China

The People's Bank of China conducted its largest clustered overnight reverse-repo series since introducing the tool in June 2025, injecting 2.1 trillion yuan across four sessions from July 29 to August 3, 2026. Reuters sourced the borrowing cost at 1.25%, placing it 15 basis points below the official 7-day policy rate of 1.40%, though the PBOC has not published the rate in any official notice. Bond markets have not moved in ways consistent with expectations of a near-term policy rate cut, and PBOC Deputy Governor Zou Lan has explicitly characterized the overnight tool as a liquidity management instrument rather than a rate-setting one.

On July 29, 2026, the U.S. Treasury designated ten entities and eight vessels under Executive Order 13902, with six of those entities being Hong Kong- and Shenzhen-based ship management companies. The designations carry no wind-down period or general license, meaning SDN restrictions and the 50 Percent Rule took effect immediately. Chinese banks, insurers, and port operators were not directly targeted, but existing OFAC advisories establish secondary-sanctions exposure for non-U.S. firms that continue transacting with the newly blocked parties.

On July 28, 2026, Baidu's Apollo Go launched supervised road testing of its RT6 robotaxi in the London Borough of Brent through a partnership with Freenow by Lyft, deploying dozens of vehicles with safety operators present. The trial operates under the UK's Code of Practice for Automated Vehicle Trialling; no operator in London has yet received authorization for driverless service under the Automated Vehicles Act 2024, and a public ride-hail launch remains contingent on regulatory approval targeted for 2027. The deployment is Apollo Go's first in a major European market and its second right-hand-drive market entry within a week, following a fully driverless permit in Hong Kong on July 23, 2026.

China's Politburo announced on July 30, 2026, that the fifth plenary session of the 20th CPC Central Committee will meet in Beijing in October 2026, chaired by Xi Jinping. The session's stated agenda centers on party discipline and internal governance, a departure from the previous plenum's focus on the 15th Five-Year Plan. The shift signals that internal party management, rather than economic planning, is the leadership's declared priority for this cycle.