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Although Trump’s final ultimatum was at 8 a.m. Hong Kong time on Wednesday, the bombing of Iran’s military targets has not stopped, including an ammunition depot at Isfahan, according to Qatar’s Al Araby TV.
As Trump has claimed to have destroyed the military facilities on Kharg Island, further attacks may also involve oil facilities.
With oil prices rising, Brent futures have pushed back up to 110 dollars, and 110 dollars is a recent high, while New York futures are reported at 114.3 dollars.
Dow Jones futures are down 200 points, S&P 500 futures are down 0.5%, and Nasdaq futures are down 0.6%.
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$1 below reflects Monday’s market conditions====
Trump reiterated the “deadline” — 8 p.m. Eastern Time on Tuesday. Within 4 hours, bombs will be dropped on bridges and power plants. Oil prices are holding steady
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Alibaba launched the new generation large language model Qwen3.6-Plus on Thursday, emphasizing significant improvements in agent programming, multimodal reasoning, and execution efficiency. It features a 1 million Token context window and a mixture-of-experts architecture, supporting full code processing and accelerating logical reasoning. The enterprise-level AI application "Wukong" has integrated this model and plans to release an even larger Qwen3.6-Max version.

Hong Kong Exchanges and Clearing Limited (00388) announced that OTC settlement volume reached a record high in the first quarter of this year, with cross-currency swaps (CCS) and interest rate swaps (IRS) reaching $42.5 billion and RMB 1.77 trillion, respectively.
In March alone, there were over 1,461 IRS transactions with a notional amount of RMB 820.8 billion, setting a new record.
Currently, 118 offshore institutions participate in IRS.
HKEX stated that the strong momentum highlights the importance of IRS in facilitating investor access to China's onshore interest rate markets. Currently, 118 offshore institutions participate in IRS, providing international investors with channels to invest in China's interbank interest rate swap market using their own trading and settlement practices.
Interest rate swaps, also known as interest rate derivatives, are OTC derivatives used to manage interest rate risk. In these transactions, both parties exchange interest payments based on the same principal but at different interest rates. For example, one party may receive fixed interest payments on the principal,

Perplexity AI faces a class-action lawsuit for allegedly sharing user conversation content and personal information with Meta and Google, violating California privacy laws. The complaint accuses the company of embedding trackers that share private data regardless of whether users choose incognito mode. The plaintiffs state they wish to sue on behalf of all users, with the two tech giants also named as defendants. Perplexity and Meta have not issued specific responses, and Google has not commented.

According to a report by the World Trade Organization, Hong Kong is expected to become the world's fifth-largest merchandise trading economy by 2025, with total merchandise trade increasing to $1.585 trillion. The report shows that Hong Kong is experiencing growth in both merchandise trade and commercial services trade, demonstrating its resilience in foreign trade. Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr. Edward Yau, emphasized that Hong Kong's free trade policies and multilateral trading system will continue to support economic development.

Trump warns that Iran could be destroyed overnight and demands that it reopen the Strait of Hormuz as part of a ceasefire agreement. If an agreement is not reached, the United States will launch attacks on Iran's civilian infrastructure. Iran opposes this threat and warns of retaliation. The United Nations expressed shock at this and reminded that it may violate international law.

The Hong Kong Financial Budget mentioned accelerating the inclusion of Real Estate Investment Trusts (REITs) into the Connect scheme, with plans to submit amendments to the Legislative Council in 2026 to introduce mandatory purchase arrangements. The China Securities Regulatory Commission also announced expanded measures for capital market connectivity to enhance the liquidity and attractiveness of REITs. As of the end of February 2026, the Hong Kong REITs market capitalization reached HKD 152.1 billion, and the Legislative Council has approved exemptions from stamp duty to boost competitiveness.

Geely Group Chairman Li Shufu pointed out in an interview that global automotive capacity is seriously overcapacity, and many Chinese automakers are facing profitability difficulties. He emphasized that the group will promote internal cooperation, adopting Volvo's European factories for localized production to address weak demand issues, and expressed no concern about regulatory compliance in the United States and Europe.

