GMT EIGHT - OPPORTUNITIES IN CHINA

China United Network Communications (00762) recorded a first-quarter profit attributable to shareholders of 4.885 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 17.6%.

China Unicom (00762) released the financial and operating indicators for the first quarter of 2026, with operating revenue reaching 102.8 billion yuan (same below), a year-on-year decrease of 0.5%; pre-tax profit of 6.114 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 19.54%; net profit attributable to equity holders of the company 4.885 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 17.6%.

Top institutions such as TOK, and GOMVO unanimously warn that oil prices do not yet reflect the most serious supply interruption in history, and the impact of the Strait of Hormuz may be severely underestimated.

Multiple top market analysts have stated that the conflict in Iran has effectively blocked the Strait of Hormuz, causing the most serious interruption of oil supply in history, yet current oil prices do not fully reflect this impact.

Omdia: India's smartphone shipments in the first quarter of 2026 fell by 5% year-on-year to 30.9 million units.

In the first quarter of 2026, due to the soft seasonal demand and the cautious channel inventory strategy, the shipment volume of smartphones in India decreased by 5% year-on-year to 30.9 million units.

Middle East warfare cannot suppress the narrative of the "AI bull market"! GPUs no longer dominate computing power, and the wave of intelligent agents is igniting the CPU and storage.

The narrative of AI computing power investment is shifting from "competition focused on AI GPU/ASIC computing power" to "AI intelligent agent-driven artificial intelligence full-stack system". In this shift of AI narrative, CPU and storage chips may be the biggest winners.

International oil prices surged straight up, WTI crude oil futures turned higher, erasing the previous 2% decline.

International oil prices rose sharply, with WTI crude futures rebounding and erasing the previous 2% decline.

Philip Morris International Inc. (PM.US) financial report eve: Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. supports $205 target price, optimistic about the valuation restructuring of smokeless transformation.

Goldman Sachs once again reiterated its "buy" rating on Philip Morris International's stock on the eve of the release of its first quarter financial report for the 2026 fiscal year.

New Stock News | Alibaba, GIC, BlackRock and other luxury cornerstone investors support Sunrise Intelligent Technology's (01879) IPO oversubscribed by over 704 times.

Global AI silicon chip leader, photon-mixed computing unicorn Xizhi Technology (01879), sparked market enthusiasm on the first day of its IPO.

Unexpected changes occur on the eve of the nomination hearing: Republican senators switch sides, Powell's appointment as Fed chair is blocked, and Powell may be forced to stay in office.

As it stands, Powell's confirmation for the Fed chairmanship is actually being blocked. This unprecedented situation, ironically, suggests that Trump's persistent attacks on Powell may actually prolong his time as Fed chairman.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology responds to the rise in memory prices and will take multiple measures to ensure the stability of the industry and supply chain.

On April 21, the State Council Information Office held a press conference to introduce the development of the industrial and information sectors in the first quarter of 2026. Xie Cun, the spokesperson of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and director of the Information and Communications Development Department, stated that the recent increase in memory prices has led to adjustments in the prices of mobile terminal products, which has attracted widespread attention from various sectors. In response to this issue, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will take multiple measures to support the development of the memory industry and ensure the stability of the industrial supply chain. On one hand, they will enhance supply capabilities, promote supply-demand integration, encourage domestic and foreign enterprises to increase investment, increase output capabilities, support interaction and collaboration between terminal enterprises and memory enterprises, and expand diversified supply channels. On the other hand, they will maintain market order through various means, guide memory enterprises to strengthen channel management, and cooperate with relevant departments to lawfully crack down on market disruptions.

Citibank: If the blockade in the Strait of Hormuz continues for another month, oil prices will rise to $110.

Citigroup Group stated that if the maritime traffic in the Strait of Hormuz continues to be blocked for another month, oil prices could rise to $110 per barrel.

The Apple Hardware team will focus on five major business segments.

