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“Bitcoin is continuing to show signs of its own decoupling away from equity markets,” one watcher said.

BEIJING/HONG KONG (Reuters) -Chinese authorities have asked e-commerce platform operators to stop insisting on merchants refunding customers without requiring the return of goods, to alleviate financial pressure on merchants, two people familiar with the matter said. The government met operators including PDD Holdings and concluded the practice must end by July, from which point only merchants will be able to initiate a refund, the people said, without specifying dates. The aim is to prevent merchants' situation becoming tenuous during times of economic slowdown, said one of the people, who declined to be identified because the information is not public.

Global stock markets experienced a relief rally after US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent indicated that high tariffs were not unsustainable, raising hopes for a de-escalation in the US–China trade war. President Trump confirmed the stance and signalled that tariffs on China would be cut.View on euronews

Nissan Motor will invest an additional $1.4 billion in China, where it believes it is on track to reverse a punishing slide in sales with the launch of some 10 new vehicles in the coming years, its China chief said on Wednesday. "We have been sort of slow in approaching the market with China moving so fast," said Stephen Ma, who shifted from Nissan’s chief financial officer to take charge of its China operations at the start of the year. Nissan sold fewer than 700,000 vehicles in China in 2024, less than half of what it sold just four years earlier.

(Bloomberg) -- Bitcoin continued to climb after US President Donald Trump said he had no intention of firing Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell, easing concerns over the central bank’s autonomy.Most Read from BloombergTrump Gives New York ‘One Last Chance’ to End Congestion FeeDOGE Visits National Gallery of Art to Discuss Museum’s Legal StatusThe Racial Wealth Gap Is Not Just About MoneyBackyard Micro-Flats Aim to Ease South Africa’s Housing CrisisThe largest cryptocurrency rose about 3% befor

BP is facing fresh pressure from a pro-oil hedge fund just as MPs push the company to restore its green pledges.

TOKYO (Reuters) -Japanese banks need to watch out various risks as the volatility in global financial markets has increased due to uncertainties over trade policies, the Bank of Japan said on Wednesday. "Japan's financial system has been maintaining stability on the whole," the BOJ said in its report on the financial system. "However, since the beginning of April, financial markets at home and abroad have fluctuated significantly," it said, citing uncertainty over trade, other economic policies and geopolitical risks.

BP may be forced to cut or even scrap its share buyback programmes over the next year unless oil prices recover, analysts say, adding that would increase pressure on its already underperforming shares. Oil majors and other resource companies have made increased use of share buybacks and dividends to reward shareholders in recent years. Three analysts said the risk for BP was that weaker oil prices would mean it could not sustain its buyback programme, aggravating the problem of BP's underperformance versus peers.

Nearly $530 million in shorts, or bets on lower prices, booked losses amid a general unwinding of leveraged bets.

Crypto power players back $3B bitcoin SPAC as Trump-era policies spark new wave of institutional bets.