[Today's headlines]

Four departments: three-star and above tourist hotels, 5A and 4A scenic spots, etc. must achieve full coverage of domestic and foreign bank card acceptance

The People's Bank of China, the Ministry of Culture and Tourism, the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, and the State Administration of Cultural Heritage jointly issued the “Notice on Further Optimizing Payment Services at Key Cultural Tourism Places to Improve Payment Convenience”. The “Notice” clearly states that three-star and above tourist hotels, national 5A and 4A tourist attractions, national and provincial tourist resorts, and national tourist and leisure districts must achieve full coverage of domestic and foreign bank card acceptance. Relevant business entities of key cultural tourism venues should maintain manual ticketing windows, support cash payments, and guarantee consumers' payment options. Actively promote the establishment of foreign currency exchange business outlets in cultural tourism places with a large number of foreign visitors to China, and improve the level of foreign currency exchange services. Continue to improve mobile payment services, optimize business processes, enrich product functions, and facilitate mobile payments in online and offline scenarios in cultural tourism venues. It involves the Hong Kong Stock Travel and Hospitality sector.

[General outlook]

Federal Reserve Bostic: Interest rate cuts may need to be further delayed

Overnight, the US stock Dow fell 8.86 points, or 0.02%, to 38883.94 points; the NASDAQ rose 52.68 points, or 0.32%, to 16306.64 points; and the S&P 500 rose 7.54 points, or 0.14%, to 5209.93 points. Tesla (TSLA.US) rose more than 2%, Nvidia (NVDA.US) fell more than 2%, and Boeing (BA.US) fell nearly 2%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index initially closed up 1.6%.

China Securities Minion Electric initially closed up about 26%; Xiaopeng Motor rose 9.3%; NIO Auto rose 7.8%; Station B, Artes Solar, and Jingke Energy rose at least 7.6%; Daxin Energy rose 3.9%; NetEase rose 3.7%; and JD rose 2.9%. The Hong Kong stock ADR index rose. On a proportional basis, it closed at 16,803 points, up 78.22 points, or 0.47%, from the Hong Kong closing price.

COMEX gold futures closed up 0.89% to $2,372 per ounce, while COMEX silver futures closed up 1.7% to $28.28 per ounce. Federal Reserve Bostic said that interest rate cuts may need to be further delayed; if the rate of decline in inflation resumes, interest rate cuts may be carried out early.

[Hot preview]

Seven departments including the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the “Implementation Plan to Promote Equipment Renewal in the Industrial Field”

It is proposed that by 2027, the scale of equipment investment in the industrial sector will increase by more than 25% compared to 2023. The penetration rate of digital R&D and design tools and the numerical control rate of key processes of industrial enterprises above scale will exceed 90% and 75% respectively. Major industrial provinces, cities and key parks will cover the full digital transformation of industrial enterprises. Production capacity below the energy efficiency benchmark level in key industries will basically withdraw, energy efficiency of major energy equipment will basically reach the energy saving level, and the intrinsic safety level will improve markedly. The promotion and application of innovative products will accelerate, and the proportion of advanced production capacity continues to increase.

Passenger Federation: Wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 810,000 units in March, up 31.1% year-on-year

According to data from the Passenger Federation, wholesale sales of new energy passenger vehicles reached 810,000 units in March, up 31.1% year on year and 81.3% month on month. In March, the NEV market retailed 709,000 vehicles, up 29.5% year on year and 82.5% month on month. In March, 120,000 new energy vehicles were exported, up 70.9% year on year and 52.8% month on month.

The US expects the global oil market to face a small supply gap this year

The US continues to expect a slight shortage of global oil supply in 2024, which reinforces expectations of tightening markets. The US Energy Information Administration raised the global demand estimate by 480,000 b/d to 102.91 million b/d, which is basically in line with the International Energy Agency's forecast of 103.2 million b/d. This forecast comes as the world's largest oil traders are increasingly optimistic about the market outlook for the second half of this year. Brent crude, the international benchmark, is close to $90 per barrel. Geopolitical tensions have intensified bullish sentiment, demand has rapidly exceeded expectations, and OPEC+ production cuts have limited global inventories.

