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With May just around the corner, the Labour Day holiday is the first event on the horizon. In the Mainland, this marks a five-day Golden Week holiday, during which many will take the opportunity to travel, with Hong Kong being one of the popular destinations. We anticipate that Hong Kong will welcome approximately 840 000 Mainland visitors during this Golden Week, reflecting an increase of about 10% compared to the daily average visitor arrivals during last year’s Labour Day holiday, and a rise of 13% compared to this year’s Chinese New Year.

The United States (US) has imposed the so-called "reciprocal tariffs" on its trading partners and is continuously adjusting the rates. This has not only severely disrupted the global trade order and the stability of supply chains, but also significantly increased uncertainty in the international trade and investment environment. Such reckless protectionist measures have raised widespread concerns in the market. Many economists have predicted rising inflation, economic slowdown and even a potential recession in the US. Meanwhile, the tariff war is expected to affect the global economic outlook, leading to a slowdown in global economic growth.

Since the United States (US) announced the imposition of so-called “reciprocal tariffs” on its global trading partners, international financial markets have experienced significant volatility. Investors are concerned about a potential economic recession in the US, and are increasingly worried about the global economic outlook. Although the US has made some minor adjustments to its measures, there has been no fundamental change in its policy stance, leading to ongoing investor pessimism. Alongside sharp declines in US stocks and pressure on the US dollar, US Treasury bond prices also plummeted, causing yields to spike. Last week, the 10-year Treasury bond yield, which moves inversely to bond prices, recorded its largest weekly increase in 24 years. This raises borrowing costs and financing pressure for the heavily indebted US and undermines market confidence in US Treasury bonds as safe-haven assets.