Castle Securities says that despite a cooling in retail speculation, the forces pushing US equities to record highs remain intact. The firm’s head of equity and equity derivatives strategy, Scott Rubner, says the market is shifting from a flow-driven regime toward one increasingly determined by earnings, corporate demand and the macro backdrop. Its data show retail withdrawal cut leveraged-ETF assets by 28% to $154.0 bln. Concurrently, lower financing costs for equity positions have eased pressu

The Ministry of Agriculture held a national autumn-grain production on-site meeting in Dezhou, Shandong, saying autumn grain accounts for the bulk of annual output and the current period is critical for flood/drought control and yield formation. It ordered a 100-day campaign to strengthen field management and disaster resilience, requiring crop- and region-specific fertilizer and water management and 'one-spray, multi-promotion' measures to upgrade seedling conditions. Provinces were told to implement flood-season agricultural disaster-prevention plans, focus on heavy rain/flooding, drought, heat and typhoons, strengthen monitoring and early warning, and use agricultural disaster-relief funds to minimize losses. The ministry also prioritized intensified control of major pests and diseases — rice borers and 'two-migration' migratory pests, corn borers and southern rust — advancing integrated, coordinated and emergency prevention-and-control measures.

Indonesian officials said rare-earth export policy has been clarified: the ban applies only to a single product, and exports of minerals not containing rare earths resumed on Sunday.