Zhitong Hong Kong stocks have known for a long time | The Federal Reserve's minutes show that inflation is still high, and oil prices may continue until 2027

[Today's headlines]

Federal Reserve September Meeting Minutes: The level of inflation is still high

On October 7, local time, the Federal Reserve announced the minutes of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting from September 15 to 16. Meeting minutes show that in order to support the Commission in achieving its “dual mission” goal, all members agreed to raise the federal funds rate target range by 25 basis points to between 3.75% and 4%.

“Most participants thought it might be appropriate to further raise the federal funds rate target range before the end of this year.” This means that at the time of the September meeting, most officials still expected to raise interest rates at least once more during the year.

Meanwhile, the level of inflation remains high relative to the Commission's 2% target. Participants pointed out that inflation remains high and that insufficient progress has been made in reducing inflation in recent months. They pointed out that the continuing geopolitical situation is driving up the prices of crude oil and refined oil products, and the surge in investment related to artificial intelligence has also increased inflationary pressure.

However, the minutes of the meeting did not show when the policymakers expected to raise interest rates; they only showed that continued high prices and a stable labor market may prompt the Federal Reserve to raise interest rates for the second time this year.

[General outlook]

Overnight, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 341.41 points, or 0.66%, to close at 51179.87 points; the S&P 500 stock index fell 17.16 points to close at 7801.77 points, or 0.22%; and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 61.2 points to close at 27538.69 points, or 0.22%.

Major technology stocks had mixed ups and downs. Amazon rose 1.42%, Apple rose 0.91%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 1.15% to 13066.15 points. TSMC fell 2.09%, Qualcomm fell 2.16%, and storage concept stocks had mixed ups and downs. Micron Technology rose 4.06%, and SK Hynix fell 2.36%. The optical communications sector generally declined, with Coherent falling 1.12%, Lumentum down 1.97%, and Corning falling 3.39%. Pharmaceutical concept stocks generally rose, with Moderna up 4.81% and Lilly up 2.70%.

Popular Chinese securities had mixed ups and downs, and the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose 0.12%. The Hang Seng Index ADR declined. On a pro rata basis, it closed at 24092.84 points, down 37.66 points or 0.16% from the Hong Kong closing.

WTI crude oil futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $0.50 for the month, or 0.56%, to close at $88.94 a barrel. COMEX gold futures fell by $50.40 in the same month, or 1.20%, to $4136.7 per ounce.

[Hot Topics Preview]

The International Monetary Fund expects high oil prices to continue until next year

International Monetary Fund Managing Director Kristalina Georgieva said in Singapore on the 7th that even if the current war in the Gulf region ends soon, high energy prices may continue for some time. Speaking at the International Monetary Fund and World Bank Group 2026 Fall Annual Meeting warm-up event on the same day, Georgieva said that judging from the current Brent crude oil futures price trend, it is expected that high oil prices will continue until 2027.

Chen Maobo: Hong Kong's economy recorded its strongest performance in nearly five years in the first half of the year

The Zhitong Finance App learned that the Hong Kong Legislative Council continues to jointly debate Hong Kong's first five-year plan and a new “Policy Address”. Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Chan Mao-po said that the international political and economic landscape has been complex and varied since this year, but Hong Kong's economy grew 5.1% year-on-year in the first half of this year, the strongest semi-annual performance in the past five years. Currently, Hong Kong's economy is doing well and is hard to come by. It is necessary to anchor the direction for the next phase of continuous high-quality development. I am confident that Hong Kong will reach the revised forecast of 3.5% to 4.5% real economic growth for the whole year this year.

Xu Zhengyu: Hong Kong's gold settlement link to the instant payment settlement system has entered the final stage

The Secretary for Financial Services and the Treasury of Hong Kong, Mr Hui Ching-yu, attended the 2026 Global Precious Metals Conference hosted by the London Bullion Market Association in Sorrento, Italy. Hui Ching-yu pointed out that Hong Kong has broken out of the planning stage and has fully entered the implementation stage. The trial operation response of the Hong Kong Gold Central Clearing and Settlement System was ideal. In addition to the 11 banks that are temporary direct participants in the settlement system, other banks have also expressed interest in joining the settlement system, which will be officially put into operation in the first quarter of next year.

