China's foreign exchange reserves returned to USD 3.4 trillion in April, with the central bank continuing its gold accumulation for the 18th consecutive month. The latest data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on May 7 showed that as of the end of April 2026, China's foreign exchange reserves stood at USD 3.4105 trillion, an increase of USD 68.4 billion from the end of March, representing a rise of 2.05%. The current level of foreign exchange reserves remains at a ten-year high and has stayed above USD 3.3 trillion for nine consecutive months. Updated official reserve asset data also indicated that official gold reserves reached 74.64 million ounces by the end of April, up by 260,000 ounces from the previous month. The People's Bank of China has now been increasing its gold holdings for 18 months in a row.

The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index fell by 1.40%. At the close of overnight U.S. trading, the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 313.62 points to 49,596.97, a decline of 0.63%. The S&P 500 index decreased by 28.01 points to 7,337.11, down 0.38%. The Nasdaq Composite Index lost 32.74 points to 25,806.2, a dip of 0.13%. Major technology stocks showed mixed performance, with Qualcomm rising over 5% and Tesla gaining more than 3%. AI application stocks generally advanced, with Datadog surging over 31%, and Figma and Applovin both up over 6%. Memory concept stocks mostly declined. Most popular Chinese stocks fell, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index dropping 1.40%. Futu Holdings fell over 13%. The Hang Seng Index ADR declined proportionally, closing at 26,377.65 points, down 248.63 points or 0.93% from the Hong Kong market close. The NYMEX WTI crude oil front-month contract rose USD 2.58 to settle at USD 97.66 per barrel, a gain of 2.71%. The COMEX gold front-month contract increased by USD 1.70, or 0.04%, to USD 4,696.0 per ounce.

The European Union has banned funding for projects using Chinese inverters, to which the Ministry of Commerce responded. When asked about reports that EU officials stated the EU would prohibit funding support for projects using inverters from "high-risk countries" including China, a spokesperson commented that China has taken note of the relevant reports. Without any concrete evidence, the EU has for the first time classified China as a so-called "high-risk country" and used this as a basis to ban funding for projects using Chinese inverters. This constitutes stigmatization of China and represents unfair, discriminatory treatment against Chinese products. China rejects and firmly opposes this move.

Apple Inc. has raised its 2026 production target for the MacBook Neo to 10 million units. According to reports, Apple has asked suppliers to significantly increase the 2026 production target for the MacBook Neo laptop from the initial 5-6 million units to 10 million units to alleviate current tight market supply, even if the company has to pay substantial premiums to TSMC to secure supplies of the A18 Pro chip.

JPMorgan stated that secondary home transaction volumes in the domestic property sector rose 31% during the May Day holiday and expects the sector to have approximately 20% further upside. In a research report, JPMorgan noted that the domestic property sector rose another 5% on May 6 following solid Golden Week data, continuing its strength since early April. The bank believes that if data remains solid this month, the sector is expected to continue outperforming the market. Even though share prices have already accumulated a 22% gain, there is still about 20% target return potential, which would bring the sector back to its highs of October 2024. If the positive data persists into July and August, there could be another wave of gains exceeding 30%. The report cited Iceberg index data showing that real-time secondary transaction volumes during the holiday week increased 31% year-on-year, extending the 29% year-on-year increase seen in April. For the primary market, most state-owned developers guided for figures flat year-on-year. The bank's top picks are China Overseas Land & Investment (00688), China Resources Land (01109), and China Jinmao (00817).

Kunlun Xin Technology Co., Ltd. has commenced its IPO辅导. According to the China Securities Regulatory Commission website, Kunlun Xin Technology Co., Ltd. officially began its listing辅导 on May 7, 2026, with China International Capital Corporation acting as the辅导 institution. This involves Baidu Group-SW (09888).

Wasion Holdings (03393) announced that as of 2026, it has secured cumulative contracts worth approximately RMB 383 million from State Grid centralized tenders. On April 30, 2026, State Grid Corporation announced the results of its first 2026 centralized tender for metering equipment. The company's subsidiary, Wasion Group Co., Ltd., secured contracts for approximately 827,000 smart electricity meters and metering current and voltage transformers, with a contract value of about RMB 208 million. Additionally, the company's subsidiary, Wasion Information Industry Co., Ltd., secured contracts for approximately 24,000 smart fusion terminals and dedicated transformer acquisition terminals, with a contract value of about RMB 77.44 million. The total value of contracts secured by the company in this tender ranked first. As of the date of the announcement, the company has secured cumulative contracts worth approximately RMB 383 million from State Grid centralized tenders in 2026.

China Qinfa (00866) announced that its subsidiary, SDE (PT Sumber Daya Energi, a non-wholly owned subsidiary of the company), has entered into a coal supply agreement with Zhejiang Energy Asia Pacific concerning the purchase of coal by Zhejiang Energy Asia Pacific from SDE.

CIMC (02039) announced that on May 7, 2026, the company received a notice from its shareholder holding more than 5% of shares, China Merchants International (CIMC) Investment Co., Ltd., stating that on May 7, 2026, China Merchants International (CIMC) Investment Co., Ltd. reduced its holding of the company's H shares by 15.097 million shares via block trade, representing 0.28% of the company's total share capital. Its shareholding in the company decreased from approximately 1.304 billion H shares to approximately 1.289 billion H shares, and its percentage of total share capital decreased from 24.18% to 23.90%. This change in interest reached a whole multiple of 1%.

361 DEGREES (01361) announced the completion of the placement of 100 million placement shares, raising net proceeds of approximately HKD 610 million. According to the terms of the placement and subscription agreement, the placement was completed on April 30, 2026. A total of 100 million placement shares were placed to no fewer than six independent placees at the placement price of HKD 6.18 per placement share.

WEICHAI POWER (02338) is considered the most inexpensive stock in the AIDC power supply chain based on P/E ratio. According to a Goldman Sachs research report, the recent rally in WEICHAI POWER's H-shares has begun to reflect the growth potential of reciprocating internal combustion engines (RICE) but has not yet priced in the potential of solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC). Meanwhile, WEICHAI POWER's A-shares (000338.SZ) have not reflected either factor. Even though H-shares and A-shares have surged 129% and 81% year-to-date respectively, they remain the cheapest stocks based on P/E ratio within the global artificial intelligence data center (AIDC) power supply chain. The bank maintains a "Buy" rating and raised its target prices for H-shares and A-shares from HKD 46 and RMB 42 to HKD 56 and RMB 48, respectively. The report noted that the recent quarterly results of U.S. peers not only reaffirmed the positive outlook for AI capital expenditure but also highlighted the increasingly important role of RICE and SOFC as on-site primary power solutions. The bank believes that WEICHAI POWER offers the best investment opportunity in this field within the Asian market.