【Today’s Headlines】

This year, local debt is expected to be issued sooner than last year.

In 2025, local government bonds are about to be issued, and the pace of bond issuance this year is expected to be faster than last year to stabilize investment and growth. According to China Bond Information Network, on January 13, Hubei and Qingdao will issue 63.9 billion yuan and 3.9 billion yuan of local government bonds respectively. These are the first two places to publicly disclose the earliest bond issuances this year, thus marking the start of this year's local bond issues. The timing of local bond issuance this year is earlier than last year (January 17). According to Corporate Early Warning Data, as of January 7, 16 provinces and cities nationwide have disclosed their local bond issuance plans for the first quarter of 2025, with a disclosed issuance scale of approximately 858 billion yuan. Following past practices, more places are expected to publicly announce their first-quarter bond issuance plans and issue bonds as soon as possible.

CITIC SEC Chief Economist Mingming stated that the central bank has recently emphasized 'timely reserve requirement ratio and interest rate cuts', indicating that there is room for the use of these two tools, and the timing of their operation may become more flexible. Mingming believes that the central bank's main consideration may still be the stability and sufficiency of the interbank liquidity market. Considering the expansion of the deficit ratio, especially with the increase in the supply of special government bonds and the local demand for debt, the supply of local debt is raised. It is expected that the funds may face considerable fluctuations, and the central bank may use the reserve requirement ratio cut tool during the concentrated issuance phase of government bonds.

【Market Outlook】

The US stock market is closed on January 9 for one day. The futures trading of equity index at CME ended early at 22:30 Beijing time; interest rate and agricultural product futures trading ended early at 02:15 on January 10 Beijing time; treasury futures trading ended early at 03:30 on January 10 Beijing time; precious metals, energy, Forex, and crypto futures trading continue as usual, please pay attention.

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The new national standard for Vehicle Networking security will officially be implemented starting April 1.

According to the National Standard Information Public Service Platform, the "Vehicle Networking Cybersecurity Anomaly Behavior Detection Mechanism" developed by 360 Group and CHINA INFORMATION COMMUNICATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE has been officially released and will be implemented starting from April 1, 2025. In addition to 360 and CHINA INFORMATION COMMUNICATION RESEARCH INSTITUTE, the units participating in the drafting of this national standard also include the National Computer Network Emergency Technical Handling Coordination Center, CHINA MOBILE, CHINA TELECOM, China United Network Communications, the Institute of Information Engineering of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, FAW, Chongqing Changan Automobile, Dongfeng Automobile, as well as Baidu and Tencent.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority: There is no need to change the linked exchange rate system.

Hong Kong Monetary Authority: We have no intention and see no need to change the linked exchange rate system; the liquidity buffer mechanism has demonstrated significant resilience, providing Hong Kong with a stable MMF environment for over 40 years.

WEIMOB INC (02013): Officially launched five major solutions for "WEIMOB X WeChat Store."

WEIMOB INC announced the launch of the "WEIMOB X WeChat Store" series of solutions, aimed at helping businesses achieve efficient integration and business growth within the WeChat Store ecosystem. The five solutions launched this time enhance merchants' operational efficiency and business capabilities based on the WeChat Store ecosystem through integrated Operation, Asia Vets efficiency improvements, organizational node management, and the WeChat Store CRM membership operation system.

The number of influenza cases in Japan has reached the highest level for the same period in the past ten years.

According to data released by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on the 9th, in the last week of 2024, the average reported cases of influenza in designated medical institutions nationwide is 64.39 cases, which is about 1.5 times that of the previous week and nearly three times that of the same period last year, marking the highest record for this period in the past 10 years. The data indicates that approximately 5,000 designated medical institutions across Japan reported a total of 317,812 influenza cases this week, with an average of 64.39 cases reported by each institution, compared to 42.66 cases reported the previous week. Additionally, a total of 1,838 daycare centers and primary and secondary schools across the country were closed due to influenza, including full grade suspensions or complete class suspensions.

Data released by the South Korean Disease Control Center on the 7th shows that in the last week of December last year, the number of suspected flu cases in the country reached its highest level since 2016. With the surge in cases, many pharmacies have reported shortages of over-the-counter cold medicines and some prescription medications for symptomatic relief.

In December, a total of 4,520 projects were initiated nationwide, with total investment exceeding 2.6 trillion yuan.