After the hardware engineering and hardware technology departments at Apple were newly integrated, the newly appointed head announced to employees on Monday that the department will be divided into five core business areas. At the same time that John Turner was promoted to CEO of Apple, Jonny Srouji was appointed as chief hardware officer. In an internal email to all Apple employees, he revealed the above organizational adjustments, with the team being split into five divisions: hardware engineering, chip research and development, cutting-edge technology, platform architecture, and project management. This organizational adjustment aims to streamline the department's structure. The hardware system will subsequently add thousands of employees and will be fully responsible for engineering and research and development work on products such as the iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and other Apple products. Under Srouji's leadership, Tom Mariboe, who previously worked at Intel and joined Apple in 2019, will take over the hardware engineering department, where he was previously responsible for product quality and hardware reliability-related work; the chip team will be led by senior executive Sri Santhanam; platform architecture will be led by Tim Millet; cutting-edge technology will be led by Zongjian Chen; and Donny Nordhues will be responsible for project management. Srouji also mentioned in the email the succession of Turner to CEO and Tim Cook stepping down, stating that the successor chosen by Cook is the best candidate. He said, "Everyone who has worked with John knows that he is thorough in his thinking and has outstanding capability."

The US and Iran may hold a new round of negotiations in Pakistan, causing a drop in WTI crude oil prices.

There are indications that Iran will hold negotiations with the United States in Islamabad before the expiration of the ceasefire agreement, causing the WTI crude oil prices to fall.

China HK Power (00931) signs oil and gas strategic cooperation agreement with Al-Qimmah. Resumption of trading on April 21.

China Harbour Energy (00931) announced that the company has entered into a cooperation agreement with Al-Qimmah on April 19, 2026. According to the cooperation agreement, both parties will establish a long-term strategic cooperation relationship in the areas of capital cooperation and oil and gas trade, jointly promoting the company's international energy business development. The company has applied to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange to resume the trading of its shares starting from 9:00 AM on April 21, 2026 (Tuesday).

Smartmi Technology-W (06810) will be offering 42.6268 million H shares globally from April 21st to April 24th.

Shangmi Technology-W (06810) will be listed from April 21 to April 24, 2026. The company plans to globally issue 42.628 million H shares, with 10% of the shares being publicly sold in Hong Kong and 90% in international markets. The offer price will be HK$24.86 per share, with a trading unit of 100 H shares per lot. It is expected that trading of H shares will begin on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange at 9:00 am on April 29, 2026 (Wednesday).

Kimi 2.6 officially released in the late night.

The dark side of the moon has officially launched and open-sourced the new model Kimi K2.6. According to the official benchmark, the code's ability matches or exceeds that of GPT 5.4 and Opus 4.6.

Goldman Sachs Group, Inc.: Micron Technology, Inc. (MU.US) contributes to over half of the profits of the S&P 500, leading to a reassessment of expectations driven by AI and energy.

Against the backdrop of the conflict between the US and Iran causing changes in the global industrial and energy landscape, there is a significant differentiation in US stock profit expectations.

Apple Inc. announces a change in leadership! Turner takes over as CEO, while Cook transitions to executive chairman.

After the news was announced, Apple's stock price fell by about 0.8% in after-hours trading.

Apple Inc. appoints John Ternus as the next chief executive officer.

On April 20th, local time, Apple announced the appointment of John Ternus, an internal executive who has been responsible for hardware operations for a long time, as the next CEO of the company, succeeding Tim Cook, who has been in charge of the company since 2011. Apple stated that Cook will transition to the role of executive chairman.

Amazon will add an additional $5 billion investment to Anthropic.

Amazon will add an additional $5 billion investment to Anthropic and plans to gradually increase its investment scale to as much as $20 billion over time. Anthropic develops the Claude chatbot and programming tools, with plans to invest over $100 billion in Amazon's cloud technology and chips in the next decade.

Xinhua News Agency: Xi Jinping speaks with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed over the phone.

New Stock Outlook | Yipin Nutrition Resubmitting: Aiming to become the "number one stock in goat milk powder", will FSMP be the second growth curve?

Recently, the Yipinhao Nutrition Technology (Qingdao) Group Co., Ltd. submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, intending to go public on the main board of the Hong Kong stock market.

China Automobile Industry Association: The top ten automobile companies in sales from January to March sold a total of 5.94 million vehicles.