2024 Shanghai Old Car “Trade-In” Subsidy Implementation Rules Released

The reporter learned from the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Commerce that on April 9, Shanghai issued a notice on the “2024 Shanghai Old Vehicle “Trade-In” Subsidy Implementation Rules. The notice clearly states that in order to implement the “Action Plan to Promote Large-scale Equipment Renewal and Consumer Goods Trade-In” and promote the renewal and consumption of SAIC cars, this rule will be formulated in line with the actual situation in Shanghai. The implementation rules are clear. From January 1, 2024 to December 31, 2024, when individual users buy new fuel minibuses with national 6b emission standards, and within the specified period, scrap or transfer non-commercial fuel minibuses with emission standards 5 or below registered in Shanghai under their own name. Shanghai will give individual users a one-time car purchase subsidy of 2,800 yuan. Eligible individual users can submit relevant information through designated platforms such as the “Shanghai Business” WeChat account, apply for car purchase subsidies to the Municipal Commission of Commerce, and sign the “Subsidy Application Commitment”.

Hong Kong subsidiary of public funds accelerates deployment of Bitcoin ETFs

The Hong Kong subsidiary of the public fund is speeding up the deployment of Bitcoin ETFs. Once the spot Bitcoin ETF listing transaction is approved, institutions and retail investors can invest in Bitcoin without directly holding Bitcoin. On December 22, 2023, the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission issued the “Circular on Investment in Virtual Assets by Funds Approved by the Securities Regulatory Commission”, which clearly states that it is ready to accept applications for approval of virtual asset spot ETFs. All major Hong Kong institutions have taken active action and will land in the second quarter of 2024 as soon as possible. Harvest International was the first agency to submit a Bitcoin spot ETF application to the Hong Kong Securities Regulatory Commission, and the Hong Kong subsidiary of China Southern Fund also submitted an application; in addition, the Hong Kong subsidiary of Huaxia Fund and HashKey Exchange, the first batch of Hong Kong virtual asset exchanges to obtain virtual asset licenses such as Bitcoin, have reached a strategic cooperation to advance the layout of Bitcoin ETFs.

A number of Chinese brokerage firms announced “interest rate cuts”

Recently, brokerage firms, including Bohai Securities, Dongguan Securities, Aijian Securities, and Open Source Securities, announced that they will adjust the annual interest rate for customer margin demand deposits to 0.2% starting in March or April. According to reports, due to market interest rates, brokerage firms have “cut interest rates” several times in the past two years, from higher interest rates to 0.25% and then to 0.2%. “Interest rate cuts by brokerage firms have little impact on individual investors, but they have had a certain impact on brokerage firms themselves.” Industry insiders say that some brokerage clients' security deposits are huge, some as high as tens of billions of yuan. “Interest rate cuts” can guarantee brokers' margin differential income. According to the 2023 annual reports of some brokerage firms, income such as margin spreads accounted for 5% of revenue.

The world's first 300 megawatt compressed energy storage power plant is connected to the grid to generate electricity

According to China Energy Construction Official WeChat, on April 9, the world's first 300 MW compressed energy storage power plant, the Hubei Yingcheng 300 MW compressed energy storage power plant demonstration project, was successfully connected to the grid for the first time, setting 3 world records for stand-alone power, energy storage scale, and conversion efficiency. It involves the Hong Kong stock China Energy Construction (03996).

Asian LNG purchases are heating up, European gas prices are close to the highest point in two weeks

The Zhitong Finance App learned that European gas prices fluctuated to close to the highest price level in two weeks on Tuesday. There are signs that liquefied natural gas (LNG) carriers carrying LNG as a clean fuel seem to prefer other markets, such as the Asian market where demand for LNG is stronger. European gas benchmark price - TTF benchmark The price of natural gas futures in recent months fluctuated between a slight rise and fall on Tuesday. As of press release, it had risen 0.849% to 28.145 euros per megawatt hour. The increase in British gas futures prices was almost in line with TTF natural gas.

[Individual stocks are a bit clear]

COFCO Jiajiakang (01610): The number of pigs released in March was 257,000, an increase of 25.98% over the previous month

According to the Zhitong Finance App, COFCO Jiajiakang (01610) announced that in March 2024, the number of pigs released was 257,000, an increase of 25.98% over the previous month; the average sales price of large commercial pigs was 14.65 yuan/kg, fresh pork sales volume was 205,000 tons, and the brand revenue in the fresh pork business accounted for 25.37%.

According to the latest monitoring data from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs, in the first week of April, the national pork price was 25.22 yuan per kilogram, up 0.2% from the previous month. It has been rising for 3 consecutive weeks.

The company released 5.2 million pigs in 2023, slightly exceeding the target at the beginning of the year. By the end of 2023, the company's breeding capacity was 6.17 million heads. The company's high-end flaxseed pork performed well. On the basis of a year-on-year increase of more than 100% in 2022, sales growth of about 47% was achieved in 2023. The company is currently continuing to develop products such as dumplings and pearl meatballs using flaxseed pork as raw materials, and hopes to better meet high-end consumer demand in the future.