On August 12, the People's Bank of China released the 2026 second quarter report on the implementation of China's monetary policy. The report states that social financing scale and broad money M2 are macro financial aggregate indicators with a wide coverage. These two indicators approach the financial and real economy, as well as assets and liabilities, from different perspectives, encompassing a diverse range of financing channels and providing a comprehensive view of financial aggregates. It is also necessary to objectively and scientifically assess their trends. Mathematically, as bond financing increases, the growth rates of M2 or deposits may naturally differ from those of loans, which does not indicate insufficient financial support for the real economy or idle capital. Compared to the growth rate of nominal GDP, the current growth rates of social financing and M2 still exceed that of nominal GDP, indicating a relatively loose monetary financial environment.

On August 12, the Central Bank released the 2026 second quarter report on the implementation of China's monetary policy. The People's Bank of China will timely plan and implement practical incremental policies, enhance counter-cyclical regulation, and strengthen the expansion of domestic demand and optimization of supply to promote sustained and improved economic development. It will steadfastly follow the path of financial development with Chinese characteristics, further deepen financial reform and high-level opening-up, accelerate the construction of a strong financial nation, improve the central banking system, and build a scientific and robust monetary policy system along with a comprehensive macro-prudential management system, ensuring smooth transmission of monetary policy mechanisms. (Jin Shi)

U.S. stock index futures have risen short-term, with Nasdaq 100 futures up 0.7%. U.S. Treasury bonds have increased, and the yield on the 10-year Treasury note has fallen by 3 basis points to 4.66%.

On August 12, Musk stated in his latest remarks that AI revenue will surpass all other business revenues of SpaceX by September, and he predicts that within five years, AI will account for 99% of SpaceX's valuation. Musk mentioned that SpaceX has established 'the world's most powerful AI training cluster' and plans to increase its current computing power by about tenfold by the end of next year, targeting 10 gigawatts, which corresponds to a potential annual revenue of $300 billion to $500 billion. He also anticipates that Starlink could handle over 90% of global internet traffic in the future.

WTI crude oil has decreased by 1.00% today, currently priced at $81.37 per barrel.

South Korea will require new investors in single leveraged exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to complete simulation trading exercises, further tightening regulatory measures on this high-risk product that exacerbates market volatility. The Financial Services Commission of South Korea announced that new investors must complete at least five days of simulation trading, totaling at least five hours, before purchasing single leveraged ETFs. The new regulation will take effect on August 19 and applies to both domestic and overseas investments.

On August 12, the yen suddenly strengthened, causing major non-USD currencies to collectively drop sharply against the yen. The British pound against the yen fell nearly 80 points in a short time, the euro against the yen (EUR/JPY) dropped over 60 points, the Swiss franc against the yen fell nearly 60 points, the Canadian dollar against the yen decreased by nearly 50 points, and the Australian dollar against the yen dropped nearly 40 points.

On August 12, according to disclosures from the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, H&H International Investment, LLC, managed by Duan Yongping, increased its stake in Pop Mart (09992.HK) from 5.55% to 7.70% as of August 6. (Jin Shi)

On August 12, Tencent reported that in the second quarter of 2026, revenue from its financial technology and enterprise services business increased by 9% year-on-year to 60.3 billion yuan, which is in line with expectations. The growth in financial technology service revenue was primarily driven by increases in commercial payments, wealth management, and consumer loan services. The growth in enterprise services revenue was mainly driven by an increase in our cloud services revenue, supported by rising demand for AI-related services, ongoing expansion into international markets, and a more favorable pricing environment.

According to monitoring by The Data Nerd, Metaplanet (@Metaplanet) transferred 4,176 bitcoins in the last 7 hours, valued at approximately $265 million. Metaplanet previously purchased 43,000 bitcoins at an average price of $96,191 each, and currently holds a related loss of about $1.4 billion, representing a decline of 34%.