According to the statistical analysis of the China Association of Automobile Manufacturers, in January-March 2026, the top ten companies (groups) in terms of automotive sales sold a total of 5.94 million vehicles, accounting for 84.3% of the total automotive sales.

Neurorehabilitation medical equipment company Mobia Medical (MOBI.US) plans to go public on NASDAQ, with plans to raise up to $100 million.

On April 17th, Mobia Medical officially submitted its initial public offering (IPO) application to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Alibaba Cloud: The default rate limit for the Hundred Refining Multi-Modal Interaction Development Kit will be adjusted to 10 QPS.

Aliyun Announcement: In order to optimize platform resource scheduling and improve overall service stability, the large model service platform Bai Lian multimodal interaction development kit will adjust the default API call rate limit on April 28, 2026. The specific update is as follows: The default rate limit will be adjusted to 10 QPS. This quota supports the creation of 600 sessions per minute and 36,000 sessions per hour, meeting the call needs of the vast majority of development debugging and routine business scenarios. Customers who have already applied for the rate limit adjustment will not be affected by this change.

The U.S. bond market holds its breath! Powell's confirmation hearing may reveal the Federal Reserve's policy path.

As bond traders become increasingly optimistic about the prospect of an end to the Middle East conflict, they believe the next key catalyst will come from Capitol Hill - when Kevin Wash will appear at a Senate hearing as the nominee for Chairman of the Federal Reserve, nominated by President Trump.

Tesla: Currently, there are no specific plans to mass-produce robots at the Shanghai Gigafactory.

On April 20th, it was reported that on April 14th, Tesla Vice President Wang Hao only discussed Tesla's Shanghai Gigafactory having good scale production capacity at a media event when asked about robots. He emphasized that Tesla currently does not have any specific plans to mass produce robots at the Shanghai Gigafactory and requested not to report that Tesla is about to mass produce robots in Shanghai, as this information is incorrect, according to Tesla China.

Hormuz Strait remains deadlocked, oil prices surging, with Tesla and other giants' financial reports coming this week, can the market continue to ignore the "war noise" model?

In the coming week, investors will face a busy week of earnings releases. Tesla and Intel will headline this busy earnings week. The economic data schedule, on the other hand, will be relatively calm. Retail sales data released on Tuesday and the University of Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index released on Friday will be the highlights of this week's economic data releases.

The balance of financing in the two cities increased by 21.69 billion yuan.

As of April 17th, the financing balance of the Shanghai Stock Exchange was reported at 1.341425 trillion yuan, an increase of 0.619 billion yuan from the previous trading day; the financing balance of the Shenzhen Stock Exchange was reported at 1.301422 trillion yuan, an increase of 1.55 billion yuan from the previous trading day; the total financing balance of the two exchanges was 2.642847 trillion yuan, an increase of 2.169 billion yuan from the previous trading day.

Shenzhen Stock Exchange announcement, the list of securities eligible for trading under the Stock Connect program will be updated to include NIO Inc., effective April 20.

The Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and other departments held a symposium on the photovoltaic industry to deploy the relevant work of regulating the competition order of the photovoltaic industry.

On April 17, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the National Development and Reform Commission, the State Administration for Market Regulation, the National Energy Administration, and other departments jointly held a symposium on the photovoltaic industry to deploy related work on regulating the competition order in the industry. The meeting emphasized the need to thoroughly implement the work deployment of the Party Central Committee and the State Council on regulating the competition order in the photovoltaic industry, deeply understand the importance and urgency of addressing "internal competition," and solidly promote the work of "anti-internal competition" in the photovoltaic industry. The meeting required strengthening coordinated efforts among departments, continuously deepening the governance work in the photovoltaic industry, vigorously advancing comprehensive governance related to "anti-internal competition", such as capacity regulation, standard leadership, innovation drive, price law enforcement, quality supervision, mergers and reorganizations, intellectual property protection, and promoting high-quality development of the photovoltaic industry. The China Photovoltaic Industry Association, as well as relevant enterprises such as China Huaneng Group, China Datang Group, China Huadian Group, State Power Investment Corporation, State Energy Investment Group, and China National Nuclear Corporation participated in the meeting.

