Hong Kong is inviting a number of China-friendly central banks to participate in its gold-clearing system as part of a push to elevate the city as a major bullion-trading hub. The city is targeting countries already engaged in Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative to supply the institutional clout needed to position Hong Kong as an alternative center to London, according to people familiar with the m...
Hong Kong is inviting a number of China-friendly central banks to participate in its gold-clearing system as part of a push to elevate the city as a major bullion-trading hub. The city is targeting countries already engaged in Beijing’s Belt and Road initiative to supply the institutional clout needed to position Hong Kong as an alternative center to London, according to people familiar with the matter, who asked not to be named discussing sensitive matters. They did not specify which central banks had been invited. The drive by Hong Kong will complement Beijing’s recent efforts to woo sovereign nations to store gold in mainland China, and is part of a broader strategy to extend the international appeal of the Chinese yuan as an investable asset, the people said. The Hong Kong government didn’t immediately reply to a request for comment. A public campaign unveiled this year promotes the special administrative region as a trading, financing and storage hub for gold, with a government-run clearing system slated to begin trials this year. Hong Kong also signed a cooperation pact with the Shanghai Gold Exchange and reiterated a pledge to expand gold-storage capacity to 2,000 tons within three years. Securing the buy-in of central banks – the ultimate providers of liquidity, given the large volumes of gold held in reserves – could give a significant boost to Hong Kong’s ambitions, along with support from established financial institutions that serve as market-makers. Together, they form the backbone of the world’s dominant gold-trading hub — London — where billions of dollars’ worth of the metal is traded every day. Hong Kong is also likely to meet stiff regional competition — Singapore, for example, is planning to expand its gold-storage capacity to become a custodian of bullion held by foreign central banks. It has tapped local and international banks including JPMorgan Chase & Co. and UBS Group AG to boost liquidity and make the most of demand from wealth investors. R...
Technicians check the growth of Dendrobium officinale tissue culture seedlings at an industrial park in Guandong town, Congjiang county, Guizhou province, on March 22, 2026. Photo: VCG China is on pace to eclipse the U.S. as the world’s largest funder of public science within the next two to three years, marking a structural tipping point in global research and development, according to a late Mar...
Technicians check the growth of Dendrobium officinale tissue culture seedlings at an industrial park in Guandong town, Congjiang county, Guizhou province, on March 22, 2026. Photo: VCG China is on pace to eclipse the U.S. as the world’s largest funder of public science within the next two to three years, marking a structural tipping point in global research and development, according to a late March analysis by the Nature Index, which tracks high-quality research output in the natural and health sciences globally. The analysis draws on research from the Frontiers of Science and Innovation Policy (FSIP) program at the University of California, San Diego. Data shows that in the decade from 2013 to 2023, adjusted for purchasing power parity, Chinese government research and development spending grew by about 90% to reach $133 billion. Over the same period, U.S. spending grew by about 12% to $155 billion, Nature reported.
Serve Robotics Inc. (NASDAQ:SERV) is one of Jim Cramer’s stock calls while he discussed the confusion surrounding the Trump-Iran conflict. When a caller inquired about the stock during the lightning round, Cramer said: Okay, interesting company. But the problem here… is it’s losing a fortune. We can’t go with those right now. It’s too complex […]
Serve Robotics Inc. (NASDAQ:SERV) is one of Jim Cramer’s stock calls while he discussed the confusion surrounding the Trump-Iran conflict. When a caller inquired about the stock during the lightning round, Cramer said: Okay, interesting company. But the problem here… is it’s losing a fortune. We can’t go with those right now. It’s too complex […]
CalypsoArt/iStock via Getty Images Originally published on March 24, 2026 Despite the de-escalation talk of the past two days, one of the key barometers of economic pain associated with the war is showing no relief. Remember, we looked at this chart a couple of weeks ago. Both the red and the blue lines show the key spread between Italian yields (Europe’s most fiscally fragile major bond market) a...
