Daily Buzz: 8 May 2026

Top News

US, Iran Trade Fire in Hormuz Strait, Oil Prices Climb Again

Iran and the US exchanged fire around the Strait of Hormuz late Thursday, with each side blaming the other for starting the attacks. The US Central Command issued a statement saying its forces "intercepted unprovoked Iranian attacks and responded with self-defense strikes" as three US Navy guided-missile destroyers transited the strait. Iranian state media accused the US of violating its ceasefire with Iran by targeting an Iranian oil tanker and another ship entering the waterway.

The world is awaiting an Iranian response to the latest US peace proposal, which calls for reopening the strait that normally carries a fifth of the world's oil. Tehran announced a new regime of tolls for vessels seeking to transit the strait. It said shippers failing to comply with protocols set by new Persian Gulf Strait Authority would risk attack.

Vincent Clerc, chief executive of Danish shipping giant Maersk, told the BBC that increased transport costs driven by the conflict in Iran or by new tolls after the war ends would inevitably be passed on to global consumers. Maersk is the world's second-largest shipping concern. Since the war with Iran began, oil prices have soared as high as US$120 a barrel before easing. On news of a fresh outbreak of hostilities, global benchmark Brent crude futures closed at US$100.06 in New York after earlier dropping to as low as US$96.

Chinese Premier Meets US Senate Delegation

Chinese Premier Li Qiang told a visiting US congressional delegation in Beijing on Thursday that China is willing to work with the US to improve bilateral relations and stressed "mutual respect, pracrful co-existence and win-win through collaboration." He said the stability of relations affects the stability of the global landscape. Republican Senator Steve Daines, leading the first Senate delegation to China since the start of the second Trump administration, acknowledged China's diplomatic role in trying to end the Middle East conflict and said of often testy bilateral relations, "We want to de-escalate, not decouple." Before heading to Beijing, the delegation visited Shanghai, a week before a scheduled two-day visit to China by US President Donald Trump. China has not officially confirmed the trip.

US Court Strikes Down Newest Trump Tariffs

A US federal court ruled on Thursday that President Donald Trump can't impose 10 percent temporary global tariffs on imports levied after earlier tariffs were struck down by the Supreme Court. The administration is expected to appeal the ruling. The 10 percent tariffs were levied under a different authorization to circumvent the Supreme Court ruling. The latest court decision applies narrowing to only the three plaintiffs in the suit: the state of Washington, spice company Burlap & Barrel and toy firm Basic Fun.

Top Business

DeepSeek Eyes US$45 Billion Valuation

Chinese AI startup DeepSeek is in talks for its first external fundraising round, with the state-backed National Integrated Circuit Industry Investment Fund expected to lead a fundraising that could value the company at about US$45 billion, local media reported. That valuation would make the company among the most capitalized AI startups in the world.

According to Shanghai Securities News, several Chinese tech giants and other state-backed investment funds are participating in pre-round discussions. Alibaba and Tencent are reportedly among interested investors. DeepSeek has become one of China's fastest-growing AI companies through its open-source large language models, including DeepSeek-V3 and DeepSeek-R1. The company burst onto the AI scene in late 2024 with a chatbot much cheaper to develop and operate than comparable Western models. The application is reportedly the fastest to surpass 30 million daily active users and once ranked No.1 in app stores across 140 countries.

Founder and Chief Executive Liang Wenfeng, who controls Deep Seek through his hedge fund High Flyer, is seeking external funding to cope with the surging costs of AI development. Analysts said fresh capital would help the company expand computing capacity, support model training and retain top AI talent as it competes with firms like ByteDance, Alibaba and OpenAI.

McDonald's to Expand in China, Bucking a Trend

McDonald's said it plans to increase its chain of fast-food outlets in China even as some international consumer brands are reducing their presence in China amid fierce domestic competition. The US-based company said it plans to open 1,000 new outlets in China this year and raise the number of stores in China to 10,000 stores by 2028, up from about 7,700 at the end of 2025. A majority of McDonald's China business is owned by Chinese investor Trustar, a private equity unit of Citic Capital. McDonald's on Thursday reported global net profit in the first quarter rose 6 percent to almost US$2 billion on a 9 percent increase in sales to US$6.5 billion. It didn't break out individual country earnings.

Chinese Airlines Hold Fuel Surcharges Steady This Month

Chinese airlines aren't raising fuel surcharges on domestic routes this month after steep rises in April, Yicai reported. However, some international flights have been suspended to cope with high global fuel costs triggered by the Iran war. Government price controls are keeping a lid on domestic jet fuel procurement costs. On March 30, China Petroleum & Chemical (Sinopec) announced it would double the price of jet fuel for April, but the refiner didn't adjust prices this month. International fares are most affected for now. China's Spring Airlines said it's raising fuel charges for flights departing from South Korea, and airlines in Japan and South Korea have also lifted fuel surcharges. The global cost of jet fuel has surged over 50 percent from prewar levels.

Metis TechBio, Impact Therapeutics Tap HK Market for Funds

A Hangzhou-based biotech company and Shanghai cancer drug developer began selling shares in initial public offerings in Hong Kong, as advanced healthcare firms increasing join technology companies in tapping the world's dominant global market for IPOs. Metis TechBio, which uses artificial intelligence for drug delivery and discovery, is seeking to raise HK$2.1 billion (US$268 million) in an offering of 201.2 million shares. The shares ae set to begin trading on May 13. The company said it plans to proceeds from the IPO to fund research and development and clinical trials of products its pipeline.

