International Business Times Hongkong

Top Story

One Phrase From Rosanna Law Has All But Answered The Tenant Purchase Scheme Question

Chief Executive John Lee will deliver his Policy Address and Hong Kong's first five-year plan tomorrow, but the Tenant Purchase Scheme is unlikely to be relaunched immediately. The government may provide an update on the study, with any revival still dependent on its findings.

Japan Machine Tool Orders Jump 65% — But The Real Record Was Set Two Months Ago
Japan’s machine tool orders rose 64.7% year on year to ¥197.88 billion in August. Overseas orders reached ¥146.347 billion, a record monthly high in JMTBA’s statistics, but total orders remained below the June record of ¥203.5 billion. Mainland machine tool stocks including Haitian Precision and Neway CNC are benefiting from an industry recovery and demand from AI and robotics.
BYD’s smart-driving fleet tops 3.72 million vehicles, but Huawei system found in only one model
BYD said the number of vehicles equipped with assisted-driving functions reached 3.72 million by the end of August, generating more than 230 million km of data a day. Group deliveries also hit a monthly record of 440,293 vehicles, although checks show that Fang Cheng Bao’s Bao 8 is currently the only model in the BYD group using Huawei’s assisted-driving system.
US 30-year Treasury yield breaks 5.4% as long-term bond sell-off hits five major economies
The US 30-year Treasury yield briefly rose above 5.40% on September 15, reaching its highest level since 2007. The 10-year Treasury yield also topped 5.02%, while long-term government bond yields in Britain, Japan, France and Germany climbed to multi-year highs, pointing to an unusually broad sell-off in global long-term bonds.

Same Oil-price Shock, Sharply Divided Fortunes: Distributors’ Profits Soar 480% While Refiners Warn Margins Are Being Squeezed

Conflict in the Middle East has disrupted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and the Bab el-Mandeb, sending international oil prices sharply higher. Mainland crude futures have broken above RMB900 a barrel for the first time, while chemical and manufacturing costs also come under pressure.

The Spotlight

RTX 5090, Originally Priced At US$1,999, Now Selling For Up To US$9,500

NVIDIA's RTX 5090 originally had a retail price of US$1,999, but third-party sellers are now asking as much as US$9,500 — nearly 4.75 times the starting price. The shortage is mainly being driven by AI data centres competing for GDDR7 memory capacity, rather than the chip manufacturing constraints widely reported online.

Unitree spends nearly 100m yuan to appear on CCTV gala as 70% of humanoid robot revenue still comes from universities

Business

Technology

Amodei and Altman rare in urging AI to ‘hit the brakes’ as Nvidia, Micron tumble
Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei called on the AI industry over the weekend to ‘hit the brakes’, drawing support from Sam Altman and Elon Musk. OpenAI also pushed back its potential listing, while US semiconductor stocks plunged on Monday, with Nvidia, Micron and ASML all suffering significant losses.
After two months, four overreach incidents and a resignation warning that AI could wipe out humanity, Amodei finally speaks out
Ternus's debut puts foldable iPhone above HK$15,000 — sold out before launch?

World

European gas prices surge past €83 to three-year high as Gulf war tightens supply outlook
Dutch TTF gas futures surged above €83 per megawatt-hour on Monday, hitting a three-year high as military conflict in the Gulf disrupted Qatar’s LNG supply and Saudi Arabia’s oil export routes. Europe’s gas storage level of just 68 per cent has further clouded the supply outlook.
FTC Sues Amazon Over $20bn In Hidden Ad Auction Charges
China's Top 10 Retail Models Cleared of Gasoline Cars — For the Second Time This Year China's wholesale charts tell a different story

Hong Kong

Economy

Kowloon East office vacancy rate falls for second month, but remains Hong Kong’s highest
Kowloon East’s Grade A office vacancy rate fell to 19.8 per cent at the end of July, marking a second consecutive monthly decline. Although it remains the highest among Hong Kong’s office submarkets, the latest figures suggest the gap between non-core districts and Central has not continued to widen.
Hong Kong Stock Connect Turnover Reaches New Heights Amid Surging Cross-Border Flows
Labubu Made Pop Mart a Global Star. Now Its Overseas Sales Are Falling for the First Time.

