JianGang Wang The Bank of Japan left its key short-term rate unchanged at 0.75% at its March 2026 meeting. Thursday's decision was widely expected and passed by an 8–1 vote. Policymakers are likely monitoring wage growth, domestic demand, and global risks before making further moves. They held views that Japan’s economy is recovering moderately but warned that escalating Middle East tensions cloud...
JianGang Wang The Bank of Japan left its key short-term rate unchanged at 0.75% at its March 2026 meeting. Thursday's decision was widely expected and passed by an 8–1 vote. Policymakers are likely monitoring wage growth, domestic demand, and global risks before making further moves. They held views that Japan’s economy is recovering moderately but warned that escalating Middle East tensions cloud the outlook. This followed a 0.25% hike to 0.75% in December 2025. Meanwhile, CPI inflation is expected to dip below 2% temporarily before facing renewed upward pressure from rising crude oil prices. The Japanese yen weakened toward 160 per dollar on Thursday, hovering at its lowest level since July 2024 when authorities last stepped in to support the currency. More on Japan EWJ: Buying An Oversold Japan How Using Moving Averages To Make Allocation Changes Can Improve Risk Adjusted Returns Surviving 'Epic Fury' And The Asian Stock Market Crash Asia stocks mixed: UAE energy strikes and Hormuz standoff offset tech gains Export slowdown hits Japan’s trade balance; stimulus drives 10.2% import surge
asbe/iStock via Getty Images By Warren Patterson , Head of Commodities Strategy and Ewa Manthey Commodities Strategist Energy – LNG supply risks grow Oil prices are surging amid an escalation in the Persian Gulf. ICE Brent is up more than 4% this morning, breaking above $112/bbl. Meanwhile, European natural gas prices are set to open higher after further overnight escalation. Strikes on Iranian en...
asbe/iStock via Getty Images By Warren Patterson , Head of Commodities Strategy and Ewa Manthey Commodities Strategist Energy – LNG supply risks grow Oil prices are surging amid an escalation in the Persian Gulf. ICE Brent is up more than 4% this morning, breaking above $112/bbl. Meanwhile, European natural gas prices are set to open higher after further overnight escalation. Strikes on Iranian energy assets yesterday have Iran retaliating by striking energy infrastructure in neighbouring Gulf countries. This raises fears of a more prolonged disruption to Persian Gulf energy supplies. The move to strike Iranian energy assets is odd, given that the US administration has been trying over the last couple of weeks to ease the upward pressure on oil prices. Attacks on energy infrastructure eclipse these factors and, especially amid retaliation, point to additional upside for prices. Iran’s retaliatory attacks on neighbours are more of a concern for the gas market. Qatar Energy announced that its Ras Laffan Industrial City (RLIC) suffered extensive damage after a missile strike from Iran. RLIC houses the world’s largest LNG export plant. Qatar exports 105 bcm of LNG from the site, accounting for nearly 20% of global LNG trade. It’s not clear what part of RLIC has been hit. The site is significant, covering 295 square kilometres. Also, it’s home to refineries and petrochemical plants. Damage to the LNG facilities means that the troubles for global gas markets aren't just about when flows through the Strait of Hormuz resume, but how long repair work at the sites might take. Even if it turns out that the LNG facilities are largely untouched, the market will have to price in a higher risk premium, given the growing threat to energy infrastructure in the region. As for Iran’s energy assets, the South Pars gas field was hit. It accounts for around 70% of total Iranian natural gas output. It’s unclear how significant the damage is, but clearly, risks abound for Iranian natural g...
Hong Kong businessman Jason Poon Cheuk-hung, his wife and four others have been arrested on suspicion of defrauding an enterprise financing scheme out of HK$6 million (US$765,500) during the Covid-19 pandemic, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source confirmed to the SCMP on Thursday that construction businessman Poon, 56, and his 54-year-old wife were among six people arrested the day b...
Hong Kong businessman Jason Poon Cheuk-hung, his wife and four others have been arrested on suspicion of defrauding an enterprise financing scheme out of HK$6 million (US$765,500) during the Covid-19 pandemic, the South China Morning Post has learned. A source confirmed to the SCMP on Thursday that construction businessman Poon, 56, and his 54-year-old wife were among six people arrested the day before for conspiracy to defraud. Police intelligence suggested a surgical mask manufacturer had allegedly defrauded HSBC out of HK$6 million via the SME Financing Guarantee Scheme, the insider said. Advertisement “We have come to know that Poon was a director of the company concerned,” the source said. Poon, his wife and four employees have been accused of submitting fake sales records and “augmented” salary records between April and June 2021 to fulfil application requirements for the scheme. Advertisement The scheme was launched in 2011, but was extended to provide a special 100 per cent loan guarantee under the 2020-21 government budget to help ease businesses’ cash flow problems arising from wage and rental obligations during the pandemic.