According to incomplete statistics from Mysteel, in December 2024, a total of 4,520 projects were initiated across the country, with a total investment of approximately 2,616.843 billion yuan; the total investment for 2024 is approximately 32.01 trillion yuan. Data shows that in December 2024, the top three provinces in terms of investment for initiated projects are Hubei, Guangxi, and Hunan, with total investments of 1,140.104 billion yuan, 375.99 billion yuan, and 274.76 billion yuan respectively.

COUNTRY GARDEN (02007): Has reached an agreement with 7 banks to plan a debt restructuring of 11.6 billion USD.

COUNTRY GARDEN released the latest situation regarding its overseas debt restructuring and business development: an agreement has been reached with a coordinating committee formed by seven well-known banks, aiming for a debt reduction of approximately 11.6 billion USD. This also includes extending the maturity period to a maximum of 11.5 years and lowering financing costs, with a goal of reducing the weighted average cost of borrowing from about 6% per year before restructuring to about 2% per year after restructuring. In addition, the controlling shareholder of COUNTRY GARDEN is considering converting the total outstanding principal amount of 1.1 billion USD of existing shareholder loans into shares of the company or its subsidiaries, with specific terms to be negotiated.

SUNAC (01918) has received a petition for liquidation in Hong Kong.

According to the judicial authority's website, CHINA CINDA Asset Management Co., Ltd. has filed a petition for liquidation against SUNAC in Hong Kong, with a hearing scheduled for March 19.

The Hong Kong stock new issue Blucore (00325) closed up 73.49% in the grey market.

Data shows that the new stock Blucore closed up 73.49% in the grey market, priced at 104.7 Hong Kong dollars per share, with a total market value of 25.3 billion Hong Kong dollars. In this IPO, Blucore was priced at a maximum of 60.35 Hong Kong dollars, raising 1.674 billion Hong Kong dollars. Jinglin, UBS, and CM BANK also stated that they are cornerstone investors, subscribing to 20 million US dollars, 20 million US dollars, and 10 million US dollars respectively.

Goldman Sachs has upgraded the ratings of multiple Bank Of China stocks.

The rating of Agricultural Bank Of China's H shares has been raised to neutral, with a target price of 4.77 Hong Kong dollars; the rating of Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China's H shares has been raised to neutral, with a target price of 5.62 Hong Kong dollars; the rating of Bank Of China's H shares has been raised to buy, with a target price of 4.91 Hong Kong dollars; the rating of CM BANK's H shares has been raised to buy, with a target price of 47.36 Hong Kong dollars. The rating of CM BANK's A shares has been raised to buy, with a target price of 49.85 yuan; the rating of Agricultural Bank Of China's A shares has been raised to neutral, with a target price of 6.06 yuan; the rating of Bank Of China's A shares has been raised to buy, with a target price of 6.60 yuan; and the rating of Industrial And Commercial Bank Of China's A shares has been raised to neutral, with a target price of 7.56 yuan.

[Stock Highlights]

Guangdong Hec Technology Holding (01558): may benefit from the increase in sales of respiratory disease medications.

As of June 30, 2024, the company has 147 approved drugs globally and over 100 drugs under research, including 45 category 1 innovative drugs under research, among which three innovative drugs have completed the NMPA review for listing in China, and ten innovative drugs are in phase II or III clinical trials.

The vast majority of the company's revenue comes from its major best-selling product Kawai (Oseltamivir phosphate), used for treating influenza. From 2021 to 2023 and for the first half of 2024, Guangdong Hec Technology Holding's revenue totaled 1.058 billion yuan, 3.814 billion yuan, 6.386 billion yuan, and 2.582 billion yuan, with net incomes of -2.046 billion yuan, -1.416 billion yuan, 1.014 billion yuan, and 473 million yuan respectively.

Huaxin Securities pointed out that as the temperature continues to drop, the influenza positivity rate is expected to continue rising in the next 1-2 months, surpassing the 2023-2024 flu season, which indicates a delayed outbreak cycle for influenza. This also means that the attention on subsequent influenza concept stocks may continue to rise. According to reports, on January 2, Dingdang Kuaijiao released data showing that in the past month, there has indeed been a continuous increase in sales of medications for respiratory diseases.

Data released by Japan's Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare on the 9th shows that in the last week of 2024, the average reported influenza cases in designated medical institutions nationwide reached 64.39 cases, about 1.5 times that of the previous week, and nearly 3 times that of the same period last year, with the number of cases during this period being the highest record in the past 10 years. Data released by South Korea's Disease Control and Prevention Agency on the 7th shows that in the last week of December last year, the number of suspected influenza cases in the country reached the highest level since 2016. With the surge in cases, many pharmacies report shortages of over-the-counter cold medications and some symptomatic prescription drugs, even running out of stock.