Finance Morning: China's August CPI Up 0.8%, PPI Up 3.8%; Canada-US Trade War Escalates

📊 Today's Asian Markets

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China's August CPI Rises 0.8% YoY, PPI Up 3.8%

Source: Sina Finance

Data released by China's National Bureau of Statistics on September 9 shows the consumer price index (CPI) rose 0.8% year-on-year in August 2026, and 0.4% month-on-month. Food prices fell 1.4% from a year earlier, while non-food prices rose 1.2%. For the first eight months of the year, CPI averaged 0.9% higher than the same period last year.

On the producer side, the producer price index (PPI) rose 3.8% year-on-year in August, and 0.4% month-on-month. Purchased producer prices rose 5.8% year-on-year. For January-August, PPI averaged 2.0% higher and purchased prices 3.2% higher.

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China Issues 300 Billion Yuan in Special Bonds to Bolster 8 Central Financial Firms' Capital

Source: Sina Finance

China's Ministry of Finance recently announced the issuance of 300 billion yuan in special government bonds to support eight central financial institutions in replenishing core tier-1 capital, covering Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Agricultural Bank of China, the Export-Import Bank of China, China Export & Credit Insurance, PICC, China Life Group, China Taiping and China Re. This marks the second phase of a policy launched in September 2024, and for the first time brings insurers and policy-oriented, export-oriented financial institutions into the scope.

For the big state banks, the injection will lift ICBC's core tier-1 capital adequacy ratio from 13.21% to 13.54%, and ABC's from 10.80% to 11.41%. On the insurance side, the ministry will inject 70 billion yuan to support five central insurance groups, including China Life, PICC, China Taiping, China Export & Credit Insurance and China Re.

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Canada-US Trade War Escalates as Canada's Retaliatory Tariffs Take Effect

Source: Xinhua Finance

Canada's retaliatory tariffs of 15% to 50% on 27.6 billion Canadian dollars (about US$20 billion) worth of U.S. goods officially took effect on the 8th. The White House said the same day that the United States would ban imports of Canadian alcoholic beverages and other products, and add more items to its tariff list. Canadian Prime Minister Carney then rallied the public to confront the trade war.

Jiang Wenran, founding director of the China Institute at the University of Alberta, said in an interview with Xinhua that the dispute is no longer merely about tariffs, marking a shift in Canada-US relations from "deep integration" toward "strategic restructuring." He proposed a three-stage framework of "high-pressure confrontation — negotiating while fighting — long-term restructuring," and argued that the reshaping of Canada-US relations would last a decade or even longer.

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JD.com Unveils "Super AI Supply Chain" Targeting the World's Largest Physical-World Operations Center

Source: Sina Finance

On September 9, the 2026 JD Discovery (JDD) conference was held in Beijing's Yizhuang. Cao Peng, chairman of JD.com's Technology Committee and president of JD Cloud, laid out JD.com's strategic path to build the "world's largest physical-world operations center," and introduced a "Super AI Supply Chain" that connects data, models, hardware and industry scenarios end to end.

Cao said JD Cloud has partnered with industry players to build a domestic 10,000-card computing cluster and is planning a 100,000-card cluster. Leveraging nearly 10,000 offline stores and 3,600 warehouse nodes, JD.com has launched large-scale embodied-intelligence data collection, currently producing over 100,000 hours of data per week, with a plan to accumulate 10 million hours of industrial-grade data within two years. JD.com's R&D spending rose 53% year-on-year in the first half, and its AI technology has been deployed across more than 3,000 real-world scenarios in retail, logistics, healthcare and industry.

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PetroChina to Inject 11.6 Billion Yuan into Kunlun Capital

Source: Sina Finance

PetroChina recently announced that CNPC Group and PetroChina plan to jointly inject a total of 11.6 billion yuan of their own funds into Kunlun Capital. CNPC Group will contribute 7.395 billion yuan and PetroChina 4.205 billion yuan, while CNPC Capital waived its preemptive subscription rights.

After the capital increase, CNPC Group's stake will rise from 51% to 56.56%, PetroChina's from 29% to 32.16%, and CNPC Capital's will fall from 20% to 11.28%. Founded in June 2021, Kunlun Capital is the industrial investment platform CNPC Group set up during its 14th Five-Year Plan period. CNPC Capital said it waived the increase to further focus on financial business and optimize resource allocation.

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Gold Jewelry Prices Fall Nearly 20 Yuan per Gram, Dropping Below 1,320 Yuan

Source: Sina Finance

On September 9, per-gram prices of gold jewelry from several brands fell below 1,320 yuan. Chow Tai Fook's pure gold jewelry was quoted at 1,317 yuan per gram, down 18 yuan from the previous day; Chow Sang Sang's was 1,317 yuan, down 19 yuan; and Lao Feng Xiang's was 1,318 yuan, down 15 yuan.

Data from the China Gold Association shows China's gold consumption reached 511.412 tonnes in the first half of 2026, up 1.23% year-on-year, but with a clear divergence by category: gold jewelry consumption fell 33.88% to 132.133 tonnes, while gold bars and coins jumped 28.42% to 339.336 tonnes. Data from "SMZDM" shows gold jewelry GMV on the platform rose 92.7% month-on-month in August 2026.

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Huawei's Pura X View Goes on Sale Today as Yu Chengdong Courts Apple Users

Source: 21st Century Business Herald

Huawei's first "wide bar" phone, the Pura X View, officially went on sale at 10:08 on September 9, starting at 5,999 yuan. The device features a 6.39-inch screen and a 7,000 mAh battery, and is powered by the Kirin 9030S chip and HarmonyOS 7, with support for file-format interoperability with the iPhone.

At a global launch event in Guangzhou on September 7, Yu Chengdong, Huawei's executive director and chairman of the Device BG, told Apple users: "Apple users can buy one of our wide-bar phones as a backup. Maybe it will become your main phone." The remarks trended on social media that day. The second-generation tri-fold Mate XT 2 unveiled at the same event starts at 19,999 yuan.

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Baidu Group-W to Be Added to Three Hang Seng Stock Connect Indices

Source: Sina Finance

Hang Seng Indexes Company announced on September 9 that, because Baidu (9888.HK) has been included in the Stock Connect and meets the fast-entry rules, Baidu Group-W will be added to the Hang Seng Stock Connect New Economy Index, the Hang Seng Stock Connect China Technology Index and the Hang Seng Stock Connect Technology Theme Index after market close on October 23, 2026 (Friday), effective October 26, 2026 (Monday).

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Nikkei Falls 0.19% as Middle East Tensions Weigh

Source: Kyodo News

Tokyo's Nikkei average extended its decline on the 9th, closing down 126.55 points, or 0.19%, at 65,142.78. The TOPIX fell 3.69 points, or 0.09%, to 4,046.64, with turnover of 2.30029 billion shares.

Mutual strikes between the United States and Iran in the Middle East continue, deepening uncertainty over the outlook. Expectations of prolonged oil-supply disruption lifted U.S. crude futures, fueling concerns that inflation could weaken the economy. On the other hand, AI and semiconductor-related stocks such as SoftBank Group and Fujikura rose, and the Nikkei was up more than 500 points at one point during the session.

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Korean Stocks Rise 1.4%, SK Hynix Up 3.51%

Source: Sina Finance

South Korea's KOSPI closed up 97.11 points, or 1.4%, at 7,051.63 on the 9th. Among individual stocks, Samsung Electronics ended flat while SK Hynix rose 3.51%.

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