🌹October 20 News Highlights
1. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China Fourth Plenary Session will be held in Beijing from October 20 to 23. Main agenda: report work, study suggestions on formulating the 15th Five-Year Plan for national economic and social development. The meeting will analyze and study the current economic situation and deploy economic work for the second half of the year.
2. On October 18 at Beijing time, the Chinese side's principal leader in China-U.S. economic and trade relations, Vice Premier, held a video call with the U.S. principal leaders, Treasury Secretary Yellen and Trade Representative Tai. The two sides had candid, in-depth, and constructive exchanges on important issues in the bilateral economic and trade relationship, agreeing to hold a new round of China-U.S. economic and trade consultations as soon as possible.
3. To consolidate and expand the positive momentum of economic recovery, the Ministry of Finance announced two measures: Recently, the central finance arranged 500 billion yuan from local government debt limits to be allocated to local governments, an increase of 100 billion yuan compared to last year, and the scope of support has also been expanded; at the same time, the Ministry of Finance clarified that this year, it will advance the issuance of the new local government debt limits for 2026.
4. The Securities Regulatory Commission recently announced the (Corporate Governance Standards for Listed Companies), which will take effect from January 1, 2026. The (Corporate Governance Standards for Listed Companies) points out that it regulates the behavior of controlling shareholders and actual controllers. It strictly restricts peer competition that may have a significant adverse impact on listed companies, enhances disclosure requirements for non-significant adverse impact peer competition, increases transparency, and further improves the board of directors' requirements for identifying and reviewing related transactions.
5. After a period of silence, recently, small and medium-sized banks have entered a new round of interest rate cuts. According to statistics, since October, a number of small and medium-sized banks have intensively reduced or are preparing to reduce deposit interest rates. Looking ahead, the industry tends to believe that there will be another 'window' for reserve requirement ratio cuts and interest rate reductions within the year. Wang Qing, chief macro analyst at Dongfang Jincheng, expects that the central bank may implement a new round of interest rate and reserve requirement ratio cuts in the fourth quarter, which will drive the LPR quotation to follow suit. Citic Securities' research report also believes that there may be a 10 basis point interest rate cut in the fourth quarter.
6. The Ministry of Finance and three other departments announced the following regarding adjustments to the value-added tax policies for wind power generation: 1. From November 1, 2025, to December 31, 2027, a 50% immediate refund policy for value-added tax will be implemented for offshore wind power products. 2. Nuclear power units that have officially commenced commercial operation before October 31, 2025, will continue to be implemented according to previous regulations; nuclear power units approved by the State Council but not yet officially in commercial operation before October 31, 2025, will have a 50% advance collection and refund policy implemented for 10 years from the month after official commercial operation. Nuclear power units approved after November 1, 2025, will no longer implement the advance collection and refund policy for value-added tax.
7. The Prime Minister presided over a State Council executive meeting to hear a report on the implementation of actions to effectively reduce logistics costs for the whole society. The meeting pointed out the need to promote the openness and interconnection of logistics data, deepen the integration of artificial intelligence and logistics, and promote the intelligent development of logistics. It is necessary to increase support for logistics companies, especially for short-term financing of small and micro enterprises, and promote the strengthening, optimization, and expansion of logistics entities.
8. Recently, national security agencies have cracked a major U.S. cyberattack case, obtaining solid evidence of the U.S. National Security Agency's cyber intrusion into China's National Time Center, thwarting the U.S. side's plans for cyberattacks, theft, and infiltration, and making every effort to safeguard the security of 'Beijing Time'.
9. The three major U.S. stock indexes collectively rose last Friday, with the Dow Jones up 0.52%, accumulating a rise of 1.56% for the week; the Nasdaq rose 0.52%, accumulating a rise of 2.14% for the week; the S&P 500 index rose 0.53%, accumulating a rise of 1.7% for the week. Popular technology stocks had mixed results, with Tesla rising over 2%, Apple rising nearly 2%, and Oracle falling over 6%. The automotive manufacturing and consumer electronics sectors led the gains. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell 0.14% last Friday, accumulating a rise of 1.83% for the week, with popular Chinese concept stocks seeing mixed results, New Oriental rising over 2%, Alibaba and JD.com rising over 1%, and Zhihu and iQIYI falling over 1%.
10. U.S. President Trump recently signed an executive order to impose a new 25% tariff on imports of medium and heavy trucks and parts starting from November 1. Trump stated that there will also be a 10% tariff on imported passenger buses.