KUALA LUMPUR: A RM30 billion investment by Intel Corporation in an advanced semiconductor packaging facility in Malaysia is seen as a key driver for the next phase of the country’s chip industry, said the chairman of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the initiative will go beyond the significance of the cumulative RM49.3 billion investment ...
KUALA LUMPUR: A RM30 billion investment by Intel Corporation in an advanced semiconductor packaging facility in Malaysia is seen as a key driver for the next phase of the country’s chip industry, said the chairman of the Malaysian Investment Development Authority (MIDA). Tengku Zafrul Tengku Abdul Aziz said the initiative will go beyond the significance of the cumulative RM49.3 billion investment made by the American multinational technology company in the country over more than five decades. "In 54 years in Malaysia, Intel has invested RM49.3 billion - and continues to grow. The current focus - a RM30 billion investment in an advanced semiconductor packaging facility that is nearly complete and expected to begin operations this year,” he wrote in a post on the X platform today. Tengku Zafrul stressed that the priority now is to ensure Malaysia fully leverages the investment to expand a high-value industrial ecosystem. "This is not just an investment. This is about opportunities for our people - high-value jobs, future skills, and a role in the global chip industry,” he said. Malaysia now faces an important choice: whether to remain a technology consumer or emerge as a country capable of creating its own technology, he added. - Bernama
In early March 2026, Viettel High Tech announced new collaborations with Intel, AMD and ID Quantique to co-develop 5G Advanced and 6G technologies, focusing on AI-optimized RAN, cloud-native networks and quantum-safe security. This positions Intel more deeply inside the emerging 6G and AI-RAN ecosystem, extending its reach beyond chips into next-generation network architecture and standards-settin...
In early March 2026, Viettel High Tech announced new collaborations with Intel, AMD and ID Quantique to co-develop 5G Advanced and 6G technologies, focusing on AI-optimized RAN, cloud-native networks and quantum-safe security. This positions Intel more deeply inside the emerging 6G and AI-RAN ecosystem, extending its reach beyond chips into next-generation network architecture and standards-setting. We’ll now examine how Intel’s expanded role in AI-optimized 6G networks and infrastructure could reshape its existing investment narrative. Uncover the next big thing with 32 elite penny stocks that balance risk and reward. Intel Investment Narrative Recap To own Intel today, you have to believe its AI and foundry reset can overcome past execution issues and structurally low margins. The Viettel 5G Advanced and 6G collaboration fits that thesis, but it does not materially change the near term swing factor, which remains whether Intel can improve profitability while funding heavy AI and manufacturing investments. The biggest risk is that execution on AI workloads and complex network partnerships lags, leaving returns on those investments underwhelming. Among recent announcements, the expanded Ericsson Intel work on AI native 6G and cloud RAN is most relevant. Together with Viettel, it reinforces Intel’s push to sit inside the control plane of future AI optimized networks, not just at the chip level. If Intel can convert these early 6G and AI RAN roles into higher margin platforms and foundry volume, that could support the hoped for recovery in earnings and returns. Yet even with these AI and 6G wins, you should still be aware of the risk that Intel’s deep organizational complexity and ongoing restructuring could... Read the full narrative on Intel (it's free!) Intel's narrative projects $58.1 billion revenue and $5.2 billion earnings by 2028. This requires 3.1% yearly revenue growth and a $25.7 billion earnings increase from $-20.5 billion today. Uncover how Intel's forec...
AndreyPopov/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis For this piece, I would like to cover three ETFs that I believe are great buy-and-forget options: two for the long term and one for the short-to-medium term. Obviously, there’s no such thing as buying only one asset and keeping it throughout your entire life. As life goes by, you pass through different market and personal stages, and so your po...