AI panic is referred to as "emotion killing," and the bear market Barry loudly flipped! US software stocks violently rebounded.

After going through a long "darkest moment", network security and enterprise software stocks, which had suffered a severe setback due to the "artificial intelligence replacement theory", staged a rare counterattack.

The sudden exchange of fire in the Strait of Hormuz between the United States and Iran caused Brent crude oil to jump nearly 8%, escalating the global energy crisis once again.

International crude oil and natural gas prices have surged significantly.

Hong Kong stock concept tracking | Outperforming humans! Glory Siasun Robot & Automation wins the half marathon championship, institutions are optimistic about these three main directions (with concept stocks)

From the perspective of mass production, it is widely believed within the industry that 2026 is the key year for the mass production of humanoid robots.

The optimistic information released by Trump was refuted one by one by Iran over the weekend. WTI crude oil jumped 5% on Monday, opening at $91.35 per barrel; the futures of the three major US stock indexes all opened lower, with Nasdaq futures down 0.9%.

Cui Dongshu: Automobile exports are advancing by leaps and bounds, while auto parts are under pressure.

Chinese exports of goods showed relatively strong growth overall in 2026, with exports totaling $977.6 billion in January-March 2026, a year-on-year increase of 14%.

Zhongtai: How much does the first quarter report of the technology sector contribute to the market?

From the sector distribution of the disclosed annual reports, it can be seen that the performance growth of the technology, high-end manufacturing, and pharmaceutical sectors in 2025 is overall ahead of other sectors, reflecting the structural highlights under industrial upgrading and technological innovation drive.

China Securities Co., Ltd.: Continued high prosperity in the global optical communication industry, five years of growth expected.

The industry believes that it is normal for market prices to fluctuate temporarily, similar to storage. With the upcoming release of quarterly reports and recent large increases in the sector, some adjustments may occur. However, the outlook for the fiber optic cable industry remains positive, and the adjustment may present an opportunity. We continue to have a positive outlook.

Guosheng: Liquid cooling transitions from expectations to mass production, opening a double inflection point for NV + CSP.

Liquid cooling has moved from the expected stage to the landing and delivery stage. It is recommended to focus on liquid cooling manufacturers who have a stable share in the NV platform and top CSP supply chain, and have system-level delivery capabilities.

Maritime intelligence company: Iranian Revolutionary Guard fires on oil tankers attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz.

The maritime intelligence company "Oil Tanker Tracker" website stated on social media on the 18th that two Indian vessels attempting to cross the Strait of Hormuz were forced back by the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Navy, with reports of gunfire. One of the vessels was a very large oil tanker flying the Indian flag.

According to the Iranian Tasnim News Agency, Iran has not yet agreed to hold the next round of talks with the United States. (Xinhua News Agency).

Ship tracking data shows that on Saturday, a fleet of oil tankers left the Persian Gulf and passed through the Strait of Hormuz. According to Marine Traffic data, the fleet is composed of four liquefied petroleum gas carriers, several product tankers, and chemical tankers. Additionally, more oil tankers are sailing from the Persian Gulf.

ASCLETIS-B(01672): The stock price is on the verge of breaking previous highs, why is off-exchange capital choosing to adopt a wait-and-see approach?

Since October last year, Hong Kong stock market has experienced a deep correction in the pharmaceutical sector. The main reasons for this correction in the early stage were the cooling market sentiment and BD trading stage lower than expected; while in the later stage, it was due to the systemic decline of the Hong Kong stock market leading to further declines in the sector.

Federal Reserve Governor Waller: The U.S. economy faces a "tricky combination" and may maintain interest rates at the current level for a longer period of time.

Federal Reserve Governor Waller said on Friday that the current economic environment is posing greater challenges to interest rate decisions, and the central bank may need to maintain interest rates unchanged for a longer period of time.

