The delta variant of the new crown virus forced Australia and New Zealand to re-evaluate strategies to eliminate the virus, and prompted Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison to say that it is extremely unlikely that his country will return to zero cases. Morrison told the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday that Australia’s focus needs to shift to hospitalization rates rather than number of cases. In an interview with TVNZ, New Zealand’s COVID-19 response minister, Chris Hipkins, said that the highly contagious nature of the Delta virus has caused some “quite big” questions about New Zealand’s approach to eradicating the disease.

Dallas Federal Reserve President Robert Kaplan said that if the delta virus variant continues to spread and damage economic progress, he is willing to adjust his views on the Fed’s downsizing sooner rather than later. The Federal Reserve currently purchases US$80 billion of US Treasury bonds and US$40 billion of mortgage-backed securities every month to inject liquidity into the market to revitalize the US economy that has been dragged down by the epidemic. Kaplan has said that he supports the gradual reduction of debt purchases starting in October, and said that such policy support is bringing unexpected consequences, such as rising housing prices and rising rents.

According to people familiar with the matter, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has told senior White House advisers that she supports the nomination of Jerome Powell as chairman of the Federal Reserve. The above-mentioned person familiar with the matter said that US President Biden has not yet made a decision and added that he may make a decision around Labor Day. Powell was nominated by the then U.S. President Trump as the chairman of the Federal Reserve in 2018 to replace Yellen. The chairman of the Federal Reserve serves a four-year term. Officials from the White House and the Treasury Department declined to comment.

The White House announced on Friday that President Biden had nominated the ambassador to China and Japan. The White House stated that Nicholas Burns, former deputy secretary of state for political affairs, was nominated as ambassador to China, and former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel was nominated as ambassador to Japan. These nominations still need to be confirmed by the Senate.

The Hong Kong index compilation company adjusted the composition of the constituent stocks of the local benchmark stock index. At a time when the Chinese government's rectification actions aroused investors' doubts and caused a sharp drop, the scale of the much-watched Hang Seng Technology Index has been maintained, and “intelligence” will become the next theme that is suitable for joining. The Hang Seng Index Co., Ltd. announced on Friday afternoon after completing the quarterly review that Xinyi Glass, Li Ning and China Merchants Bank will be added to the Hang Seng Index and Bank of Communications will be removed. As a result, the number of constituent stocks in the Hang Seng Index will increase from 58 to 60. The size of the China Enterprises Index remains unchanged at 50 constituent stocks, and Li Ning and JD Logistics will replace the Group and Conch Cement.

The Hong Kong Stock Exchange was approved to start issuing the long-awaited A-share index futures contracts, providing global investors with a new tool to hedge China's risks. The Hong Kong Stock Exchange said in a statement on Friday that it has signed a new licensing agreement with MSCI Inc. and will launch a futures contract based on the MSCI China A50 Connectivity Index. The MSCI China A50 Connectivity Index will track the performance of 50 major Shanghai and Shenzhen stocks traded through the Shanghai-Shenzhen-Hong Kong Stock Connect. The futures product will be launched on October 18. The Chief Executive Officer of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, Ou Guansheng, said in a statement that "this new product will provide investors with a tool to effectively manage the risks of A-share related assets."

When the exchange rate is stable, the supply and demand of foreign exchange settlement and sale will become more balanced. According to data released by the State Administration of Foreign Exchange on Friday, the surpluses of spot and forward foreign exchange settlement and sales on behalf of customers in July dropped significantly, and the pressure on foreign exchange settlement was significantly reduced; among them, the net forward foreign exchange settlement was US$2.05 billion, as of September 2018 Come the smallest.

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