Stock markets struggling to keep up with rising oil prices and bond yields

The new mayor won by a single vote after a former Liberal councillor voted to support him.

President Xi Jinping has ordered China’s security and legal apparatus to relentlessly eliminate risks and build a “safer” country a year ahead of the pivotal 21st Communist Party congress, which will usher in a major leadership reshuffle. The latest instruction, published by state news agency Xinhua on Monday night, is also the Chinese leader’s first major domestic directive since his state visit to Washington last week, signalling a pivot back to the domestic agenda – especially stability. In a...

Stronger-than-expected global demand for artificial intelligence-related products has prompted the Trade Development Council to sharply raise its full-year forecast for Hong Kong export growth in 2026 to as much as 47 per cent. The latest revision follows the council in June raising its midyear forecast to 20 per cent growth, from an earlier estimate of 8 to 9 per cent. Its latest survey of the city’s major exporters also found that their business confidence and market expectations had remained...

SpaceX on Monday sent its Starship out to orbit for the first time, with the company looking for the craft to achieve six laps around the Earth in order to show off its capability for the NASA Artemis program, according to The Associated Press. SpaceX said everything needs to go as planned for Starship before...

SpaceX on Monday sent its Starship out to orbit for the first time, with the company looking for the craft to achieve six laps around the Earth in order to show off its capability for the NASA Artemis program, according to The Associated Press. SpaceX said everything needs to go as planned for Starship before...

Hong Kong’s checkpoints are expected to handle about 7.44 million passenger trips over mainland China’s National Day “golden week” break, while people movements are anticipated to peak this weekend. The Immigration Department said on Monday that the figure would include inbound and outbound trips by Hongkongers and visitors travelling via the city’s sea, land and air control points between October 1 and 7. The department also said it anticipated that the most popular control points would be...

Average wages including allowances in Hong Kong rose by 3.4 per cent year on year in June, with the government forecasting further pay rises ahead on the back of sustained economic expansion and labour demand. Figures released on Monday by the Census and Statistics Department showed that the 3.4 per cent nominal wage rate rise was broad based across all surveyed industries. After adjusting for inflation using the consumer price index (A), the overall real wage rate grew by 1.6 per cent in June...

At least 21 flights connecting Hong Kong and Bangkok were disrupted on Sunday and Monday, with passengers on one service leaving the Thai capital facing a nearly 24-hour delay after the Southeast Asian city was hit by its worst flood in 15 years. Heavy rainfall lashed Bangkok – a top travel destination for Hongkongers – between Thursday and Monday, prompting Thai officials to declare the city a disaster zone. Despite the flight disruptions, Hongkongers in the Thai capital said the central...

In a first, a Chinese company has achieved high-parameter hydrogen-boron plasma control, marking a “significant and valuable” advance in research into neutron-free magnetic confinement fusion. ENN Group, based in Langfang, Hebei province, announced on Monday that its EXL-50U spherical device – a compact tokamak that uses a magnetic field to confine charged gas, or plasma, for nuclear fusion research – had successfully achieved hydrogen-boron fusion reactions. “This marks the first time a...

Starting Oct. 1, new eligibility rules and updated benefit amounts will take effect for the estimated 37 million Americans receiving SNAP assistance.

The U.S. and Chinese governments each unveiled $30 billion worth of products subject to lower tariffs, after President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping met last week in Washington, according to the White House. Chinese products subject to lower tariffs under the new “30-by-30” framework include fireworks, kitchenware, flashlights, baseballs and softballs and fishhooks, as...

Hong Kong authorities have launched a one-month consultation on proposed reforms of arbitration laws, as part of efforts to enhance the city’s competitiveness as an international dispute resolution hub and advance an objective laid out in its first local five-year plan. The Department of Justice said on Monday that the one-month stakeholder consultation on amendments to the Arbitration Ordinance, which governs the use of the alternative dispute resolution mechanism, would cover four key areas to...