December 18 Macroeconomic Index:The European Central Bank increased bank capital requirements, German business confidence increased, and global trade policy fluctuations affected the market

Latest Global Major Index

International Crude Price Trend & Exchange Rate of RMB to USD Trend

Domestic News

1. State Administration of Taxation: The tax department has established a new electronic tax bureau with a unified and standardized national standard

2. State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council: Promote the establishment of a normalized share repurchase and shareholding mechanism between central enterprises and holding listed companies

3. The domestic liquidity environment will continue to be loose. Institutions focus on the two major directions of "expanding domestic demand" and "new quality productice forces".

4. The Ministry of Finance and other departments shall formulate and issue a trial version of the Basic Standards for Corporate Sustainability Disclosure, which shall be implemented by enterprises on a voluntary basis

5. State Administration of Foreign Exchange: Support the innovative development of new trade formats such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses

 International News

1. The ECB raises bank capital requirements on the grounds of heightened risks

2. China and Russia held the 30th meeting of the Joint Border Commission

3. Malaysia kept the export tariff on palm oil unchanged in January, but raised the export reference price

4. European gas prices rose slightly, but remained well below their peak in December

5. Under the dual pressure of politics and tariffs, the confidence of German companies has further declined

Domestic News

1. State Administration of Taxation: The tax department has established a new electronic tax bureau with a unified and standardized national standard

The State Administration of Taxation adheres to the drive of tax big data, builds and promotes the launch of a new electronic tax bureau with a unified and standardized national standard, realizes the digital, intelligent, and scenario-based upgrade and efficiency of tax services, and greatly improves the convenience of tax payment. At present, more than 96 million taxpayers across the country use the new electronic tax bureau, handling more than 380 million tax-related businesses on average every month, and the tax processing time is 20% less than in the past. (State Administration of Taxation)

2. State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council: Promote the establishment of a normalized share repurchase and shareholding mechanism between central enterprises and holding listed companies

The State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council issued the "Several Opinions on Improving and Strengthening the Market Value Management of Listed Companies Controlled by Central Enterprises", which proposes to guide the holding companies to strengthen investor communication through multiple channels and forms to enhance market recognition; Guide the holding listed companies to firmly establish the awareness of investor returns, increase the frequency of cash dividends, optimize the rhythm of cash dividends, and increase the proportion of cash dividends; Promote the establishment of a normalized stock repurchase and shareholding mechanism between central enterprises and holding listed companies, standardize the reduction of holdings, and actively solve the problem of long-term net breaking of holding listed companies.

3. The domestic liquidity environment will continue to be loose. Institutions focus on the two major directions of "expanding domestic demand" and "new quality productice forces".

Huaxi Securities said that the policy tone of the two important meetings at the end of the year was in line with market expectations, and the expression of macro policy "more active and promising" corresponded to the combination of "more active" fiscal policy and "moderately loose" monetary policy. Fiscal policy will pay more attention to increasing the amount, the deficit ratio is expected to increase significantly next year, and the moderately loose monetary policy means that next year's RRR and interest rate cuts may be greater than this year. In addition, the meeting proposed to "stabilize the stock market", indicating that the capital market will also be an important starting point for policy stabilization next year. Looking ahead, the domestic liquidity environment will continue to be loose, and A-shares are expected to continue to interpret the upward New Year's Eve market in shocks, focusing on the two major directions of policy focus next year: "expanding domestic demand" and "new quality productive forces".

4. The Ministry of Finance and other departments shall formulate and issue a trial version of the Basic Standards for Corporate Sustainability Disclosure, which shall be implemented by enterprises on a voluntary basis

The Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Ecology and Environment, the Ministry of Commerce, the People's Bank of China, the State-owned Assets Supervision and Administration Commission of the State Council, and the State Administration of Financial Supervision recently jointly issued the Standards for Corporate Sustainability Disclosure – Basic Standards (Trial). The relevant person in charge of the Accounting Department of the Ministry of Finance said that considering the development stage and disclosure ability of China's enterprises, the implementation of the corporate sustainability disclosure standards will not adopt a "one-size-fits-all" mandatory implementation requirements, and will adopt the strategy of distinguishing key points, piloting first, step-by-step, and step-by-step advancement, expanding from listed companies to non-listed companies, from large enterprises to small and medium-sized enterprises, from qualitative requirements to quantitative requirements, and from voluntary disclosure to mandatory disclosure. Therefore, the notice issued by the Basic Guidelines clearly states that the implementation shall be voluntarily implemented by enterprises before the scope of implementation and implementation requirements are stipulated.

