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China’s 2026 No.1 document elevates artificial intelligence as a central tool for agricultural modernization, pairing technical directives with institutional reforms to accelerate real‑world deployment of drones, IoT and robotics. The move aims to convert pilot successes into whole‑chain improvements in productivity, while creating market opportunities and testing the resilience of Chinese rural governance and financing models.

French authorities have raided X’s Paris office and summoned Elon Musk, with a hearing reportedly scheduled for April. The episode highlights growing European enforcement of online-speech rules and raises fresh questions about platform accountability and the personal liability of tech executives.

Hainan's Wenchang launch-support company plans to back almost 30 launches in 2026, prioritising mature-vehicle missions, inaugural flights of new models and activation of new workstations. The push underscores Beijing's drive to scale commercial launch capabilities but will test logistics, range capacity and supply chains while reshaping competitive dynamics in the global launch market.

Moore Threads has introduced a domestically hosted intelligent programming service intended as an onshore alternative to foreign AI coding assistants. The launch reflects China's push for an indigenous AI stack, and its success will hinge on technical reliability, enterprise integrations, and handling of IP and data-compliance issues.

Zhu Laoliu’s controlling family and two executives sold about RMB 47.41 million of shares after the company reported multi‑year revenue and profit declines. Net profit fell from RMB 64.04m in 2022 to RMB 18.40m in 2024 and margins have eroded sharply, prompting investor concern and signalling challenges for the pickled‑vegetable maker on the Beijing Stock Exchange.

Mulinsen (木林森) warned of its first annual loss since going public in 2015, forecasting a 2025 net loss of 11–15 billion yuan. The company is simultaneously buying a controlling stake in Purui Optoelectronics to secure LED chip and packaging capabilities, a long-term strategic bet that won’t offset near-term financial pain.

Xintianxia, a Chinese fabless designer of NOR and SLC NAND Flash, has filed for a Hong Kong IPO despite falling revenues, low gross margins relative to peers and past regulatory warnings over disclosure. The company’s profitability lags larger rivals largely because of a product mix tilted to lower-capacity, lower-margin parts and a decision to report market share only among Fabless peers, which may give a distorted view of its competitive position.

China’s central No.1 document for the new Five‑Year period targets a boost to rural consumption by promoting NEVs, smart appliances and green building materials in the countryside and by improving recycling systems. Recent data show rural retail growth already outpaced urban areas in 2025, and policymakers hope to translate rising rural incomes into sustained demand, while facing infrastructure and implementation challenges.

Belgium’s Sciensano found that cereulide toxin levels can be up to 75 times higher after infant formula is reconstituted than when measured in powder, a discrepancy linked to microencapsulated arachidonic acid (ARA). The discovery has triggered method revisions, industry recalls, and an EFSA proposal for a strict infant exposure limit, exposing gaps in testing standards and supply‑chain controls.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng closed marginally higher while the Hang Seng Tech Index fell, as AI-related ‘large-model’ stocks and gold miners rallied and major internet platforms like Tencent slid. The session illustrated a market split: speculative AI plays attracted flows even as policy-sensitive mega-cap tech names remained susceptible to rumor-driven volatility.

A surge in Chinese defence and aerospace stocks reflects investor excitement about SpaceX’s merger with xAI and a renewed push on China’s large civilian aircraft programmes. The merger reframes commercial space as a potential trillion‑dollar market for space‑grade power, laser communications and thermal systems, while COMAC’s accelerated C929 testing signals upward movement in China’s civil aerospace supply chain.

Zhiyuan Robotics will forgo the 2026 Spring Festival Gala to host Robot Wonderful Night, a live-streamed spectacle featuring hundreds of performing robots, as it concentrates resources on embodied intelligence R&D. The event underscores a broader industry pivot from demonstration to productization amid booming forecasts for humanoid robots, rising memory costs driven by AI demand, and shifting infrastructure needs for compute and power.

Pfizer’s long‑acting GLP‑1 candidate PF‑08653944 produced a 12.3% placebo‑adjusted mean weight loss at 28 weeks and sustained reductions after switching to monthly dosing, with mainly mild‑to‑moderate gastrointestinal side effects. The company has launched an ambitious phase 3 programme of ten trials and plans to advance full development in 2026, positioning itself to challenge incumbent GLP‑1 therapies if larger trials confirm efficacy and safety.

China’s subsidy programme for appliance trade‑ins and purchases of digital and smart products produced more than 15 million unit sales in January, generating nearly 590 billion yuan in turnover. The rapid local rollout — with all 32 regions activating subsidies — signals an early policy success in boosting consumption and encouraging greener, higher‑tech upgrades, though risks remain around front‑loading, fiscal cost and recycling capacity.

A sharp fall in global gold prices at the end of January and early February prompted Chinese retail investors to average down aggressively while major banks raised minimums and issued warnings to curb risk. The episode reflects growing retail participation in precious‑metals markets and a tension between long‑term structural demand drivers for gold and short‑term monetary policy signals that can reverse price gains rapidly.

Chinese equities advanced broadly on February 3, buoyed by gains in space, photovoltaic and chip-related sectors while international spot gold spiked nearly 6%, lifting mining stocks. Key industrial developments included the first flight of a hybrid-propulsion unmanned transport aircraft and a private reusable rocket planned for mid-2026, amid renewed travel flows and provincial housing-stability measures.

Sichuan and Chongqing together have surpassed 10 trillion yuan in GDP, underscoring the re-emergence of the Chengdu–Chongqing twin-city economic corridor as China’s largest western growth pole. The milestone reflects not just fiscal transfers and infrastructure spending but the maturation of industrial clusters in electronics, advanced manufacturing and new energy.

The onshore renminbi strengthened intraday past 6.94 to a 32-month high as the US dollar softened. Market strategists see room for further dollar weakness this year if US jobs data disappoint and rate-cut expectations move forward, a dynamic that will shape China’s exchange-rate, trade, and monetary policy considerations.

Gold and silver rebounded in early February after unprecedented intraday plunges at the end of January and renewed selling on Feb. 2. The shocks were driven by a rapid deleveraging of positions and a renewed expectation of a stronger US dollar following Kevin Warsh’s nomination for Fed chair, while Chinese state banks raised margins and issued risk warnings to curb retail exposure.

A‑shares rallied on February 3 as photovoltaic supply‑chain stocks and AI/compute hardware names led gains, while overall market turnover contracted slightly. The advance was broad—nearly 4,900 stocks rose—but lower volume suggests the move may be more sentiment‑driven than conviction‑led.