(1) Stock Market News

U.S. Market

The U.S. market closed with the Dow Jones Industrial Average down by 154 points or 0.36%, at 42,233 points; the S&P 500 rose by 0.16%, at 5,832 points; 

the Nasdaq Composite increased by 0.78%, at 18,712 points; the Golden Dragon Index, which reflects the performance of Chinese concept stocks, fell back by 1.44%.

Hong Kong Market

The Hang Seng Index closed up by 101 points, at 20,701 points. The total turnover for the day increased to over HK$154.2 billion. 

In addition, the net inflow from the northbound trading link was HK$6.7 billion. The Hang Seng Tech Index rose by 49 points, closing at 4,623 points.

Mainland Market

The Shanghai Composite Index closed at 3,286 points, down by 35 points or 1.08%, with a turnover of CNY 806.574 billion. 

The Shenzhen Component Index closed at 10,543 points, down by 142 points or 1.33%, with a turnover of CNY 1.26 trillion. 

The CSI 300 Index reported at 3,924 points, down by 39 points or 1%; the ChiNext Index reported at 2,177 points, down by 51 points or 2.32%.

(2) Economic News

- Due to the escalating trade conflicts in the electric vehicle sector, China is pressuring domestic automakers to pause their expansion in the European Union.

  Informed sources say that China has asked manufacturers to hold off on actively seeking production bases and signing new agreements in the EU, 

and to generally keep a low profile while China and the EU negotiate electric vehicle tariffs. In response to this warning, 

the state-owned Dongfeng Group has halted plans that could involve producing cars in Italy.

- The State Administration of Foreign Exchange and the Central Direct Management Bureau have jointly issued a notice 

on promoting the use of new energy vehicles in central and state organs, in order to support the development of the new energy

 vehicle industry and better leverage the exemplary role of central and state organs.

- HSBC Global Research has released a report stating that it expects Hong Kong's residential property prices to stabilize in the second 

half of this year and to rise by 5% next year, reversing the downward trend since 2022. Residential property prices have fallen by 7% year-to-date, 

but have seen a moderate increase in the past three weeks.

  HSBC stated that buyers are gradually returning to the real estate market, driven by local users and investors, 

with a good increase in property transactions in October, and strong sales of newly launched properties. 

Interest rate cuts and favorable policies have promoted the recovery of the property market, with an expected positive wealth effect.

- Hedge fund Vantage Point Asset Management is increasing its bets on Japanese stocks and the US dollar, betting that Republican presidential

 candidate Donald Trump will win the upcoming U.S. presidential election next week.

(3) Corporate News

- HSBC Holdings (00005) announced its third-quarter results on the 29th, and after the results were announced, the stock price broke through the HK$70 mark in the afternoon, 

rising by more than 3%. HSBC's pre-tax profit for the third quarter increased by nearly 10% year-on-year to US$8.5 billion, which was better than market expectations.

 The growth mainly came from wealth management and personal banking business, as well as global banking and capital markets business. 

Although net interest income has declined, the quarterly revenue growth was half a percentage point to about US$17 billion. 

HSBC also announced the launch of a new round of share buyback plan of up to US$3 billion, with a target of a 50% dividend payout ratio for the full year of 2024.

- HSBC's (00005) net interest margin declined in the third quarter, and the acting group finance director, Mr. Zhuang Jinghang, 

said that the main reason was the loss recorded from the early redemption of old securities, and adjustments made for the sale of HSBC's Argentine business.

 Both factors will have a positive impact on the net interest margin in the long run, but due to global central bank interest rate cuts, 

the net interest margin is expected to face headwinds, which will continue until 2025.

- Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund plans to reduce its international investment ratio and refocus on the domestic economy.

  The Saudi Arabia Public Investment Fund (PIF), with assets valued at US$930 billion, plans to cut the proportion of funds invested overseas from 30% to 18% to 20%.

  PIF President Rumayyan said at the Future Investment Initiative conference held in Riyadh that initially,

 most of the fund's investments were domestic projects in Saudi Arabia, but later the proportion of international investments increased from 2% to 30%, 

and the current goal is to reduce the proportion to 18% to 20%.

- China National Petroleum Corporation (00857) saw a more than 5% decrease in profits in the last quarter.

  As of the end of September, the third quarter, PetroChina's net profit was CNY 43.91 billion, with a year-on-year decrease of 12% in revenue to CNY 702.4 billion.

  For the first three quarters, the cumulative net profit was CNY 132.52 billion, which was similar to the same period last year, with a 1% decrease in revenue to CNY 2.2 trillion.

(4) Corporate Earnings Releases

- CIMC Group (02039) announced that its profit for the first three quarters of this year was CNY 1.828 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.69 times, with earnings per share of CNY 0.3357.

  During the period, the operating income was CNY 128.971 billion, a year-on-year increase of 35.58%.

  For the third quarter alone, the profit was CNY 962 million, a year-on-year increase of 8.92 times, with earnings per share of CNY 1.788.

- Tsingtao Brewery (00168) announced that its profit for the first nine months of this year was CNY 4.99 billion, a year-on-year increase of 1.67%, with earnings per share of CNY 3.667.

  During the period, the operating income was CNY 28.959 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 6.52%.

  For the third quarter alone, the profit was CNY 1.348 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 9.03%, with earnings per share of CNY 0.989.

- China Merchants Securities (06099) announced that its profit for the first three quarters of this year was CNY 7.15 billion, a year-on-year increase of 11.68%, with earnings per share of CNY 0.77.

  During the period, the operating income was CNY 14.279 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 3.98%.

  For the third quarter alone, the profit was CNY 2.402 billion, a year-on-year increase of 43.43%, with earnings per share of CNY 0.26.

- CITIC Securities (06030) announced that as of the end of September this year, the third-quarter profit was CNY 6.229 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21.94%; 

the operating income was CNY 15.959 billion, an increase of 11.54%, with earnings per share of CNY 0.4.

  For the first three quarters of this year, the profit was CNY 16.799 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.35%, with earnings per share of CNY 1.09.

- The American fast-food chain McDonald's announced that its profit for the third quarter of this year was US$2.255 billion, a year-on-year decrease of 2.68%,

with earnings per share of US$3.13. The adjusted earnings per share were US$3.23, which was expected to be US$3.20.

  During the period, the revenue was US$68.73 billion, a year-on-year increase of 2.7%, which was expected to be US$68.1 billion.

  The group's global same-store sales fell by 1.5%, of which, the same-store sales in the United States rose by 0.3%.