AndreyPopov/iStock via Getty Images Investment Thesis For this piece, I would like to cover three ETFs that I believe are great buy-and-forget options: two for the long term and one for the short-to-medium term. Obviously, there’s no such thing as buying only one asset and keeping it throughout your entire life. As life goes by, you pass through different market and personal stages, and so your portfolio and your investment choices must reflect your goals for that specific period. Not to mention that each investor has their own risk profile, so one risky option might not be suitable for someone who doesn’t have the stomach for volatility. However, since the three ETFs I’ll cover here are quite different from one another, it is also very improbable that any investor will hold all 3 at the same time. Having said that, in short, I’ll cover: The Vanguard Total World Stock Index Fund ETF ( VT ) The iShares MSCI Global Min Vol Factor ETF ( ACWV ) The Vanguard Sht-Term Inflation-Protected Sec Idx ETF ( VTIP ) To me, VT makes the most sense for investors who want broad global equity exposure and long-term growth without having to think too much. I know lots of readers will say that ETFs like the State Street SPDR S&P 500 Trust ( SPY ) or the Vanguard 500 Index Fund ETF ( VOO ) will be better options, since the American market has delivered better returns in the past 10-15 years. Anyhow, I’ve already written an article on why I believe this is not true and why VT is a better option for this purpose. You can read more about it here . In regard to ACWV, I believe it to be more appropriate for someone who still wants some of the potential returns found in equities but who would sleep better with a less volatile ride. And finally, VTIP is another great option for those who are more concerned about capital preservation and inflation protection in US dollars but who also can’t stomach the wild ride of equities. Again, there’s no right or wrong pick; it’s entirely up to the investo...
A gold shop in Huai’an, Jiangsu province, March 8. Photo: VCG International gold prices extended losses Wednesday, hitting a recent low as rising oil prices and higher U.S. yields eroded demand for the traditional safe-haven asset. London spot gold has dropped more than 8% since early March, even as tensions involving the U.S., Israel and Iran escalated into direct attacks on energy infrastructure...
A gold shop in Huai’an, Jiangsu province, March 8. Photo: VCG International gold prices extended losses Wednesday, hitting a recent low as rising oil prices and higher U.S. yields eroded demand for the traditional safe-haven asset. London spot gold has dropped more than 8% since early March, even as tensions involving the U.S., Israel and Iran escalated into direct attacks on energy infrastructure. The sell-off accelerated Wednesday after strikes on key facilities, including Iran’s South Pars gas field, and deepened after the Federal Reserve held rates steady.
In this week’s Hong Kong Edition, we unpack the raids and probes rocking the city’s finance industry, catch up with the chef who’s taken over Sevva’s old location and break down the jolt in electricity prices. For the Review, we scope out a sky-high izakaya in LKF. To subscribe to this weekly newsletter for free, click here . Infini and Beyond Tony Chin had grand ambitions of building Asia’s Mille...
In this week’s Hong Kong Edition, we unpack the raids and probes rocking the city’s finance industry, catch up with the chef who’s taken over Sevva’s old location and break down the jolt in electricity prices. For the Review, we scope out a sky-high izakaya in LKF. To subscribe to this weekly newsletter for free, click here . Infini and Beyond Tony Chin had grand ambitions of building Asia’s Millennium Management and becoming a force to be reckoned with in equity capital markets. Instead, his Infini Capital Management found itself in a different kind of spotlight last week. The offices of Infini and two brokerages were raided by Hong Kong’s securities watchdog and the city’s anti-corruption agency, we reported. While information remains scant at the moment, the event may bring renewed focus on the handling of price-sensitive information just as share sales in the city are booming. Hong Kong was a top destination worldwide for initial public offerings in 2025 and is off to its busiest-ever start to a year for new listings. The regulator is keen to protect the city’s reputation as an international finance hub, just as mounting geopolitical tensions make listing in the US a less viable route for Chinese companies to tap international capital. If you haven’t yet, catch up on our coverage here: Hedge fund, broker staff arrested in insider probe JPMorgan and UBS dropped Infini as a prime brokerage client Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley never onboarded it So, what could have motivated the raids and what happens next? We answer some key questions in this ongoing case: What was the regulatory action last week? Hong Kong’s Securities and Futures Commission and the city’s Independent Commission Against Corruption on March 10 and 11 searched 14 locations, including the offices of two licensed securities firms and a hedge fund company, the two said in a joint statement on March 12. The anti-graft agency arrested six men and two women between the ages of 35 and 60. Among them we...
Agent 一旦跑起来，很多为人类设计的工具都会变成新的瓶颈。 今天早上，GTC 2026 刚结束了一场重磅对话：双方分别是 NVIDIA 首席科学家 Bill Dally 和 Google DeepMind、Google Research 首席科学家 Jeff Dean 。 这个是每年 GTC 的惯例，请一位大神和英伟达的首席科学家聊聊，前年是李飞飞，去年是杨立昆，往往信息密度极高。Bill D...