Impact Therapeutics is seeking to raise up to HK$913 million from the sale of 42 million shares. The cancer-drug developer said it plans to use the proceeds for clinical development and product marketing. Its shares are also expected to start trading on May 13.

Economy & Markets

Shanghai Existing Home Sales Rise to 10-Year High

Existing home sales in Shanghai last month hit a 10-year high for April as urban China continues to lead a slow property market recovery. In 20 major cities across China, sales of existing stock climbed about 13 percent to around 150,000 homes, but per-square-meter prices fell 8.3 percent, Yicai reported, citing the China Index Academy. In Shanghai, sales rose 22 percent to 28,74 units. Beijing sales rose 15 percent to a five-year April high. Guangzhou sales rose but Shenzhen's dropped last month. China's property market has been in a slump since developer defaults that began in 2021.

Infinigence Raises Over US$110 Million in New Funding

Chinese AI infrastructure startup Infinigence AI said it has secured more than 700 million yuan (US$110 million) in a fresh round of funding jointly led by Hangzhou High-Tech Financial Investment Group and Grand Mount Capital. The company focuses on AI-native infrastructure and large-model services. By the end of April, its MaaS agent platform supported more than 160 AI models, while average daily token usage surged more than 20-fold from the end of lastj year. The funding comes as competition in China's AI sector intensifies, with companies racing to build computing infrastructure and expand cloud-based services. Investors are increasingly targeting firms that provide underlying AI tools and platforms rather than focusing only on consumer-facing chatbot applications. Infinigence said the new capital will be used to strengthen computing resources, improve model deployment efficiency and expand its AI service ecosystem. The company did not disclose its latest valuation.

China Drains Some Liquidity From Banking System

China's central bank drained funds from the banking system in May for the third straight month, but analysts said the move is simply to smooth out liquidity and doesn't signal a retreat from "moderately loose" monetary policy. On Thursday, the People's Bank of China conducted a 300 billion yuan (US$44 billion), three-month outright reverse repo operation. With 800 billion yuan maturing this month, the operation amounted to a net withdrawal of 500 billion from the banking system.

Corporate

Solar Panel Industry Losses Continue in Q1

Tongwei, Longi Green Energy and 20 other companies in China's solar panel industry reported combined losses of 10.5 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) in the first quarter amid continuing overcapacity and lower prices, an Yicai analysis of earnings show. For Tongwei, Longi and TCL Zhonghuan, it was their 10th straight quarter of losses. Tongwei posted a loss of 2.4 billion yuan, Longi had a loss of 1.9 billion yuan and TCL Zhonghuan was in the red by 1.6 billion yuan. The losses are largely down to a sharp decline in upstream prices, with some silicon wafer models down by a fourth. China has been trying to reduce market oversupply but progress has been slow.

New Shanghai-Based Rocket Launch Company Set Up

Guosheng Group, Spacecom Satellite Technology and three other state-owned Chinese companies have formed a new offshore rocket-launching company in Shanghai. Called Commercial Aerospace Sea Launch Technology, the company said its activities will span rocket manufacturing, satellite networking, offshore engineering, industrial parks and capital operations, Yicai reported. The other three founders are China Aerospace Science & Technology Commercial Launch Vehicle Group, China Offshore Engineering & Technology, and Xinzhuang Industrial Zone Economic & Technological Development. Shanghai is trying to build itself into a national hub for the commercial aerospace industry.

Geely-Controlled Polestar Reports Wider Loss

Swedish electric carmaker Polestar, majority owned by Chinese automaker Geely, reported its loss in the first quarter widened to US$383 million from US$166 million a year earlier on pricing pressure and US tariffs, Reuters reported. Revenue was mostly flat at US$633 million. Polestar has been burning through cash to expand its vehicle line-up. In recent months, it has ​secured loans and equity funding from Geely and banks.

BeOne Posts 22-Fold Surge in Q1 Profit

BeOne Medicines, a Sino-US company involved in developing cancer therapies and formerly known as BeiGene, reported first-quarter net income surged 22-fold to US$227.4 million on a 35 percent increase in revenue to US$1.5 billion. Global sales of its leading Brukinsa drug to treat various lymphomas surged 38 percent to US$1.1 billion. Spending on research and development rose 12 percent to US$541.2 billion. The company, founded in Beijing in 2010, forecasts 2026 revenue of up to US$6.5 billion and net as high as US$850 million. BeOne has headquarters in the US, Beijing and Switzerland.

Hec Tech Unit Signs US$2.8 Billion Contract

China's Hec Technology said its new AI computing power unit signed a deal valued at up to 19 billion yuan (US$2.8 billion) with a client who wasn't identified. The subsidiary, Hec Cloud Computing Technology, will provide high-performance servers over five years under the contract.

TikTok Expansion Headlines New Thai Investment Projects

A big expansion by ByteDance's TikTok platform underpinned six projects valued at 958 billion baht (US$30 billion) by Thailand's Board of Investment. TikTok plans to invest 842 billion baht in installation of additional servers and expanded data-processing infrastructure.