Top News
China Passenger Car Sales Decline for 13th Straight Month
China's passenger vehicle sales in October declined for the 13th consecutive month, with new energy vehicles capturing a record 67.5 percent of the domestic auto market and exports surging. Retail car sales plunged 27 percent to 1.7 million units last month from a year earlier, according to the China Passenger Car Association. Sales of gasoline-powered vehicles fell 45 percent, and new energy sales fell 14 percent to 1.1 million units. Auto exports surged 69 percent, with electric cars comprising 63 percent of all car exports. In the first 10 months of the year, retail car sales slumped 23 percent, new energy vehicles were down 13 percent and exports soared 74 percent.
Separately, Ola Kaellenius, chief executive of Mercedes-Benz, told a Berlin industry conference that a decline in China's automotive market has been greater than feared at the start of the year. "It's not zero," he said, "but it's definitely less than it was 20 years ago." He cited a 30 percent decline in the luxury segment. Meanwhile, Volkswagen's electric-vehicle Anhui joint venture in China isn't planning any new models releases for 2027 or 2028, Reuters reported, after the German carmaker banked on far greater demand for its ID. UNYX series than what has materialized.
Trilateral Talks on Ending War in Ukraine Produce No Breakthrough
Trilateral talks between representatives of the US, Russia and Ukraine in Abu Dhabi ended after two days failed to produce any breakthrough to end the nearly five-year war. US envoys Jared Kushner Steve Witkoff are traveling to Moscow to brief Russian President Vladimir Putin on the talks, with Kushner saying there are "some openings." The pair will then travel to Dublin to hold talks with Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. The Abu Dhabi talks did produce another prisoner exchange, but larger sticking points like territorial control remain unresolved. Russia continues to demand that Ukraine cede large swaths of territory in the east of the country, and Ukraine is seeking security guarantees against future Russian aggression.
China Launches Science Satellite Aboard Long March Rocket
China launched the Tanluzhe-1 science satellite on Wednesday aboard a Long March 2 rocket. It was the 677th mission for the Long March rocket family, according to a CCTV report. The satellite was built by the Innovation Academy for Microsatellites under the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Stunning Upset Gives Democrats Another US Senate Seat
Late returns from US midterm elections delivered one of the most stunning political upsets, with Scott Colom becoming the first black senator in Mississippi since the Reconstruction era following the US Civil War in the 1860s. Colom defeated Republican incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith in what was considered such a Republican stronghold that the national Democratic Party funneled few funds to Colom's campaign. His victory brings to 55 the seats Democrat will control in the 100-member Senate, with only a tightly contested race in Alaska yet to be called.
Top Business
Memory Chip Prices Likely to Rise Through 2028, TrendForce Says
Memory chip prices, which have been soaring on AI demand, could continue rising through 2027, according to TrendForce analyst Avril Wu. Speaking at a Bank of America-hosted event, Wu forecast prices for dynamic random-access memory and high-bandwidth memory in the current quarter will increase 10 percent to 20 percent from the prior three months. NAND flash prices could rise up to 13 percent. She also predicted expects high-bandwidth memory could more than double in 2027. Bank of America shares her broadly bullish outlook on prices but expects more modest increases. The bank warned that a price correction could begin as early as the first quarter of 2027. Higher chip prices not only raise the cost of AI buildout but also affect a broad range of industries, including consumer electronics, robotic, and telecommunications.
Cathay Pacific Air Orders 14 Airbus Jetliners
Hong Kong flagship carrier Cathay Pacific Airways has ordered 14 additional Airbus aircraft, comprising 11 A330-900s and three A321neos, as part of an ongoing upgrade in its fleet. The value of the order at list prices is about US$5 billion, though the actual transaction price is traditionally lower due to confidential price concessions. The deal brings the carrier's total deliveries from 2026 onward to 120 aircraft and pushes its investment over the next decade past US$19 billion. Deliveries of the newest aircraft are scheduled between 2031 and 2035.
