Chinese stocks are emerging as one of the best markets to ride out the Iran war, with their outperformance against global peers on track for the strongest since August 2025. Since the conflict broke out in late February, surging oil prices have hit energy-importing economies hardest, dragging equity benchmarks in South Korea, Japan and India down more than 10%. China, despite being the largest imp...
Chinese stocks are emerging as one of the best markets to ride out the Iran war, with their outperformance against global peers on track for the strongest since August 2025. Since the conflict broke out in late February, surging oil prices have hit energy-importing economies hardest, dragging equity benchmarks in South Korea, Japan and India down more than 10%. China, despite being the largest importer, has proved more resilient , with its gauge falling 4.6% over the same period. As the war shows signs of escalating , the moves suggest Chinese equities may become an increasingly attractive safe haven, thanks to its strength in renewable energy, easing deflation and still-attractive valuations. A growing number of global banks have turned more upbeat, with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. recommended building strategic exposure at current levels while saying the market is better placed than most to withstand oil shocks. “China A-shares could get more strategic preference compared to the rest of the markets given its increasing stability and resilience in economic policy,” said Anna Wu , a cross-asset strategist at VanEck Associates Corp. The divergence has been mirrored across asset classes. The yuan slipped about 0.7% against the dollar since the war, but still outperformed most major Asian currencies even as a gauge of the greenback gained about 3%. Chinese government bonds also held firm, with the 10-year yield little changed, compared with the sharp increases seen in US, German and French yields. Even before the war, China’s prospects have been improving. Advances in artificial intelligence, a steadier approach to managing US trade tensions, as well as a retreat from regulatory crackdowns have helped rebuild investor confidence. Equities continue to trade at around a 20% discount to the MSCI World Index on earnings-based measures. After a multiyear period of structural underweight, positioning among active long-only funds has normalized and reached benchmark-neutral leve...
Innovent Biologics, Inc. ("Innovent") (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of oncology, autoimmune, cardiovascular and metabolic, ophthalmology and other major disease areas, today announced that the company's partner Ollin reported final, 20-week study completion data from its randomized, he...
Innovent Biologics, Inc. ("Innovent") (HKEX: 01801), a world-class biopharmaceutical company that develops, manufactures, and commercializes high-quality medicines for the treatment of oncology, autoimmune, cardiovascular and metabolic, ophthalmology and other major disease areas, today announced that the company's partner Ollin reported final, 20-week study completion data from its randomized, head-to-head Phase 1b JADE clinical study comparing OLN324(Innovent R&D code IBI324) , a higher-potenc
Five years ago, almost no accident and health insurance claims at Ping An Insurance Group ran without humans. Today, nearly 60% are automated, with some settled in just 51 seconds. The leap shows Ping An’s push into artificial intelligence, after a decade of investment worth billions of yuan. Now, senior executives are counting on it to transform the share price, too. They are leveraging AI to dou...
Five years ago, almost no accident and health insurance claims at Ping An Insurance Group ran without humans. Today, nearly 60% are automated, with some settled in just 51 seconds. The leap shows Ping An’s push into artificial intelligence, after a decade of investment worth billions of yuan. Now, senior executives are counting on it to transform the share price, too. They are leveraging AI to double the firm’s price-to-book ratio over the next few years, according to people familiar with the management’s thinking. Provided net assets remain unchanged, that would add about $174 billion to the market value of China’s largest non state-owned insurer. Investors remain unconvinced. Ping An’s Hong Kong-listed shares still trade 38% below their peak, and their 9.59% drop this year is worse than the wider market slump. But executives at the Shenzhen-based firm, which has 250 million customers and about 20,000 engineers, think the time is ripe for its yearslong bet on AI to finally show up in its share price. Read More: Ping An Profits Rise as Booming Stock Market Reaps Dividends “The AI era successfully opened the window for reshaping services,” Chief Technology Officer Ray Wang said in an interview. “The returns on investment are tangible, highly visible, and unequivocally compelling.” At the core of the plan is a gateway linking Ping An’s 500 services across banking, insurance and health care. Set to roll out in early April, it’s backed by AI agents that automate underwriting and claims while boosting cross‑selling. Cost Cuts Ping An’s AI bet is already showing up in lower costs. Its auto insurance expense ratio dropped by 1.7 percentage points over nine years. That translates into about 5 billion yuan ($724 billion) of underwriting profit growth for the segment in the same period. In addition, Ping An’s systems have been trained to recognize dozens of Chinese dialects, allowing AI to process insurance claims with minimal human intervention. These bots can even make loan...
This month’s surge in Asian bond yields has triggered an increase in debt buying across the region, as governments seek to limit the spillover from higher energy prices to local borrowing costs. Governments and central banks from South Korea to India and Indonesia are plowing funds into their bond markets to try to cap yields that have already risen to multi-year highs. Yields have been climbing o...