Politics

Xi Jinping to Lead Major Chinese Business Delegation to Washington Amidst Trade Tensions
Xi Jinping plans to lead a significant Chinese business delegation to Washington, echoing a 2015 visit. This move signals potential shifts in US-China economic diplomacy amid ongoing trade tensions.
Joshua Wong Pleads Guilty to Colluding With Foreign Forces
Xi Jinping Breaks Year-Long Travel Freeze Before Trump Summit

Culture

One Phrase From Rosanna Law Has All But Answered The Tenant Purchase Scheme Question

Japan Machine Tool Orders Jump 65% — But The Real Record Was Set Two Months Ago

BYD’s smart-driving fleet tops 3.72 million vehicles, but Huawei system found in only one model

US 30-year Treasury yield breaks 5.4% as long-term bond sell-off hits five major economies

MTR To Offer Half-price Fares On October 24 Thank You Day

Fewer than 700 ‘future astronauts’ worldwide, yet Trip.com says it has sold 681 spaceflight tickets

AI's next bottleneck is not chips but natural gas, as US data centres face oil-state-scale demand

Global No. 1 in shipments, but carrying RMB5 billion in accumulated losses: ASR Microelectronics files for Hong Kong listing as Alibaba halts sell-down

iPhone 18 pre-orders trigger HK$14.7 million in disputed card transactions before phones are shipped

Same Oil-price Shock, Sharply Divided Fortunes: Distributors’ Profits Soar 480% While Refiners Warn Margins Are Being Squeezed

RTX 5090, Originally Priced At US$1,999, Now Selling For Up To US$9,500

Nvidia Invests $3.5 Billion In MediaTek To Boost AI Data-Centre Chip Collaboration

Hong Kong Stocks Slide In September Debut, Led By Alibaba's 3% Drop

Shein Debuts In Hong Kong Tomorrow, Priced 70% Below Peak

South Korea opens after-hours trading as Nasdaq plans 23-hour sessions — more trading time, but is the pie getting any bigger?

Amodei and Altman rare in urging AI to ‘hit the brakes’ as Nvidia, Micron tumble

After two months, four overreach incidents and a resignation warning that AI could wipe out humanity, Amodei finally speaks out

Ternus's debut puts foldable iPhone above HK$15,000 — sold out before launch?

European gas prices surge past €83 to three-year high as Gulf war tightens supply outlook

FTC Sues Amazon Over $20bn In Hidden Ad Auction Charges

China's Top 10 Retail Models Cleared of Gasoline Cars — For the Second Time This Year China's wholesale charts tell a different story

Tents thin out at LOHAS Park interchange — but where have they gone?

Hong Kong Courts Uncover Cross-Border Syndicates in Money Laundering Sentences

Ancient Egypt Just Drew Half a Million People in Hong Kong. Here's Why It Worked.

Record Silver Bond Subscriptions Amidst Hong Kong Stock Market Rally

Kowloon East office vacancy rate falls for second month, but remains Hong Kong’s highest

Hong Kong Stock Connect Turnover Reaches New Heights Amid Surging Cross-Border Flows

Labubu Made Pop Mart a Global Star. Now Its Overseas Sales Are Falling for the First Time.

Xi Jinping to Lead Major Chinese Business Delegation to Washington Amidst Trade Tensions

Joshua Wong Pleads Guilty to Colluding With Foreign Forces

Xi Jinping Breaks Year-Long Travel Freeze Before Trump Summit

A Ming Prince Who Painted Furious, Eye-Rolling Fish Is Having a 400-Year-Later Revival

Hong Kong To Celebrate National Day With Spectacular 31,888-Shell Fireworks Display Over Victoria Harbour

Shakespeare's Only Life Portrait Traveled to China This Year. So Did J.K. Rowling's.