ByteDance Poised to Release AI Agent to Rival Meta Muse
China's ByteDance plans to launch an AI assistant positioned to rival Meta's Muse within the coming weeks, co-founder Zhang Yiming told a team meeting. He said, however, that the company will not catch up with top US AI labs such as Anthropic and OpenAI until 2029 or 2030, though the company plans to invest up to US$70 billion to narrow the gap. He noted that the pre-training datasets for the Seed series of large language models remain several orders of magnitude smaller than those of US competitors. ByteDance's advantage is concentrated in video generation, where Seedance has already been commercialized.
Honda Profit Tumbles, Automaker Raises Full-Year Forecast
Honda Motor, Japan's second-largest automaker, reported net profit in its fiscal second quarter ended September 30 plummeted 43 percent from a year earlier to 658 billion yen (US$414 million), on a 13 percent increase in revenue to 12 trillion yen. Operating profit fell 39 percent to 118 billion yen. The company's revenue gain was underpinned by robust demand for its hybrid vehicles in the US and the weaker yen, which made exports cheaper. Honda's booked a 485-billion-yen writedown on electric-vehicle restructuring and costs.
The company, which has Chinese joint ventures with Guangzhou Automobile and Dongfeng Motor, cut its full-year global vehicle sales forecast by 7 percent to 3.2 million units, in part on shrinking sales in China. However, it raised its full-year operating profit forecast 20 percent to 780 billion yen.
Separately, Nissan Motor reported a net loss of 43 billion yen for the same period, falling short of market forecasts. The Japanese automaker maintained its full-year operating profit forecast of 200 billion yen.
Economy & Markets
China Stocks Rally, ChiNext Jumps 3.1 Percent
Chinese stocks closed higher on Wednesday, led by technology shares. The Shanghai Composite Index rose 0.46 percent, the Shenzhen Component Index gained 1.3 percent, and the tech-heavy ChiNext Index jumped 3.1 percent. Electronic components, communications equipment and co-packaged optics stocks were among the strongest performers. By contrast, liquor makers, airport and shipping companies, and dairy producers lagged the broader market.
The rally didn't extend to Hong Kong, where the benchmark Hang Seng Index fell nearly 1 percent on broad weakness in Chinese tech and electric vehicle shares. BYD declined 3.8 percent, Li Auto fell 3.4 percent, and XPeng, Leapmotor and Nio all lost about 3 percent. In the tech space, Semiconductor Manufacturing International rose 3.7 percent, but Alibaba dropped 1 percent, Tencent lost nearly 2 percent and NetEase retreated 3.4 percent.
Overnight on Wall Street, the tech-heavy Nasdaq rose 1.6 percent after cloud provider CoreWeave shares surged 25 percent following earnings results that assuaged market concerns about the high yields on its debt. Chief Executive Michael Intrator said he is dropping his earlier stock-sale plans. Investors were also buoyed by AI lab Anthropic's IPO details that could value the company at as much at US$1.4 trillion. Analysts, however, said it's too early to declare the recent tech selloff over.
China Collects Nearly US$24 Billion in Offshore Trust Tax Crackdown
China's tax authorities wrapped up a major tax compliance drive targeting offshore trusts, with high-net-worth individuals lined up to settle their bills. Cumulative personal income tax declared from offshore trust earnings reached 160 billion yuan (US$24 billion) during a 90-day, no-penalty compliance window. The surge propelled China's individual income tax revenue in October up nearly 90 percent from a year earlier.
US Container Ports Post Record Cargo Handling on Chinese Imports
US container ports reported record import volume in October, driven in large part by a surge in cargo from China, supply chain technology provider Descartes Systems said on Wednesday. Ports processed 2.7 million 20-foot equivalent units of import cargo, a 16 percent rise from the year earlier. Import volume from China spiked 23 percent, its highest level since January 2025.
