The China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) has outlined its capital market reform roadmap for the second half of the year, focusing on improving the equity, bond, and futures markets' ability to serve the real economy. Key measures include extending the STAR Market's fifth set of listing criteria to cover artificial intelligence, deepening ChiNext reform to boost new consumption and modern services, and expanding public REITs while enhancing the futures market tool matrix. The reforms aim to channel capital toward technology, new consumption, and services, and strengthen direct financing.
Multiple leading indicators for infrastructure investment in China show signs of recovery, with local governments rapidly advancing major projects across the ‘six networks’ covering transport, energy, and water. Accelerated disbursement of ultra-long-term special government bonds is building momentum for stable investment. Analysts expect infrastructure investment growth to stabilize and rebound in the second half of the year, providing strong support for overall fixed-asset investment.
Yemen's Houthi group claimed to have attacked three Saudi oil tankers in the past 48 hours, continuing its maritime embargo against Saudi Arabia. The group warned that vessels heading to Saudi ports risk military strikes, and 16 Saudi ships have been forced to turn back at the Bab el-Mandeb Strait, threatening oil transport through the key Red Sea route.
China's Ministry of Finance and the State Taxation Administration announced on July 24 that residents must report and pay individual income tax on assets transferred to offshore trusts and on income generated during the trust's term. Separately, South Korean presidential adviser Kim Yong-beom said on Saturday that Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix have secured long-term memory chip supply agreements with US tech firms including NVIDIA and Broadcom worth a combined US$950 billion. SK Hynix's US-bound supply amounts to US$750 billion, while Samsung signed a US$200 billion contract with Broadcom.
South Korea has reached cooperation projects with global technology giants involving about USD 950 billion, with a focus on cutting-edge technology fields. The agreement marks a significant step in the country's efforts to attract high-tech investment and collaboration. Specific project details and participating companies have not been disclosed, but the initiative is expected to bolster South Korea's position in advanced industries.
China’s State Administration for Market Regulation on July 25 fined Ctrip Group and confiscated illegal gains totaling RMB5.179 billion for abusing its dominance in the online hotel booking market. The penalty includes a RMB3.521 billion fine—7.5% of 2025 domestic revenue—confiscation of RMB1.658 billion, and an order to refund RMB122 million in compulsory reserve deductions. An investigation launched in January 2026 found that since 2020 Ctrip used traffic allocation to impose exclusive dealing and enforce price parity, harming hotel pricing autonomy and consumer interests. Ctrip said it accepts the decision and will take corrective measures.
The State Council has approved the 15th Five-Year Plan for expanding consumption, the first national-level special plan for the sector. It targets total retail sales of consumer goods of about 60 trillion RMB by 2030, with service consumption as the core driver. The plan prioritizes improving service consumption quality and affordability. In 2025, service retail sales grew 5.5% year-on-year, outpacing goods retail sales by 1.7 percentage points. Per capita service consumption expenditure accounted for 46.1% of total consumption, reaching about 60% in first-tier cities like Beijing and Shanghai. The plan also aims to boost consumption capacity through employment, income, and social security measures.
China's Ministry of Commerce, together with several other departments, has issued a policy package containing 19 measures to promote high-quality development of the domestic service industry. The measures cover five areas: enterprise relief, local pilots, vocational training, credit system, and infrastructure. The domestic service industry now exceeds RMB 1 trillion in scale with over 30 million workers. The policy also aims to improve the credit platform, which has collected information on over 20,000 enterprises and 9 million workers, and to accelerate the revision of national standards.
China's social security funds maintained stable revenue and expenditure in the first half of the year, with a cumulative balance exceeding 11 trillion yuan. As of end-June, participants in basic pension, unemployment, and work injury insurance totaled 1.076 billion, 249 million, and 323 million respectively. Total revenue for the three funds was 4.88 trillion yuan, expenditure 4.14 trillion yuan, and the balance stood at 11.07 trillion yuan, indicating stable operations.
China's GDP grew 4.3% year on year in the second quarter of 2026 to RMB 36.15 trillion, and 4.7% in the first half to RMB 69.57 trillion. By industry, the primary sector rose 3.7%, secondary 3.9%, and tertiary 5.2%. Within tertiary, information services surged 10.7%, business services 11.9%, and financial services 6.7%.
China's industrial value-added above designated size grew 5.3% year-on-year in June 2026, accelerating 0.8 percentage points from May. Month-on-month, output rose 0.76%. Manufacturing expanded 6.0%, while mining fell 2.2% and utilities grew 7.4%. Export delivery value surged 14.8% to 1.5592 trillion yuan, and the sales rate reached 95.5%. For the first half of 2026, industrial output rose 5.4%.
China's manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) rose 0.3 percentage points month-on-month to 50.3% in June 2026, returning to expansion territory. Large enterprise PMI slipped to 50.7%, medium enterprise PMI jumped to 50.5%, while small enterprise PMI fell to 48.2%. The production and new orders sub-indices both remained above the threshold. The non-manufacturing business activity index edged up to 50.2%, and the composite PMI output index stood at 50.6%.
Profits of China's industrial enterprises above the designated size reached 3.14 trillion yuan in the first five months of 2026, up 18.8% year-on-year, with the revenue profit margin improving to 5.56%. State-controlled and joint-stock firms led growth, while private enterprises also gained. Profits in the nonferrous metals and electronics sectors more than doubled, whereas automobile and steel profits fell sharply. The asset-liability ratio of industrial enterprises stood at 58.2% at end-May.
US and Iranian delegations failed to reach consensus after 21 hours of nuclear negotiations. A two-week ceasefire is set to expire on April 21. US Vice President Vance said he delivered an ultimatum demanding a permanent end to Iran's nuclear program, which Iran rejected. The deadlock mirrors a February breakdown in Geneva that led to 38 days of US airstrikes on over 13,000 targets. Iran insists on its right to peaceful nuclear energy under the NPT and demands sanctions relief, war reparations, and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.