Trump applies maximum pressure on Iran, and the global community is closely watching the Middle East political situation around 8 a.m. tomorrow, the "deadline." However, Hong Kong banks did not actively absorb safe-haven funds after the quarter-end. In just two trading days in April, as many as nine banks, large and small, reduced rather than increased Hong Kong dollar fixed deposit interest rates. Only three Hong Kong banks raised rates, indicating that industry players, amid the flooding, currently lack incentives to attract deposits with high interest rates.
Click the chart 👇👇👇👇 to see the comparison of Hong Kong dollar fixed deposit interest rates.
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+8

After the Easter holiday, we enter the global central bank meeting month, with key meetings scheduled at the end of the month. Japan, Canada, and the UK and Eurozone will hold meetings consecutively. The highlight is the Federal Reserve's third interest rate decision of the year, scheduled for April 30 (early morning in Hong Kong). Kicking off is New Zealand's rate decision tomorrow (April 8), with major U.S. banks expecting the Reserve Bank of New Zealand to hold rates steady for the third consecutive time, keeping the policy rate at 2.25%.
Click the chart 👇👇👇👇 to see the 7-day NZD fixed deposit rate comparison
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+7

OpenAI completes a $122 billion funding round at a valuation of $852 billion, with major shareholders including Microsoft, the OpenAI Foundation, and SoftBank Group. Microsoft's potential return on investment is 17 times, while Ashton Gucha holds a 0.15% stake through a fund, with a return of up to 43 times. CEO Sam Altman does not hold any shares.

Artificial intelligence company Anthropic adjusts Claude's usage policy. Starting April 4th, Claude subscriptions will no longer include access to third-party tool OpenClaw and will switch to a pay-as-you-go model. Users will need to purchase additional usage packages or API keys to meet the growing demand.

SpaceX is actively moving forward with its initial public offering (IPO) and has secretly submitted a listing application. Musk has required the investment banks involved to subscribe to its AI chatbot Grok service, and some banks have agreed to invest tens of millions of dollars to integrate their systems. SpaceX's IPO target valuation exceeds $2 trillion, with a goal to raise $75 billion, setting a new record.

Trump requests Congress to pass a $2.2 trillion budget for the 2027 fiscal year, including $1.5 trillion in defense spending, setting a record increase. Despite cuts to non-defense expenditures, it still falls short of covering military costs. Trump promises to reinvest in national security facilities to ensure the U.S. military remains strong.

OpenAI announces personnel changes. Product and Business Chair Fidji Simo stated in an employee memo that her health has been particularly poor over the past month due to the worsening of a neurological autoimmune disease, and she has decided to take a few weeks off to aid her recovery.
"During my tenure, I kept postponing medical checkups and new treatments just to stay fully committed to work, not missing a single day. However, two weeks before my leave, I finally took some time off for medical examinations, and it’s now clear that I was pushing myself too hard. I really need to try new treatments to stabilize my health."
Fidji Simo has held multiple leadership roles at Meta for over ten years.
During Fidji Simo’s leave, OpenAI President Greg Brockman will oversee product operations, while COO Brad

As AI demand increases, the global memory chip shortage worsens, and Apple's Mac mini and Mac Studio face inventory shortages, with certain models requiring a 4 to 5 month wait for delivery. This situation is mainly caused by the surge in AI server construction, leading to high-volume memory purchases and supply tightness, which is not expected to ease in the short term.

Mainland China’s automotive aftermarket digital intelligence platform Kai Si submitted a listing application to the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on Thursday (April 2), with China International Capital Corporation serving as the sole sponsor. In terms of operational and financial performance, the company’s business continues to improve, with an expected transaction volume (GMV) of approximately RMB 7.6 billion and total revenue of about RMB 930 million in 2025, representing a year-over-year growth of 25.3%, demonstrating robust business expansion capabilities; the overall gross profit margin has consistently remained at a relatively high industry level, reaching 28.3% in 2025, reflecting the company's efficient cost control and high-quality product and service structure, laying a solid foundation for long-term sustainable development.
As China’s vehicle ownership continues to expand, new energy vehicle penetration increases, and car owners’ demands for transparent maintenance, genuine parts, and efficient services rise, the automotive aftermarket is gradually shifting from traditional, fragmented distribution models to a new stage centered on data, standards, and platform collaboration. Kai Si’s entry point is precisely