Beijing Quant Fund Reprimanded Over Internal Trades
Beijing-based Tiansuan Quantitative Capital Management, a private Chinese computer-trading fund whose assets under management once topped 10 billion yuan (US$1.5 billion) has been reprimanded by the Shanghai Futures Exchange and an employee fined. The exchange said employee, identified as Du Jian, used a personal account to trade silver options against one of the firm's own fund accounts. The exchange said the trades were executed last February. Du was fined 10,000 yuan and suspended from trading at the firm.
Corporate
Hesai Technology Posts Profit Drop, Revenue Rise
Hesai Technology, which makes LiDAR products such as sensors for vehicles and robots, reported third-quarter net profit fell 69 percent to 81 million yuan (US$12 million), reflecting a year-earlier one-time gain on disposal of an equity investment and transfer of intellectual property. Revenue rose 34 percent to 1.1 billion yuan, and gross margin was 41 percent. LiDAR shipments in the quarter rose 65 percent to 729,700 units. LiDAR, shorthand for "light detection and ranging," is advanced sensor technology used largely in advanced driver-assisted vehicles. The company held 43 percent of China's vehicle LiDAR market in September.
China Shipbuilding Announces US$2.6 Billion Contracts
China Shipbuilding Industry announced the signing of construction contracts for 20 very large crude oil carriers with units of Cosco Shipping, valued at about 17 billion yuan (US$2.6 billion), with deliveries scheduled from 2029 to 2030. The vessels will deploy self-developed next-generation design with dual methanol and liquefied natural gas powering.
Japan Retailer Muji to Open Shanghai Flagship Complex
Japanese lifestyle retailer Muji signed an agreement with Huaihai Group to open a "world" flagship store in Shanghai. The multi-format complex will integrate retail, dining and hospitality, including a hotel. The development highlights the retailer's commitment to deepen its footprint in the Chinese market, where it was operating 433 stores as of August.
Auto Tech Firm NavInfo Pivots Into Mobile AI Agents
China's auto intelligence firm NavInfo, traditionally known for high-definition mapping, smart cockpits, auto-grade chips and autonomous driving technology, is expanding into the realm of AI mobile agents. The new focus centers will be on large model data, global data infrastructure and data trading. The strategy reflects industry reality. Price wars are squeezing profit margins across the electric vehicle and automotive tech sectors. "When automakers aren't making profits, we need to expand into other business areas," NavInfo Chief Executive Cheng Peng said.
JD Technology Splits Into Two Business Segments
JD Technology has formally split into two business segments: cloud technology and fintech. The move is aimed at clarifying the direction of the two businesses. JD Cloud will serve as the group's core platform for providing technology services to external clients, with continued increased investment in core technologies such as artificial intelligence and cloud computing. The fintech segment will focus on digital financial services, drawing on capabilities in consumer finance, digital payments wealth management and corporate finance.
Ace Robotics Brings Dual-Brain AI to Hotel Laundries
Shanghai-based Ace Robotics has started deploying autonomous robots on laundry duties in hotels as the industry increasingly turns to everyday applications. The robots collect laundry bags from guest rooms, navigate hallways, load washing machines, transfer clothes to dryers, basket them and deliver them back to guests. The job sequence requires an unprecedented combination of spatial intelligence, physical dexterity and multi-step task execution.
Lenovo to Build Hybrid Token Factory
China's Lenovo, the world's largest personal computer maker, rolled out plans for a hybrid token factory in Zhangjiakou, a city bordering Beijing. The initial phase will include a 15,000-petaflop heterogeneous computing cluster and a roughly 100-megawatt smart computing center, with annual token output exceeding two quadrillion tokens. Its peak token output during initial operation will likely top 200 million tokens per second. Unlike traditional data centers, which focus largely on rack count and computing scale, token factories track token output, generation speed, and comprehensive costs as operational metrics. The business model remains in an exploratory stage
Editor: Wang Xiang
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Nov 11, 2026