CalypsoArt/iStock via Getty Images Originally published on March 24, 2026 Despite the de-escalation talk of the past two days, one of the key barometers of economic pain associated with the war is showing no relief. Remember, we looked at this chart a couple of weeks ago. Both the red and the blue lines show the key spread between Italian yields (Europe’s most fiscally fragile major bond market) and German yields (the anchor). This spread represents the risk premium in Europe. The red line is the 2022 period surrounding Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The blue line is the current period (18 trading days into the war). Everything to the right of the black vertical line is the market reaction to the war catalyst. As you can see from the blue line, the risk premium continues to rise, albeit from a low base. But, importantly, it’s been led by Italian 10-year yields that traded over 4% the past two days. And 4% has significance. The European sovereign debt markets started showing stress in the summer of 2022. And it was the sharp move above the 4% level in Italian yields that compelled the ECB to act - restarting QE (QE by a new name, the “Transmission Protection Instrument”) to stabilize bond markets of the weak eurozone countries. This is the place we’ve been watching for the signal that the market expectations are shifting from “short-term pain” to “long-term structural economic damage.” Original Post Editor's Note: The summary bullets for this article were chosen by Seeking Alpha editors.
It will take a positive reaction to the first-quarter sales estimates and SpaceX IPO news. Tesla stock needs to finish above $ 367.96 to snap a five-week losing streak. It’s the longest losing streak since January 2025, when shares fell for nine consecutive weeks.
It will take a positive reaction to the first-quarter sales estimates and SpaceX IPO news. Tesla stock needs to finish above $ 367.96 to snap a five-week losing streak. It’s the longest losing streak since January 2025, when shares fell for nine consecutive weeks.
The German Bureaucratic Dream Of "Society with Bound Capital" Submitted by Thomas Kolbe They form a massive workforce, the last continuously growing sector of our society: civil servants. Approximately 5.5 million employees work in the public sector, and last year alone, 205,000 new civil servants were added. This is by no means a blind attack on the bureaucracy. Civil servants indispensable to ou...
The German Bureaucratic Dream Of "Society with Bound Capital" Submitted by Thomas Kolbe They form a massive workforce, the last continuously growing sector of our society: civil servants. Approximately 5.5 million employees work in the public sector, and last year alone, 205,000 new civil servants were added. This is by no means a blind attack on the bureaucracy. Civil servants indispensable to our society work to maintain internal and external security and uphold the judiciary as guardians of law and order. Yet the question must be allowed. How can a civil service army grow by over 200,000 in a single year, even as artificial intelligence and digital automation could handle repetitive tasks? Across the country – it is an open secret that the public sector functions as a kind of safety net for slowly rising unemployment. Employees often tread on each other’s toes, paralyzed and bored by pseudo-tasks that the political apparatus spontaneously invents to feed its overflowing administration. They have created a fantasy world. A world where budgets not only never run dry but are continuously expanded—producing what could be called a destructive life of its own. Bureaucracies, after all, are social organisms that fight to survive and strive for expansion. There is a surplus of bureaucratic energy, combined with the drive to weave the still young ideology of green socialism into the state. This creates a dangerous mix of ideological messianism and administrative activism, which fools taxpayers into thinking something is being accomplished—even where tasks could clearly be automated and restraint would be better. One of the newer ideas, traceable to the ministerial environment, is the creation of a new corporate legal form. The debate surrounding the upcoming introduction of the Society with Bound Capital offers a deep insight into the ideological and intellectual status quo of the German civil service and state apparatus. The new legal form is intended to prevent profit d...
Nepal’s rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah was sworn in as prime minister on Friday after sweeping the first election since deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government last year. The 35-year-old reformist and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) dominated polls this month on a platform of youth-driven political change. “I, Balendra Shah, in the name of the country and people, pledge t...
Nepal’s rapper-turned-politician Balendra Shah was sworn in as prime minister on Friday after sweeping the first election since deadly anti-corruption protests toppled the government last year. The 35-year-old reformist and his Rastriya Swatantra Party (RSP) dominated polls this month on a platform of youth-driven political change. “I, Balendra Shah, in the name of the country and people, pledge that I will be loyal to the constitution,” Shah said, dressed all in black, including his trademark...