At a meeting of NATO foreign ministers on Wednesday, German Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul said he saw "no serious willingness on the Russian side to enter into negotiations." UK Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper called on the Russian president to "end the bluster and bloodshed."

The European Commission proposed on Wednesday using frozen Russian assets or international borrowing to raise 90 billion euros (US$105 billion) to aid Ukraine. Use of frozen assets is still being blocked on legal grounds by Belgium, which holds most of the assets.

French President Starts China Visit

French President Emmanuel Macron arrived in Beijing on Wednesday for his fourth state visit since taking office. He is scheduled to meet Chinese President Xi Jinping and Premier Li Qiang during the three-day stay. The French media said trade relations and the war in Ukraine will be among topics of discussion. Macron will also visit Chengdu, where two giant pandas loaned to France recently were returned for "retirement."

Death Toll in Hong Kong Fire Rises

The death toll in Hong Kong's deadliest fire in 77 years rose to 159 on Wednesday, with 31 people reported still missing. Seven of eight apartment high-rises in a residential complex in Tai Po were scorched in an inferno that took 40 hours to extinguish. Police have arrested 21 people on manslaughter charges, and the city's anti-corruption agency is investing possible graft in the letting of contracts for renovation work at the site. Flammable materials used in the work have been blamed for starting the fire and fanning its rapid spread. Authorities have ordered the removal of all scaffolding mesh from buildings undergoing renovations in the city.

LandSpace Fails to Recover Reusable Rocket

Beijing-based LandSpace, a private Chinese rocket company that launched the world's first methane-liquid oxygen rocket Zhuque-2 two years ago, successfully sent its Zhuque-3 rocket into orbit on Wednesday but efforts to recover the first-stage rocket booster failed after it crashed near the landing site. The company, founded in 2015, said it will continue to "advance the verification and application of reusable rocket technology in future missions." Elon Musk's SpaceX is currently the dominant leader in reusable rockets, which lower cost and turn-around time of rocket launches.

Mystery Disappearance of Flight MH370 Spawns New Search

The lingering mystery of Malaysia Airlines flight MH370 that disappeared in 2014 on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing with 239 people aboard will undergo another attempt to solve it. Malaysia announced a new deep-sea search will begin on December 30. The plane's disappearance, possibly over the Indian Ocean, triggered the largest search in aviation history. Exploration company Ocean Infinity will be leading the new search. Flight MH370 lost contact with air traffic control less than an hour after take-off, and radar showed it had deviated from its original flight path. There were 153 passengers from China on the flight.

Top Business

Commercial Banks Seek to Shore Up Shrinking Margins

Some Chinese commercial lenders, including Industrial and Commercial Bank, and Agricultural Bank of China, have removed five-year, high-yield certificates of deposit from product offerings to cut costs and offset shrinking margins. Instead, the lenders are focusing on shorter-term offerings with lower rates. Net interest margins – the difference between interest income and the amount paid out to depositors – are considered a key indicator of profitability. At the end of the third quarter, those margins remained flat from the prior quarter at 1.4 percent.

UBS Sees Possible Rise in Property Foreclosures

Swiss investment bank UBS said declining home values in China could result in more than 2.4 million foreclosures on apartments held by small businesses by 2027 as a four-year real estate slump continues. Bank sales of foreclosed properties would increase a glut of housing supply and put further pressure on prices, the South China Morning Post reported. Meanwhile, investment bank Morgan Stanley, extrapolating data from the China Real Estate Information Corp, said this week that sales of the top 100 Chinese mainland developers plunged 36 percent in value last month from a year earlier and it sees no sign of a turnaround in the first quarter of 2027.

The Shanghai branch of the Cyberspace Administration of China said it had instructed online platforms including RedNote and Bilibili to remove content deemed to be spreading misleading or alarmist information about the real estate market.

Airbus Finds New Problems in Some A320s

Fresh on the heels of software fixes on 6,000 its A320 jetliners, Airbus said it will inspect hundreds of A320s in service and under production for possible fuselage flaws. The problem, however, is not being treated as an emergency safety concern. The inspections could delay some Airbus deliveries.

Economy & Markets

Jingdong Industrials Announces IPO Goal

Jingdong Industrials, the supply-chain arm of JD.com, said it plans to raise as much as HK$3.21 billion (US$412 million) in an initial public offering in Hong Kong. The technology company said it will offer 211 million shares priced between HK$12.70 and HK$15.50, with final pricing to be announced on December 10. About 10 percent of the share sale will be reserved for the public, with the rest going to institutional investors. Trading is expected to start on December 11. JD Industrials said proceeds from the sale will go toward enhancing its supply chain and expanding business.

Smartphone Shipments Forecast to Slip Next Year

Global smartphone shipments are likely to decline by about 1 percent next year as rising memory chip prices push selling prices to record highs, according to research firm IDC. That would be a reversal from this year, when shipments are forecast to grow 1.5 percent to 1.25 billion units, driven by strong demand for Apple's new iPhone 17 series, especially in its largest market China. Apple said it plans to delay its next series introduction to 2027. IDC said the average price of a smartphone is expected to increase to US$465 next year.

Car Dealerships Pessimistic on December Sales

A mere 8.2 percent of vehicle dealerships in China expect business to be good this month, down from 9.9 percent in November, according to new survey by the China Automobile Dealers Association. Dealerships have been grappling with a drop in customers, a backlog of unsold vehicles and narrowing margins on new car sales. They also face raised sales targets from car manufacturers seeking to boost 2025 numbers.

Central Bank Increases Liquidity

The People's Bank of China said it injected a net 100 billion yuan (US$14.2 billion) of liquidity into the economy last month, using its medium-term lending facility. It also reported that its open market trading of treasury bonds yielded a net injection of 50 billion yuan, and central treasury cash management operations contributed a net 80 billion yuan. The central bank's operations are aimed at underpinning growth.

Corporate

Wanda Buys Back a Mall After Massive Sell-Off

China's Wanda Group has repurchased a Wanda Plaza after selling more than 40 such malls over the past two years, signaling a shift in strategy as the heavily indebted conglomerate seeks to stabilize its core commercial management business. Corporate filings show that Yantai Zhifu Wanda Plaza Co underwent ownership changes on December 2, with two investment firms under New China Life exiting and Shanghai Wanda Ruichi Enterprise Management becoming sole shareholders. The new acquisition marks Wanda's first mall buyback since it began unloading assets to ease liquidity pressure.

Prada, Versace Become One Luxury Retailer

Prada and Versace, two Italian luxury-goods brands that have long competed in the lucrative China market, are now under one umbrella after Prada completed its 1.3 billion euros (US$41.5 billion) acquisition of Versace from US-based Capri Holdings. Lorenzo Bertelli, great-grandson of founder Mario Prada and now executive chairman of the merged company, said the deal had been in the works for several years.

Paris-based Etam Quitting China Market

French apparel maker Etam said it is leaving the China market after 31 years, ceasing sales on Tmall, Douyin, RedNote and other online platforms. In 1995, the Etam Group had up to 3,400 points of sales in China, mainly in shopping malls. It sold the ready-to-wear business to a Hong Kong investor in 2018.

Jotun to Build Coatings Factory in Suzhou

Norway's Jotun, a paint and coatings company, said it will invest US$330 million in a new coatings factory in Suzhou. The plant is said to aim for annual production valued at US$1.4 billion.

Caocao Chuxing Links with Robotics Firm

Geely-backed ride-hailing platform Caocao Chuxing signed a deal with Shenzhen-based Dobot to expand the application robot technologies in robotaxis. Details of the agreement weren't disclosed.