Daily Buzz: 19 June 2025

Top News

Will he, won't he? Trump teases US involvement in Iran-Israel war

Iran and Israel continued to exchange missile fire for a sixth day as the White House gave mixed messages on whether the US will join Israeli strikes on Iranian nuclear and military sites. "I may do it, I may not do it," Trump said. "Nobody knows what I'm going to do." He also said Iran has reached out to him and wants to negotiate. "They are even willing to come to the White House. That's courageous," Trump said.

Iran's Mission to the UN denied Trump's claim, saying "no Iranian official has ever asked to grovel at the gates of the White House."

A day earlier, Trump took a harder tone, demanding Iran's unconditional surrender and making veiled threats about assassinating Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader.

Khamenei subsequently said Iran would never surrender and warned that any US direct involvement would trigger attacks on US military bases in the Middle East.

China evacuates citizens from Iran, Israel

China has evacuated 791 nationals from Iran to safer locations, with 1,000 more currently in the process of being relocated, according to Foreign Ministry spokesperson Guo Jiakun.

Chinese citizens in Israel have also been safely relocated, Guo said. Beijing emphasized that it will continue to provide full assistance to Chinese nationals seeking to leave volatile regions.

Market-opening measures announced

People's Bank of China Governor Pan Gongsheng unveiled eight new measures to open China's financial markets wider and bolster Shanghai's position as a global financial hub. The measures, announced at the Lujiazui Forum on Wednesday, were highlighted by the creation of a digital international operation in Shanghai to extend the reach of the digital yuan in a world where the dominance of any one currency in world trade is starting to splinter.

Pan said, "Problems with the traditional cross-border payment system are becoming increasingly prominent and there is a need to reduce the dependence on one single currency," He added. "There is a growing global call for new payment structures … a trend that will only strengthen in the future."

His announcement also included the establishment of a repository to collect and analyze transaction data across bond, currency, derivatives and gold markets; the licensing of personal-credit agencies; enhanced support for technology companies; and consideration of creating yuan currency futures.

Top Business

TikTok gets third US reprieve

The White House said TikTok's reprieve from a ban on its operations in the US has been extended for three months amid ongoing talks with platform owner ByteDance of China. Congress last year passed a law banning Tiktok if ByteDance didn't relinquish control of US operations. The Trump administration has extended its reprieve three times this year.

Securities regulator widens access

The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced plans to relax listing requirements on Shanghai's Star market to allow easier entry for emerging technology companies with high potential but no profits yet. The commission also announced that participants in the "qualified foreign institutional investors" (QFII) program will be allowed to invest in exchange-traded fund options on domestic markets, starting October 9.

MiniMax unveils new model, may seek IPO

Shanghai-based AI startup MiniMax announced the release of MiniMax-M1, its first reasoning model, saying the MI compares with top models from OpenAI, Anthropic and DeepSeek in intelligence and creativity but is cheaper to run. The company, valued at about US$3 billion and formerly involved in AI-generated video games, is reportedly exploring an initial public offering in Hong Kong, according to local media reports on Wednesday. The Shanghai-based company has not yet commented on the potential listing.

Economy & Markets

Fed leaves rates unchanged

The US Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged in the range of 4.25 percent-4.5 percent, as expected, but continued to suggest two possible cuts later in the year. Fed Chairman Jerome Powell forecast "meaningful" inflation ahead as Trump administration's import tariffs raise prices on consumer goods.

The decision came a day after the Commerce Department reported weak economic figures. Retail sales in May contracted 0.9 percent from a year earlier, the largest drop in four months, and manufacturing production inched up 0.1 percent.

'China's Nvidia' close to IPO

Moore Threads, a Chinese technology company specializing in design of graphic processing units and often referred to as "China's Nvidia," has received approval for an initial public offering in China. No details of the size of the public sale have been released. Jams Zhang, company founder and chief executive, previously headed up Nvidia's China operations.

Japan's exports decline

Japanese exports in May fell 1.7 percent from a year earlier, the steepest drop in eight months, on an 11.1 percent plunge in shipments to the US amid the tariff war. Exports to China tumbled 8.8 percent. Auto exports, a mainstay of trade, fell an overall 6.9 percent, down almost 25 percent to the US, which has imposed tariffs of 25 percent on foreign auto imports.

Corporate

China company inks deal on Kazakh gas project

China National Chemical Engineering Group signed an agreement with QazaqGaz on the first coal-to-gas project in Kazakhstan. QazaqGaz operates the largest Kazakh natural gas pipeline network, with an annual capacity of 255 billion cubic meters. The announcement came as the China-Central Asia summit attended by Chinese President Xi Jinping wrapped up in the Kazakh capital of Astana.

Top crypto-mining companies to expand in US

Bitmain, Canaan and MicroBT, which account for 90 percent of the machines used in the world to "mine" bitcoins, plan to set up manufacturing sites in the US as President Donald Trump's tariff war reshapes the cryptocurrency supply chain, Reuters reported. Bitmain is a privately owned company based in Beijing; Canaan is now headquartered in Singapore; MicroBT is based in Shenzhen.

Meituan founder pares Li Auto stake

Wang Xing, founder of Chinese e-commerce platform Meituan, pared his investment in Li Auto but remained the Chinese electric carmaker's second-largest shareholder. Wang sold about 5.7 million Li Auto shares between June 10 and 13, paring his stake down 0.3 point to 20.6 percent. Since the first quarter of 2023, Wang has reduced his holdings by two percentage points. Li Auto founder Li Xiang remains the company's largest shareholder.

Longsys teams up with Sandisk

Shenzhen-based Longsys Electronics announced its Hong Kong subsidiary will link up with US-based Sandisk to develop universal flash storage products. Longsys is the world's second-largest independent memory supplier and the largest in China. It derives about 70 percent of its income from overseas sales of products that are used in smartphone terminals, vehicles and data centers.

Pig-nutrition supplier investments

China pig-feed supplier Teamgene Technology announced plans to acquire six farms owned by Singapore's Riverstone Farm in a cash-and-shares deal. The company also said it will acquire an 80 percent stake in Pipestone Livestock Technology Consulting, a Shanghai-based subsidiary of US pig veterinary services provider Pipestone.