US equities closed lower on Wednesday: Dow -0.68%, S&P 500 -0.75%, Nasdaq -1.10%. SK Hynix (SKHY.O) -3.0%, Meta (META.O) +1.0%, Amazon (AMZN.O) -2.0%. Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index -1.44%; Alibaba (BABA.N) -4.7%, Baidu (BIDU.O) down nearly 3%.

OECD projects euro area GDP growth of 1.0% in 2026 and 1.0% in 2027, revised from prior forecasts of 0.8% and 1.2%.

Sept 23 — Foreign Ministry spokesman Guo Jiakun, at a regular briefing, responded to Japan prime minister Takaichi Sanae’s Sept 22 UN speech calling for deletion of the UN Charter’s “enemy state” clause and saying Japan will uphold an exclusive self‑defense policy and push for a nuclear‑free world. Guo said the international community cares more about what Japan does than what it says, accusing the current Japanese government of denying wartime aggression, whitewashing war crimes, accelerating rearmament and remilitarization, seeking to abandon the Three Non‑Nuclear Principles and revise the pacifist constitution, and of openly challenging the post‑war international order — actions Beijing called a prominent threat to regional peace and stability.