This month’s surge in Asian bond yields has triggered an increase in debt buying across the region, as governments seek to limit the spillover from higher energy prices to local borrowing costs. Governments and central banks from South Korea to India and Indonesia are plowing funds into their bond markets to try to cap yields that have already risen to multi-year highs. Yields have been climbing on concern local economies will suffer from higher oil costs as they are net energy importers. Korea’s government announced last week it would buy a combined 5 trillion won ($3.3 billion) of sovereign bonds over two trading days, while the Reserve Bank of India said it’s purchasing 1 trillion rupees ($10.6 billion) of debt from the open market this month. Bank Indonesia has signaled continued intervention in government bonds. “Official bond purchases are better seen as efforts to limit disorderly moves,” as markets price in more persistent spillovers from higher oil prices and supply chain disruptions, said Fesa Wibawa , an investment manager at Aberdeen in Singapore. “We wouldn’t rule out further interventions across Asia, especially if pockets of market stress emerge and the authorities judge that they have sufficient policy space to respond,” he said. Bond yields have been marching higher across the region as the outbreak of the Iran war on Feb. 28 sent oil prices soaring. The Philippine 10-year yield has surged more than one percentage point in March, while Korea’s has risen by almost 50 basis points and Indonesia’s has climbed more than 40 basis points. In addition to its emergency bond buyback, the Korean government also announced plans to redeem outstanding debt using surplus tax revenues. That followed the Bank of Korea’s decision earlier this month to purchase up to 3 trillion won of treasury bonds to counter increased yield volatility. The Korean government’s measures “will be effective in stabilizing the won rates market sentiment” ahead of the inclusion of the na...
kitiwan mesinsom/E+ via Getty Images By Jennifer Nash The Dallas Fed released its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey (TMOS) for March. The general business activity index fell 0.4 points to -0.2, indicating no change in business conditions. Texas factory activity continued to rise in March, but at a slower pace than the previous month, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manuf...
kitiwan mesinsom/E+ via Getty Images By Jennifer Nash The Dallas Fed released its Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey (TMOS) for March. The general business activity index fell 0.4 points to -0.2, indicating no change in business conditions. Texas factory activity continued to rise in March, but at a slower pace than the previous month, according to business executives responding to the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey. The production index, a key measure of state manufacturing conditions, fell six points to 6.8, a reading suggestive of a below-average pace of output expansion. Other measures of manufacturing activity also showed signs of slower growth this month. The capacity utilization index moved down five points to 7.2, the new orders index fell to 6.1 from 11.1, and the shipments index fell eight points to 1.8. Perceptions of broader business conditions were mixed in March. The general business activity index was relatively unchanged at -0.2, with the near-zero reading indicating no change in business activity from February. However, the company outlook index fell into negative territory dropping nearly seven points to -3.5. The outlook uncertainty index shot up 20 points to 26.0, its highest reading since April 2025. Employment growth stalled and workweeks were flat in March. The employment index came in near zero, with 15 percent of firms noting net hiring and 16 percent of firms noting net layoffs. The hours worked index moved down to 0.9 from 6.1. Price pressures were little changed while wages grew at a slower pace than last month. Both the finished goods prices index and the raw materials prices index were relatively unchanged at 18.4 and 32.7, respectively. The wages and benefits index fell to 25.2 from 31.9. Press release Background on the Texas Manufacturing Outlook Survey (TMOS) Monthly data for this indicator only dates back to 2004, so it is difficult to see the full potential of this indicator without several business cycles of data. Nevertheless...
Earnings Call Insights: Lantern Pharma (LTRN) Q4 2025 Management View Panna Sharma, President, CEO & Director, highlighted, "2025 was a defining year for Lantern Pharma. We achieved clinical validation, we believe, across multiple programs while establishing the foundation for our next phase of growth." Sharma stated that the company reached "encouraging and a unique development with LP-300 in the...
Earnings Call Insights: Lantern Pharma (LTRN) Q4 2025 Management View Panna Sharma, President, CEO & Director, highlighted, "2025 was a defining year for Lantern Pharma. We achieved clinical validation, we believe, across multiple programs while establishing the foundation for our next phase of growth." Sharma stated that the company reached "encouraging and a unique development with LP-300 in the Phase II HARMONIC observations, combined with also a successful Phase Ia completion for our LP-184 clinical trial and most recently, an FDA IND clearance for our pediatric CNS cancer program through Starlight Therapeutics." Sharma addressed rumors regarding his departure: "This is categorically untrue and appears to be rooted in a deliberate and perhaps malicious attempt to manipulate our stock price." Sharma discussed the advancement of the HARMONIC trial for LP-300, noting the completion of targeted enrollment in Japan ahead of schedule and ongoing patient enrollment in the U.S., Japan, and Taiwan. He shared that the Phase II trial has shown an "86% clinical benefit rate and a 43% objective response rate in its initial safety lead-in cohort, including 1 patient with a durable complete response and survival continuing for nearly 2 years." Sharma announced a Type C meeting with the FDA scheduled for mid-May 2026, seeking feedback on protocol amendments for LP-300, focusing on patient enrollment with the EGFR exon 21 L858R mutation, increasing treatment cycles, and moving to a single-arm Simon 2-stage design. On LP-184, Sharma reported "a 48% clinical benefit rate at or above the therapeutic threshold" in a Phase I trial with 63 patients and emphasized mechanistic validation for DNA damage repair mutations. Starlight Therapeutics received FDA IND clearance for a Phase I pediatric CNS cancer trial, with STAR-001 gaining multiple rare pediatric disease and orphan drug designations, providing Lantern the potential to obtain FDA priority review vouchers. On the AI front, Sharma...
The comparison to the dot-com mania of the late 1990s, which came to a screeching halt in the early 2000s, is understandable, but it's ultimately misguided.
The comparison to the dot-com mania of the late 1990s, which came to a screeching halt in the early 2000s, is understandable, but it's ultimately misguided.