Agent 一旦跑起来，很多为人类设计的工具都会变成新的瓶颈。 今天早上，GTC 2026 刚结束了一场重磅对话：双方分别是 NVIDIA 首席科学家 Bill Dally 和 Google DeepMind、Google Research 首席科学家 Jeff Dean 。 这个是每年 GTC 的惯例，请一位大神和英伟达的首席科学家聊聊，前年是李飞飞，去年是杨立昆，往往信息密度极高。Bill Dally 代表的是 NVIDIA 这边对 GPU、推理、网络和系统架构的理解；Jeff Dean 则代表 Google 这边对 TPUs、大模型训练、Gemini 和大规模机器学习系统的判断。 和我们经常整理的“一问一答”不一样，这两个大神都准备了各自的问题给对方。所以这大概也是我近期整理的最奇妙的稿件，他们就像两个宗师你一招我一招，交流江湖上最顶尖的武学，颇有一分禅意。 两个人的问题都很具体，回答也很少绕弯： 过去一年到底变了什么？推理为什么突然比训练更重要？低延迟瓶颈究竟卡在哪？预训练会不会被重写？AI 能不能自己去设计下一代 AI？AI 又能不能反过来帮人类设计芯片？ 下面按这场对话的推进顺序，整理 Jeff Dean 和 Bill Dally 的核心讨论。 Bill Dally： 过去一年，机器学习里最让你兴奋的变化是什么？ 明年又会发生什么？ Jeff Dean：我觉得这个领域里的每个人都看到了模型能力在过去一年里的快速进步，也看到了人们开始如何真正把这些模型用起来。所以整体来说，这一切都非常有意思，也非常令人兴奋。 如果让我回看过去一年，我会特别提几件事。 第一，我觉得模型在 有可验证奖励的问题 上，已经变得强太多了。比如数学和编程。 三四年前，如果我们的模型能做对八年级数学题——像“Fred 有四只兔子，又得到了两只兔子”这种——而且正确率能有 40% 或 50%，那时候大家就已经很兴奋了，会说：“这太棒了。” 但在过去几年，尤其是过去一年，我们在复杂数学问题上的能力提升得非常快。比如 Gemini 参加 IMO，拿到了金牌；在编程竞赛 ICPC 上，我们也拿到了金牌。所以我觉得，这两个领域的能力进步都非常惊人。 另一件可能发生得更近一点、但同样重要的变化是，我们开始看到 agent-based workflows 在更长时间尺度的任务上真正有效了。 以前你让...
India ramped up the use of a key tool in defending the rupee to record levels, according to people familiar with the matter, as it seeks to support the currency which is at an all-time low against the dollar. The Reserve Bank of India’s net-short dollar book, a measure of the degree it has sold forward its stockpile of US currency, is nearing $100 billion across offshore and onshore markets, the p...
India ramped up the use of a key tool in defending the rupee to record levels, according to people familiar with the matter, as it seeks to support the currency which is at an all-time low against the dollar. The Reserve Bank of India’s net-short dollar book, a measure of the degree it has sold forward its stockpile of US currency, is nearing $100 billion across offshore and onshore markets, the people said, who asked not to be identified as the information is confidential. The measure was $67.8 billion in January, according to the latest official data , and hit a record $88.8 billion in February 2025. The buildup comes as emerging markets face renewed pressure from a resurgent dollar, with the rupee declining to fresh record lows this month. Even before the conflict broke out, the RBI was already heavily intervening to steady the rupee for months as high US tariffs spurred record equity outflows. The RBI focused much of its intervention in offshore markets, particularly through non-deliverable forwards, the people said. These dollar-settled contracts account for a significant share of its derivatives book, the people said. The central bank has been selling dollars largely via short-dated contracts, typically maturing within weeks to a month, the people said. Onshore, it has supplemented this with buy-sell swaps — including longer-tenor trades exceeding a year, they added. The latter help offset the liquidity impact of RBI intervention. India’s FX reserves stood at $717 billion in the week of March 6, near a record high. Sell $100 Million Every Minute: Inside India’s Rupee Defense Currency Bears Beware, Asia Central Banks Are Drawing a Line India’s Falling FX Buffer Prompts Calls for Softer Rupee Defense Using NDFs allows the RBI to influence the exchange rate without immediately depleting foreign-exchange reserves, while also keeping intervention costs relatively lower. Such moves can signal policy intent and help steady the currency during periods of volatility. A...
