Kuwait set the price of crude oil sold to the Mediterranean region and northwest Europe in January at a discount of $4.90 per barrel.An earthquake of magnitude 4.0 occurred in the waters near the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Japan. According to Japanese media reports, an earthquake of magnitude 4.0 occurred on the morning of the 12th local time in the eastern coastal area of Fukushima Prefecture, Japan, with a focal depth of 50 kilometers. Fukushima Prefecture has a sense of earthquake in many places, including Urachi-CHO, Langjiang-CHO and Yuye-CHO, among which Urachi is the location of Units 1 to 4 of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. (CCTV News)Citigroup slightly lowered South Korea's GDP growth forecast to 1.5% next year. It is expected that the Bank of Korea will cut interest rates next month. Citigroup released a report saying that considering the worse economic sentiment in South Korea this month, it slightly lowered its GDP forecast for this year and next year by 0.1 percentage point to 2.1% and 1.5% respectively. The bank slightly lowered Korea's GDP growth forecast for the last quarter of this year by 0.1 percentage point to rise by 0.3% quarterly, and raised its GDP growth forecast for the first quarter of next year by 0.1 percentage point to rise by 0.6% quarterly. Looking forward to the first quarter of next year, the bank expects South Korea to adopt a combination of expansionary policies, including the Bank of Korea's expected interest rate cut to 2.75% in mid-January, and the government's expected additional budget of 30 trillion won (equivalent to about 1.1% of GDP next year). It is expected that the Bank of Korea will cut interest rates by 25BP each in January, April, July and October next year, and the final interest rate is expected to be 2%.
Bank of New York Mellon: As the impact weakens, the won may rebound to 1,400 won against the US dollar. Bank of New York Mellon said that as the most serious political impact caused by the short-term declaration of martial law begins to ease, the won may recover some of its recent lost ground before the end of the year. As the political risk premium begins to fall, the won may appreciate to 1,400 against the US dollar.Minister of Finance Lan Foan attended and delivered a speech at the launching ceremony of the China-World Bank Group Global Ecosystem and Transformation Center. On December 8, the Ministry of Finance and the World Bank jointly held the launching ceremony of the China-World Bank Group Global Ecosystem and Transformation Center (hereinafter referred to as the Global Center). Lan Foan, Minister of Finance, delivered an opening speech with Peng Anjie, President of the World Bank, and signed a memorandum on the Global Center and an agreement on the renewal of the China-World Bank Group Partnership Fund. Liao Minyi, Vice Minister of Finance, and Philo, Vice President of the East Asia and Pacific Region of the World Bank, made closing remarks. More than 100 Chinese and foreign representatives from more than 20 embassies and international organizations in China, as well as relevant domestic departments and research institutions attended the event. Lan Foan emphasized that in the past decade, the central government has invested nearly 6 trillion yuan to fully guarantee the construction of beautiful China. The "gold content" of China's ecological environment has improved significantly, and the "green content" of its development has increased significantly. At the same time, China has assumed the responsibility of a big country, demonstrated its role as a big country, and achieved a major transformation from a participant to a leader in global environmental governance. China is willing to take the global center as a bridge, share China's experience in ecological protection and development, and embark on the road of green transformation together with other countries.Shanghai Minhang issued 50 opinions to promote high-quality industrial development and strengthen high-quality financial empowerment. The Minhang District People's Government of Shanghai issued the Policy Opinions on High-quality Industrial Development in Minhang District (Trial) on December 12, aiming at improving the basic industrial capacity and the modernization level of industrial chain, accelerating the concentration of various advanced production factors to the development of new-quality productive forces, and promoting the high-quality industrial development in Minhang District. The opinion proposes to strengthen the empowerment of high-quality finance, form a 30 billion yuan "special loan for high-quality development of enterprises in Minhang District", give preferential interest rates to loans, and give subsidies according to a certain proportion of loan interest. Form a credit line of 20 billion yuan "Minhang District Special Loan for Supporting New Infrastructure Construction" to give gradient support to various fixed assets projects.
This year, the amount of M&A transactions involving listed companies in Hong Kong has reached 38 billion US dollars, which has triggered a rare bidding war. This year is expected to be the busiest year for M&A transactions involving listed companies in Hong Kong in the past decade, with industries ranging from skin care products to logistics real estate, and the bidding war has also warmed up. It is reported that China Mobile's bid for Hongkong Broadband may face competition from American private equity firm I Squared Capital. Bi Hua, chairman of Fenmei Packaging, is negotiating with Qihao Capital to jointly counter the privatization offer of Shandong Xinjufeng. The data shows that the scale of M&A transactions for listed companies in Hong Kong has reached $38 billion this year, the highest level since 2017, including the merger of Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities, a smaller competitor, to become the largest brokerage firm in China.South Korea's ruling party has made it a unified position within the party to oppose the "special inspection law for civil strife" and "Jin Jianchit's inspection law". South Korea's ruling National Power Party said that it will make it a unified position within the party to oppose the "special inspection law for civil strife" and "Jin Jianchit's inspection law". (CCTV News)Citigroup: Pinduoduo, which operates retail platform Temu, is likely to continue to face short-term disadvantages. Maintain the neutral rating of ADR in Pinduoduo and set the target price of ADR in Pinduoduo at $125.00. Note: The latest ADR report in Pinduoduo is $103.42.