The global precious metals market plunges; China’s Hubei steel mills conduct winter stockpiling surveys.

◎ U.S. President Trump has formally nominated former Federal Reserve Board Governor Kevin Warsh as the next Chairman of the Federal Reserve. Replacing Powell, whose term ends in May, Wash was nominated for the position of Federal Reserve Chair, sparking hawkish expectations. Coupled with factors such as profit-taking and short-term futures traders unwinding their long positions, Last Friday, international precious metal prices plunged to a record low.

◎ On February 1, local time, at Mar-a-Lago, U.S. President Trump, responding to reporters' questions about Iran, said he hoped “an agreement could be reached.” Earlier that day, Iranian Foreign Minister Zarif stated that Iran remained “confident” about reaching an agreement with the United States on the nuclear issue. He noted that information exchanges conducted through friendly countries in the region were facilitating contacts between the two sides, and described the ongoing negotiations as “productive.”

◎ On February 2, spot silver continued its downward trend, with intraday losses widening to 10%; spot gold plunged below $4,700, falling more than 3% within the day.

◎ Hubei Construction steel A survey of steel mills’ winter stockpiling activities shows that, regarding price-locking policies, the leading locked price for construction steel in the Wuhan region is around 3,150 yuan per ton, and the scale of price-locking policies introduced has decreased.

On the afternoon of January 30, the Political Bureau of the CPC Central Committee held its 24th collective study session on proactively planning and developing future industries. While presiding over the study session, Xi Jinping, General Secretary of the CPC Central Committee, emphasized that we must adopt a strategic perspective, driven by the grand cause of building a strong country and achieving national rejuvenation, ground ourselves in objective conditions, leverage our comparative advantages, and adhere to the principles of seeking progress while maintaining stability and fostering development in a phased manner, so as to continuously achieve new breakthroughs in the development of China’s future industries.

◎The third issue of the magazine “Qiushi,” published on February 1, features an important article by President Xi Jinping titled “Taking the Right Path for Financial Development with Chinese Characteristics and Building a Strong Financial Nation.” The article points out that a strong financial nation should be underpinned by a robust economic foundation, possessing world-leading economic, technological, and comprehensive national strength, while also being equipped with a set of key, core financial elements.

◎ During British Prime Minister Starmer’s visit to China from January 28 to 31, China and the UK signed four economic and trade outcome documents. Further deepen China-UK economic and trade relations from three aspects. First, we will launch “Export to China” cooperation. Second, we will initiate a feasibility study on negotiating a service trade agreement and deepen cooperation in areas such as the creative industries, professional services, financial services, and healthcare. Third, we will strengthen the work of the China-UK Joint Economic and Trade Committee.

◎ The State Administration of Taxation has issued a notice further adjusting and optimizing the detailed rules for determining the threshold for value-added tax (VAT) applicable to individuals. Starting this year, the threshold for per-instance VAT payment will be raised from 500 yuan to 1,000 yuan per transaction (or per day). For individuals engaging in six specific scenarios—such as renting out real estate or selling scrapped products through “reverse invoicing”—the previous per-instance threshold of 1,000 yuan will no longer apply. Instead, these individuals will be subject to the monthly sales threshold of 100,000 yuan, as applied under the regular periodic tax payment system.

◎ China’s official manufacturing PMI for January came in at 49.3%, down 0.8 percentage points from the previous month. The National Bureau of Statistics noted that in January, some manufacturing sectors entered their traditional off-season. Moreover, with effective market demand still falling short, the manufacturing sector’s business sentiment has somewhat declined.

◎ According to data released by the Ministry of Finance, in 2025, the nation’s fiscal revenue reached 21.6 trillion yuan, down 1.7% year-on-year, while fiscal expenditure totaled 28.74 trillion yuan, up 1% year-on-year.

◎ In 2025, the total operating revenue of China's state-owned enterprises reached 84.89 trillion yuan, up 0.5% year-on-year; total profits amounted to 4.04 trillion yuan, down 6.3%.

◎ The U.S. federal government entered a technical, partial “shutdown” at midnight on January 31, local time.

◎ In the fourth quarter of 2025, the Eurozone’s GDP preliminary figure rose by 1.3% year-on-year, marking the lowest growth rate for the entire year but exceeding the market’s expectation of 1.2%.