A passenger browsing in a gift shop in Hobart airport has stumbled across a remarkable discovery in the plush toy section. A real living and breathing brushtail possum had decided to join its fluffy friends in the shelves of Lagardère AWPL gift shop on Wednesday morning. A passenger first spotted the possum peering out from among the toy kangaroos, bilbies, dingoes and Tasmanian devils – a growlin...
A passenger browsing in a gift shop in Hobart airport has stumbled across a remarkable discovery in the plush toy section. A real living and breathing brushtail possum had decided to join its fluffy friends in the shelves of Lagardère AWPL gift shop on Wednesday morning. A passenger first spotted the possum peering out from among the toy kangaroos, bilbies, dingoes and Tasmanian devils – a growling carnivore that inspired the feisty Warner Bros cartoon character Taz. Liam Bloomfield, the retail manager, said staff and customers were delighted. “A passenger reported it to … one of the staff members on shift who couldn’t quite believe what she was hearing,” Bloomfield said. “She then called the [airport] management and said: we’ve got a possum in the store.” A spokesperson for the airport said the possum remained calm as it was safely escorted out of the terminal without incident. Bloomfield said the store’s staff have been voting on what to name the marsupial. “We’ll have a little shrine to the possum. There will be a nice little photo; once it gets a name, we will put a nice little post in front of the store to make sure it’s remembered.” Bloomfield said. Brushtails are one of five species of possum found in Tasmania, and are nocturnal – though known to be highly adaptable to a range of natural and human environments.
mustafaU U.S. President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that Israel was behind the attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, adding that neither the United States nor Qatar played any role in it. Trump also said Israel would not make any more attacks on Iranian facilities in South Pars unless Iran attacked Qatar, warning that the U.S. would attack those facilities if Iran acted against Doha. "The U...
mustafaU U.S. President Donald Trump said late Wednesday that Israel was behind the attack on Iran’s South Pars gas field, adding that neither the United States nor Qatar played any role in it. Trump also said Israel would not make any more attacks on Iranian facilities in South Pars unless Iran attacked Qatar, warning that the U.S. would attack those facilities if Iran acted against Doha. "The United States knew nothing about this particular attack, and the country of Qatar was in no way, shape, or form, involved with it, nor did it have any idea that it was going to happen," Trump wrote on Truth Social. Israel has not publicly claimed responsibility for the South Pars attack. According to the Wall Street Journal and Axios , Trump knew of Israel's plan to attack the Iranian part of the world's largest natural gas deposit in advance and supported it. Iran shares the South Pars field with Qatar, a close U.S. ally. Crude oil futures rose in Asian trade on Thursday, with Brent rising 4.4% to $ 112.14/ bbl, after an Iranian missile attack caused "extensive damage" at Ras Laffan Industrial City in Qatar, home to the world's largest liquefied natural gas export facility . WTI crude ( CL1:COM ) was up 0.9% at $97.18. More on Crude Oil Futures, Brent Futures, etc. How Historical Oil Surges Influenced Equity Returns In The Following Year (It Doesn't Bode Well) Hard Assets Weekly: The Signal That Precedes Falls In Hard Assets Appeared In Oil Commodities: Brent Consolidates Above $100 As Disruptions Persist Oil extends gains as Iran inflicts ‘extensive damage’ at world’s largest LNG plant in Qatar Fed’s decision is ‘another backstop gone for the economy’ – analyst
Philippine police have foiled a school shooting and rescued seven students radicalised by “foreigners” online to stage an attack in Laguna province near Manila, as calls grow to enhance parental safeguards against digital threats. Officers rounded up the suspects – five boys and two girls, aged 12 to 17 – on February 2 after receiving a tip-off about the alleged plot they intended to carry out a f...
Philippine police have foiled a school shooting and rescued seven students radicalised by “foreigners” online to stage an attack in Laguna province near Manila, as calls grow to enhance parental safeguards against digital threats. Officers rounded up the suspects – five boys and two girls, aged 12 to 17 – on February 2 after receiving a tip-off about the alleged plot they intended to carry out a fortnight later, the Philippine Star reported. The teens, who were turned over to social workers, came into contact with their “foreign” handlers on the gaming platform Roblox. Advertisement They subsequently invited the students to private chat rooms, exposing themselves to videos of shootings, beatings, accidents and beheadings, according to GMA’s Resibo programme. The indoctrination prompted one of the boys to post an “I will burn down my school” message on social media. Advertisement Phones seized from the group revealed photos of tactical vests and gloves, as well as an assault rifle that police said the teens were being urged to buy.