5. State Administration of Foreign Exchange: Support the innovative development of new trade formats such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses

According to the State Administration of Foreign Exchange, the adverse impact of changes in the current external environment has deepened, but China's economic foundation is stable, with many advantages, strong resilience and great potential, and the supporting conditions and basic trends for long-term improvement have not changed. The foreign exchange management departments should continue to focus on the main line of preventing risks, strengthening supervision, and promoting development, and do a solid job in all aspects of foreign exchange management. Promote the reform of banks' foreign exchange business to improve the quality and expand the scope, and create a foreign exchange policy environment of "the more honest the more convenient". Focus on science and technology enterprises to do a good job in the "five major articles" of finance. Support the innovation and development of new forms of trade such as cross-border e-commerce and overseas warehouses, deepen the reform of foreign exchange management for foreign direct investment, and help stabilize foreign trade and foreign investment. Steadily expand the institutional opening of the financial market and support the entry of medium and long-term capital into the market. Improve the two-in-one management of "macro-prudential + micro-supervision" in the foreign exchange market, maintain the basic stability of the RMB exchange rate at a reasonable and balanced level, and maintain the basic balance of payments. (CCTV News)

International News

1. The ECB raises bank capital requirements on the grounds of heightened risks

The ECB slightly raised its capital requirements for banks in the region, saying that despite the high profits, geopolitical risks have increased. Overall, the minimum requirement for high-quality capital faced by banks next year is 11.3%, up from 11.2% in 2024, the European Central Bank said in a statement on Tuesday. Over the past two and a half years, European banks have benefited from higher interest rates, driving dividends to shareholders. However, the ECB warns that they face a number of risks, from geopolitical tensions to climate change. The ECB also said that the number of banks facing additional requirements due to excessive leverage has more than doubled. Thirteen banks must now maintain a minimum leverage ratio of more than 3%. The additional buffer is between 0.1 and 0.4 percentage points.

2. China and Russia held the 30th meeting of the Joint Border Commission

On December 16-17, the 30th meeting of the Sino-Russian Border Joint Commission was held in Beijing. The meeting was co-chaired by Zhou Hongyou, Counselor of the Department of Border and Maritime Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and Kozlov, Ambassador-at-Large of the Russian Foreign Ministry. Representatives from the foreign affairs, national defense, customs, water conservancy, immigration departments and local governments of the two countries attended the meeting. The two sides positively appraised bilateral relations and the implementation of the Agreement on the Management System of the China-Russia Border, fully affirmed the good momentum of clear and stable border relations and deepening cooperation in border areas, and agreed to continue to give full play to the role of the Joint Committee mechanism, strengthen border-related cooperation, maintain order in the border areas of the two countries, and promote the development and prosperity of the border areas. After the meeting, the two sides signed the minutes of the 30th meeting of the Sino-Russian Joint Border Committee.

3. Malaysia kept the export tariff on palm oil unchanged in January, but raised the export reference price

Malaysia kept the export tariff on crude palm oil unchanged at 10% in January, but raised the reference price for crude palm oil exports to RM5,001.72/mt in January from RM4,471.39/mt in December, according to data released by the Malaysian Palm Oil Authority (MPOB).

4. European gas prices rose slightly, but remained well below their peak in December

European gas prices recovered slightly after falling below €40/MWh in the previous session. The benchmark Dutch TTF index rose 0.4% to 40.44 euros/MWh, but was down about 18% from its peak of 49 euros/MWh in early December. Weather forecasts suggest that temperatures in northwestern Europe will ease up next week, which may ease some pressure on inventory depletion, while increased LNG imports are helping the region meet heating demand. ING analysts said that the demand for gas pipeline capacity in Bulgaria and Turkey also increased in January, suggesting that market participants are preparing to look for alternatives if Russian gas supplies through Ukraine are stopped as planned.

5. Under the dual pressure of politics and tariffs, the confidence of German companies has further declined

The German economy's woes continue as business confidence declines further towards the end of the year. Germany's IFO business climate index recorded 84.7 in December, the lowest level since May 2020. In the latest IFO report, the outlook index fell sharply. The expected data fell to its lowest level since February, reaffirming a bleaker outlook for next year amid political uncertainty and looming Trump tariffs.

Domestic Macro Economy Index