Iranian parliament speaker Kalibaf: US President Trump made seven false claims in one hour. They have not been able to win wars or negotiations with these lies. If the blockade continues, the Strait of Hormuz will no longer remain open. Passage through the Strait of Hormuz will be conducted according to designated routes and authorized by Iran. The decision to keep the strait open or closed, as well as related regulations, will be determined by the actual situation on the ground, not by social media.

Netflix stock fell 11%, marking the biggest drop since April 2022.

The message states that the United States is urging the G20 and others to take coordinated action to ensure the supply of fertilizers.

Two informed sources revealed on Friday that the United States is urging members of the G20 as well as the International Monetary Fund and the World Bank to take coordinated action to ensure the supply of fertilizers. The current conflict in the Middle East has caused disruptions in the food trade supply chain. The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Benett believes that fertilizers are crucial to the agricultural supply chain and is pushing for cooperation between G20 member countries and global financial institutions. Institutions such as the International Monetary Fund have issued warnings that the supply chain disruptions caused by this conflict, especially the early season fertilizer supply delays, could leave an additional 45 million people in a situation of food insecurity.

OpenAI achieves another major collaboration.

According to sources, OpenAI has agreed to pay over $20 billion to chip startup Cerebras over the next three years to use servers powered by chips produced by the company. Additionally, the agreement may also give OpenAI equity in Cerebras. This development comes as OpenAI is striving to meet growing demands to stay ahead in the artificial intelligence race. Furthermore, OpenAI is also aiming to significantly reduce computing costs and decrease dependence on Nvidia chips through diversified hardware deployment.

TSMC, SMIC, and other semiconductor manufacturers respond to the impact of overseas helium supply shortages.

Recently, helium production in some overseas regions has stalled or been subject to export controls, attracting market attention to the potential impact on semiconductor production. Some semiconductor manufacturers have responded to the tightening of overseas helium supply. In the field of wafer foundry, management of TSMC stated at an earnings conference on April 16th that due to factors such as the Middle East situation, the prices of certain chemicals and gases may rise, which could affect the company's profitability. However, it is currently too early to quantify the impact. When a journalist called the securities department of SMIC as an investor, the staff stated that the company has multiple channels for helium supply and that the current supply is normal. In the area of memory chips, regarding the impact of the Middle East conflict on helium supply, a Samsung Electronics representative told journalists that Samsung has been advancing supply chain diversification and has ensured sufficient inventory, expecting minimal short-term impact. SK Hynix responded to journalists saying they could not comment on current conflict-related matters. A semiconductor industry insider told journalists that the overall raw material supply for the domestic semiconductor manufacturing company is currently stable, attributing it to advance contingency plans for tight helium supply and multiple pathways and alternative supply options for electronic specialty gases. Another industry source mentioned that factories located in regions heavily reliant on imported raw materials may be more affected by fluctuations in helium supply from the Middle East, while efforts have been made in recent years in China to promote domestic production of gases and other semiconductor upstream raw materials.

Alibaba Cloud's domestic short message service prices have increased.

Alibaba Cloud has announced that due to a significant increase in the overall cost of SMS services, there will be price adjustments for domestic SMS service products starting from May 20, 2026, Beijing time. This includes pay-as-you-go domestic SMS and domestic SMS general package.

Northern Rare Earth: Net profit in 2025 was 2.251 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 124.17%.

Northern Rare Earth announced that its operating income in 2025 was 42.563 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 29.11%. Net profit was 2.251 billion yuan, a year-on-year increase of 124.17%. The company plans to distribute a cash dividend of 0.13 yuan per share to all shareholders based on a total share capital of 3.615 billion shares, totaling 4.7 billion yuan in cash dividends, accounting for 20.88% of the company's net profit for the year.

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Wanma Technology: Net profit in the first quarter was 6.0619 million yuan, an increase of 21.00% year-on-year.

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Wanma Technology: The net profit in 2025 was 47.04 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 13.88%.

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Far East Corporation: Intends to issue A shares to specific targets to raise funds not exceeding 2 billion yuan.

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Far East Holding: Net profit for the first quarter was 96.62 million yuan, a year-on-year increase of 110.36%

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Far East Corporation: Net profit in 2025 is 58.8757 million yuan, an increase of 118.51% year-on-year.

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