Last weekend, the financial markets were in the spotlight with continuous hot topics. Let's look at some key data. Spot gold surged to 4542 USD/ounce, hitting a new all-time high with a 24-hour increase of 1.4%; silver performed even more strongly, soaring over 7% intraday, quoted at 77.2 USD/ounce, with a year-to-date increase of 160%. London spot silver even experienced liquidity tightness, and many retail investors chasing the rally indeed intensified volatility.

On the US stock market side, the three major indices declined slightly on Friday—Dow Jones -0.04%, Nasdaq -0.09%, S&P 500 -0.03%. However, for the week, they still closed higher—Dow up 1.2%, Nasdaq up 1.22%, S&P 500 up 1.4%. During the week, the S&P 500 even hit an all-time intraday high. The US dollar index remained at 101.8, and the 10-year US Treasury yield stayed at 3.88%.

The global M&A market performed remarkably in 2025, with transaction volume surpassing 4 trillion USD, a nearly 50% year-over-year increase. This is the second-highest figure in over 40 years, only behind the peak in 2021. The Central Bank of Egypt cut interest rates by 100 basis points on December 26, mainly to address local inflation and exchange rate pressures.

Looking domestically, there have been several significant policy moves. On December 26, the national government launched the Venture Capital Guidance Fund, establishing three regional funds in Beijing-Tianjin-Hebei, Yangtze River Delta, and Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area, aiming to leverage trillion-level fiscal funds to mobilize trillions of social capital, focusing on hard technology projects. The fund's duration is set for a long cycle of 15-20 years.

The new financial stability report released by the People's Bank of China shows that the overall risk of 3529 banks is converging within a controllable range. The report emphasizes the importance of long-term investments and increasing the allocation of medium- and long-term funds in A-shares. There are also new moves in foreign exchange management; the PBOC and SAFE are promoting cross-border companies' integrated foreign and domestic currency fund pools nationwide to facilitate capital collection; they also clarified that offshore-listed fundraising can be freely converted, and in principle, funds should be repatriated to China.

In the fund market, the Class C shares of Guotou Ruixin Silver Futures LOF have been suspended from new subscriptions since December 29, with the premium rate falling below 30%. Bond futures collectively rose, with the 30-year government bond futures leading the gain at 0.36%. The PBOC net injected 36.8 billion yuan, maintaining a stable and slightly loose liquidity environment. Additionally, market regulators are conducting price competition guidance work in the photovoltaic industry, mainly to curb malicious price cuts and dumping at low prices.