Business News
Latest business news and updates
Total: 3045
A New Chapter at Berkshire: Greg Abel’s First Letter Signals Continuity—and Caution
Greg Abel’s first shareholder letter as Berkshire Hathaway CEO underscores continuity with Warren Buffett’s approach while acknowledging setbacks in 2025: net income fell year‑on‑year and operating profits were weighed down by insurance weakness and write‑downs. The company retains a massive cash reserve and a concentrated equity portfolio, leaving Abel the strategic choice of how and when to deploy capital.
Why Hang Seng Tech Is Lagging: The ByteDance Problem for Hong Kong’s AI Story
The Hang Seng Tech Index has lagged regional peers as ByteDance, a private giant, siphons user attention and advertiser budgets through Douyin and new AI products. Seedance 2.0’s breakout and ByteDance’s unlisted status have heightened investor anxiety that the index cannot capture the country’s next wave of tech winners. The impasse reflects commercial disruption combined with genuine regulatory and geopolitical obstacles to a ByteDance listing.
Business Leader Urges China to Give Every Citizen ¥500 Voucher to Spur Spending — Claims It Could Unlock Nearly ¥2 Trillion
Liu Yonghao, a CPPCC member and chairman of New Hope Group, has proposed issuing a universal 500-yuan consumption voucher to every resident in China. He argues the measure — costing about ¥700 billion in issuance — could mobilise nearly ¥2 trillion in spending and support millions of service-sector jobs, while correcting a bias in past voucher schemes that favoured large retailers.
Wahaha’s Heir Trims the Sails: Daughter Shutters Robot Unit, Reversing Father’s 13-Year Diversification Drive
Zong Fuli has shut Wahaha’s robotics arm, reversing her father Zong Qinghou’s decade-long diversification into industrial automation and other non-core ventures. The move reflects a strategic pivot back to Wahaha’s beverage business, prioritising capital discipline and focus over risky, long‑cycle R&D bets in robotics.
Risk-Off Sweep Sends Hong Kong Tech Sliding as Oil and Shipping Stocks Surge
Hong Kong equities fell as investors rotated out of tech and into energy, shipping and gold stocks amid rising risk aversion. The Hang Seng slid 2.14% and the Hang Seng TECH declined 2.89%, while oil and oil‑services names and gold miners posted significant gains.
Shanghai Index Edges Higher as Oil & Gas Stocks Stage a Concentrated Surge
The Shanghai Composite rose 0.47% on heavy turnover as oil, gas and other commodity-linked sectors staged a sharp, concentrated rally. Despite the headline gain, market breadth was weak—over 4,200 stocks fell—leaving the advance dependent on a handful of resource and state-linked names.
Chinese EV Maker Leapmotor Offers Up to ¥5m for Tips on ‘Black PR’ as Auto Industry Battles Online Misinformation
Leapmotor announced a public tip line on March 2 offering rewards of ¥50,000–¥5,000,000 for verified leads exposing ‘‘black PR’’ attacks, joining other Chinese carmakers and aligning with state-led efforts to curb online disinformation. The move reflects rising corporate concern over reputational risk in the fast-growing EV sector but raises questions about incentives, evidentiary standards and the limits of crowd-sourced policing.
China’s EV Upstarts Face a March Reckoning as February Sales Show Early Winners — and Deepening Divergence
February deliveries underscored a widening split among China’s new‑energy vehicle startups: Leapmotor and Li Auto held relative strength while many peers experienced steep month‑on‑month declines. With financing incentives proliferating and a concentrated march of new model launches scheduled for March–April, product execution, ADAS scalability and cost control will determine who sustains growth as sector expansion slows in 2026.
Tungsten Quadruples as Funds Rally and Beijing Eases FX Rules — Markets Reprice Risk After Middle East Shock
Heightened Middle East conflict has pushed oil and precious metals higher and unsettled markets, while China’s central bank cut its forward FX reserve requirement to zero to lower hedging costs and stabilise the yuan. Domestic equities have rebounded sharply, commodity prices — notably tungsten — have spiked, and big flows into robotics and AI are reshaping investment priorities amid a wider debate over the timing of returns from new technology.
Beaten-Up AI and Chip Stocks as Commodities, Oil and Gold Rally on Geopolitical Risk and Price Narratives
China’s stock market opened lower as AI, solar and semiconductor sectors pulled back while oil, natural gas and precious metals rallied, driven by price-rise narratives and renewed Middle East geopolitical risk. Brokers say the market is being steered by a combination of supply constraints and narrative-led sentiment, lifting commodity-linked names even as technology shares give back earlier gains.
Chinese Fund House Faces Scrutiny After Manager’s Poor Returns and Alleged ‘Misattributed’ Marketing
Puyin Ansheng Fund Management is under scrutiny after its Strategy Select fund lost 12.52% while promotional materials lauded returns that mostly predated the tenure of the named manager, Yang Fulin. The case highlights potential breaches of China’s rules on truthful fund advertising and raises broader concerns about investor protection and marketing practices in the rapidly expanding retail fund market.
China Pushes Auto Demand with Provincial Trade‑In Schemes as New EV Makers Rack Up Deliveries and Xiaomi Unveils Supercar Concept
Provincial rollouts of China’s 2026 vehicle subsidy and trade‑in rules aim to stabilise car demand and accelerate fleet renewal, with Shenzhen offering significant purchase rebates for NEVs and small petrol cars. February delivery figures show strong volumes from several new EV makers and mixed results among incumbents, while Xiaomi’s Vision GT concept and ADAS usage data underscore the sector’s technological pivot and intensifying competition.