Midland Real Estate: In September, the number of units involved in private housing applications in Hong Kong reached 3,778, a sharp increase of 235.8% over the previous month, reaching a four-year high

According to data from the Joint Property Research Center and the General Lands Administration, a total of 7 new applications for pre-sale private housing projects were recorded in September, involving 3,778 units, a significant increase of about 235.8% from 1125 units in August, and a new high of 52 months (more than 4 years) after May 2022.

Hang Seng Index Company Announces Consultation Summary on Hang Seng Technology Index Calculation Methods

The adjustments were made on the basis of the revised plan proposed earlier, and a two-group stock selection mechanism was used, using market capitalization ranking and revenue growth ranking as the stock selection criteria, respectively. Non-existing constituent stocks must also meet the requirement for an average daily turnover of at least HK$100 million over the past three months; constituent stocks selected based on revenue growth rankings must have recorded an annual revenue of at least HK$500 million in the last two consecutive financial years.

Adopting the revised plan proposed earlier, the number of constituent stocks was increased from 30 to 50, of which the top 40 were selected based on market capitalization rankings, and the remaining 10 were selected according to the revenue growth ranking of the past 12 months.

The above revisions will be implemented during the index review up to September 30, 2026, and will take effect during the index adjustment in December 2026.

Samsung Electronics' operating profit climbed to 107.4 trillion won, a year-on-year increase of more than 7 times

In the three months up to September, Samsung's operating profit reached about 107.4 trillion won, more than 8 times the same period last year; analysts had previously estimated an average operating profit of 108.7 trillion won and revenue of 195 trillion won, which fell short of expectations. This record performance and high market expectations fully reflect how the AI boom has drastically changed the industry landscape, benefiting Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology.

Anta Sports (02020): Completed acquisition of 29.06% of PUMA SE's shares

On October 7, Anta Group officially announced that it has completed a transaction to acquire 29.06% of the shares in PUMA SE, a company belonging to the iconic global sports brand PUMA (PUMA), from Artémis SAS, an investment company under the Pinault family, with a cash consideration of 1,505.5 billion euros, and has obtained approval from all relevant regulators and satisfied customary delivery conditions. Anta Group officially became Puma's largest shareholder.

The overall revenue of Sa Sa Sa International (00178) in the second quarter was HK$1,413.8 billion, up 37.2% year over year

Salsa International announced that for the second quarter from July 1 to September 30, 2026, the Group's beauty trend effect and marketing strategy continued to pay off, driving the Group's overall turnover to HK$1,413.8 billion, an increase of 37.2% year-on-year. The Group's off-line sales reached HK$1,219.6 billion, up 47.6% from the same period last year.

Ledong Robotics (01236) plans to acquire all shares of SABO-MaschinenFabrik GmbH for no more than 6 million euros

The target company is a long-standing and famous high-end garden equipment manufacturer in Germany, and distributes products through an extensive network of more than 1,400 specialty retailers across Europe. After completing the acquisition, the Singapore subsidiary will directly hold 100% of the target company's shares, and the target company will become a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Group, and its financial performance, assets and liabilities will be comprehensively recorded in the Group's financial statements.

[Individual stock prices are clear]

Daikin Heavy Industries (01081): Rumor has it that the company won an order for five 211,000-ton Newcastle-type bulk carriers from Greek shipowners

According to several shipbuilding industry sources, Evalend Shipping, owned by Greek shipowner Kriton Lendoudis, has commissioned Daikin Heavy Industries to build a series of 211,000 DWT Newcastle-type bulk carriers. According to reports, the shipowner negotiated with Daikin Heavy Industries in July on the construction of as many as 4 new Newcastle bulk carriers. Today, the number of ships involved in this order has increased to 5. According to reports, the single cost of this batch of Newcastle-type bulk carriers equipped with desulfurization devices is about 77.5 million US dollars.

Huaxi Securities previously stated that the shipbuilding sector has officially entered the mainstream shipbuilding market. Since the first order was signed in August '25, the company has signed a total of 24 new ship manufacturing orders, with a total contract amount of about 12 billion yuan. The order delivery period is concentrated between 2027-2030. We continue to be optimistic about the incremental space of the new growth curve driven by the company's own fleet transportation and ship construction.