Cointime update: China’s General Administration of Customs chief Sun Meijun met Australian Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Julie Collins in Beijing on Nov. 4. The two sides exchanged views on implementing the consensus reached by Chinese and Australian leaders, further consolidating and expanding bilateral cooperation on animal and plant health and food safety, facilitating safe bilateral agri-food trade, and broadening the use of electronic certificates. Australian Ambassador to China Scott Dewar attended the meeting.
Cointime reports: Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, said a 10-year US Treasury yield around 5% looks “very attractive” given expectations that inflation will cool. In a Bloomberg Television interview, he said buying the 10-year at that level requires relative optimism that productivity will push inflation down, adding that he holds that view.
Cointime reports: US employers announced 43,994 job cuts in October, the lowest total for the month since 2023. The figure marks a slowdown in planned workforce reductions compared with prior Octobers.
Cointime update: Oman and Iran held talks on measures to restore shipping through the Strait of Hormuz, the strategic waterway at the mouth of the Persian Gulf. The discussions focus on reviving maritime traffic through the chokepoint, a route vital to global oil and gas flows. No timeline or agreement was disclosed.
Cointime reports: US Challenger job cuts fell 71.3% year-on-year in October, compared with a 19.9% decline in the prior reading. The October figure marks a sharp swing from the previous month’s year-on-year change, indicating a much smaller pace of announced layoffs than a year earlier. The prior reading showed a 19.9% year-on-year decline.
Cointime update: Czech police said on November 5 that four aircraft flying to Prague had received bomb threats and were being prepared for landing, assessing the threats as low-credibility. Separately, a LOT Polish Airlines flight from Warsaw to Brussels landed safely after a security warning and was checked with nothing suspicious found. A Finnair flight from Helsinki also landed safely in Vienna after a bomb threat, the airline said.
Cointime update: Beijing Yimiao Shenzhou Biopharmaceutical Co. has received a drug registration certificate from China’s National Medical Products Administration for its self-developed CAR-T cell therapy, Boji’olunsai injection, for adults with relapsed or refractory large B-cell lymphoma after two or more lines of systemic therapy. It is the first CAR-T cell therapy approved in Beijing.
Cointime update: Six residential land parcels in Chengdu were sold at their reserve price on a combined 1.405 billion yuan, with total land area of 165,973.26 square meters and planned gross floor area of 331,655.46 square meters. All six sites changed hands at the starting price, the municipal-level auction showed.
Cointime update: European Central Bank Governing Council member Boris Zigman said a December interest rate hike is “quite likely,” signaling the ECB may tighten policy again before year-end. The remark points to continued concern over inflation within the eurozone, though the material did not specify the size of any potential increase.
Cointime update: Iran’s navy said an oil tanker struck a mine in the Strait of Hormuz on Thursday morning. The announcement did not specify the vessel’s name, flag or the extent of damage. The Strait of Hormuz is the world’s most important oil chokepoint, with roughly a fifth of global petroleum consumption passing through it.
Cointime update: Wang Jian, former member of the Party Committee and deputy general manager of State Grid Hunan Electric Power Co., is under disciplinary review and supervisory investigation for suspected serious violations of discipline and law, the discipline inspection and supervision group of the Central Commission for Discipline Inspection and National Commission of Supervision stationed at State Grid Corporation of China, and the Hunan Provincial Commission for Discipline Inspection and Supervision announced. The case is being handled jointly by the State Grid supervisory group and the Zhuzhou City Supervisory Commission in Hunan.
Cointime update: China’s Ministry of Industry and Information Technology conducted 42 batches of technical app inspections in the third quarter of 2026, ordering 967 apps to rectify violations, publicly naming 163 and removing 72 from app stores, the ministry said in its Q3 telecom service quality notice. The compliance rate of apps on shelves rose 1.3 percentage points from the previous quarter, with platforms including Yingyongbao, Honor App Store, Xiaomi App Store and Baidu Mobile Assistant leading.
Cointime update: Saudi Arabia and Syria signed a defense cooperation agreement between their ministries of defense on the fourth of the month, during Syrian transitional President Ahmed al-Sharaa’s visit to Riyadh. The agreement’s details have not been disclosed. Al-Sharaa met Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman, their second meeting in Saudi Arabia in less than a month.
Cointime update: The foreign ministers of Oman and Iran discussed arrangements to ensure the security of maritime passages, Oman’s state news agency reported. Both sides stressed the need to move from de-escalation toward reaching a lasting agreement, the report said, without giving further details on the specific routes or the terms under discussion.
Cointime update: China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) Price Cost and Certification Center deputy director Cheng Gang led a team to Guangdong province for research on October 28-29. The delegation visited China Southern Power Grid, the National New Energy Storage Innovation Center and the Guangdong Power Exchange Center, focusing on independent energy storage and power market construction. Officials from the center’s new energy price cost division joined the trip.
Cointime update: Chinese Vice Premier Liu Guozhong, a member of the Politburo of the Communist Party of China Central Committee, conducted inspections in Guangxi and Fujian from November 3 to 5, emphasizing the need to advance the Healthy China initiative. He called for high-quality development of health and medical services and for ensuring decisive progress in building a Healthy China during the 15th Five-Year Plan period, while continuously improving public health and well-being.
Cointime reports: The pound’s effective exchange rate has risen to its highest level since 2016. The move marks the strongest reading for the trade-weighted measure of sterling in roughly a decade, reflecting the currency’s appreciation against a basket of trading partners’ currencies.
Cointime reports: Eurozone producer prices rose 11.1% year on year in September, exceeding the 10.6% expected and accelerating from 8.2% in the prior reading. The print points to persistent pipeline inflation pressure across the currency bloc.
Cointime reports: Guangzhou’s second-hand residential property transactions reached 8,430 units in September, up 5.02% year on year, with transaction area of 840,100 square meters, up 6.28%, according to online signing data from the Guangzhou Real Estate Intermediary Association. October transactions totaled 8,513 units, up 5.65% year on year, with area of 829,000 square meters, up 2.98%.
Cointime update: Adani Ports has agreed to acquire Evos at an enterprise value of €2.56 billion, the company announced. The deal values the target at €2.56 billion on an enterprise basis. No further terms, financing details or closing timetable were disclosed in the announcement.