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Mainland Chinese investors snap up a record amount of Hong Kong stocks

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Hong Kong’s stock exchange reported its highest quarterly profit in nearly four years after China’s stimulus measures boosted trading and listing volume.

Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images

BEIJING — Mainland Chinese investors are piling into the Hong Kong stock market at record volumes as its tech-heavy Hang Seng Index trades around three-year highs.

Net mainland Chinese purchases of Hong Kong stocks hit a record 29.62 billion Hong Kong dollars ($3.81 billion) on Monday, according to the Wind Information database.

That was the most since the Hong Kong stock market launched its “connect” program with the mainland, allowing local investors easier access to a select number of stocks traded offshore. The Shanghai Connect launched in November 2014, while the Shenzhen Connect opened in December 2016.

The Hang Seng Index traded around 0.7% lower Tuesday morning following a sharp sell-off in U.S. stocks overnight on worries about the impact of tariffs on global growth.

Net buys via the Shanghai Connect reached nearly 18 billion HKD on Monday, while those from the Shenzhen Connect reached 11.63 billion HKD, the data showed.

Hong Kong-traded shares of Alibaba and Tencent, both of which are not traded in mainland China, saw the largest net purchases, according to Wind data.

China last week affirmed its pro-growth stance by emphasizing plans to support private sector tech innovation, and increasing its fiscal deficit to a rare 4% of gross domestic product including an expanded consumer subsidies program.

There could be a significant reordering of investment flows out of the U.S. and into Europe and Asia

Citi’s global macro strategy team on Monday upgraded its view on Chinese stocks — namely the Hang Seng China Enterprises Index — to overweight, while downgrading the U.S. to neutral.

“One key reason why we have not been focused on Chinese equities is tariff risk,” the analysts said.

“Abstracting from this issue, we believe the case for China tech was clear. A) DeepSeek proved that China tech is at the Western technological frontier (or beyond), despite the export controls. This was followed by the release of Tencent’s Hunyuan (an AI video generator) and Alibaba’s QwQ-32B,” they added.

‘Cheap and under-owned’ stocks

Chinese and foreign institutional investors started piling back into Chinese stocks after Beijing started announcing more forceful stimulus plans in late September. Chinese equities got another boost after the emergence of DeepSeek’s latest model in late January prompted a global tech sell-off. More major tech companies are traded in Hong Kong than in mainland China.

Manishi Raychaudhuri, CEO of Emmer Capital Partners, said investors could soon pour money back into emerging markets, particularly Asian emerging markets, once global stocks emerge from the current rut.

“I would say largely it would still be Greater China, which means largely Hong Kong, China. The stocks are cheap and under-owned,” Raychaudhuri told CNBC’s “Street Signs Asia” on Tuesday.

“We have seen some degree of consumption boost in the form of what the policymakers have been doing since January. It is not yet to the full extent that the market would like to have but at least it is a departure from the trend of many years,” he continued.

“So, right on top of my list, it would still be Hong Kong, China, the internet stocks, the large internet platforms and also some of the consumption-related names, mostly in athleisure, the restaurant stocks and other travel and tourism-related names,” Raychaudhuri said.

— CNBC’s Sam Meredith and Anniek Bao contributed to this report.

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Trump CFPB cuts reviewed by Fed inspector general

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Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) Russell Vought attends a cabinet meeting at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., April 10, 2025.

Nathan Howard | Reuters

The Federal Reserve’s inspector general is reviewing the Trump administration’s attempts to lay off nearly all Consumer Financial Protection Bureau employees and cancel the agency’s contracts, CNBC has learned.

The inspector general’s office told Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., and Sen. Andy Kim, D-N.J., that it was taking up their request to investigate the moves of the consumer agency’s new leadership, according to a June 6 letter seen by CNBC.

“We had already initiated work to review workforce reductions at the CFPB” in response to an earlier request from lawmakers, acting Inspector General Fred Gibson said in the letter. “We are expanding that work to include the CFPB’s canceled contracts.”

The letter confirms that key oversight arms of the U.S. government are now examining the whirlwind of activity at the bureau after Trump’s acting CFPB head Russell Vought took over in February. Vought told employees to halt work, while he and operatives from Elon Musk‘s Department of Government Efficiency sought to lay off most of the agency’s staff and end contracts with external providers.

That prompted Warren and Kim to ask the Fed inspector general and the Government Accountability Office to review the legality of Vought’s actions and the extent to which they hindered the CFPB’s mission. The GAO told the lawmakers in April that it would examine the matter.

“As Trump dismantles vital public services, an independent OIG investigation is essential to understand the damage done by this administration at the CFPB and ensure it can still fulfill its mandate to work on the people’s behalf and hold companies who try to cheat and scam them accountable,” Kim told CNBC in a statement.

The Fed IG office serves as an independent watchdog over both the Fed and the CFPB, and has the power to examine agency records, issue subpoenas and interview personnel. It can also refer criminal matters to the Department of Justice.

Soon after his inauguration, Trump fired more than 17 inspectors general across federal agencies. Spared in that purge was Michael Horowitz, the IG for the Justice Department since 2012, who this month was named the incoming watchdog for the Fed and CFPB.

Horowitz, who begins in his new role at the end of this month, was reportedly praised by Trump supporters for uncovering problems with the FBI’s handling of its probe into Trump’s 2016 campaign.

Meanwhile, the fate of the CFPB hinges on a looming decision from a federal appeals court. Judges temporarily halted Vought’s efforts to lay off employees, but are now considering the Trump administration’s appeal over its plans for the agency.

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GameStop shares tank on convertible bond offering to potentially buy more bitcoin

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A Gamestop store is seen in Union Square on April 4, 2025 in New York City. 

Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images

GameStop shares slid on Thursday after the video game retailer and meme stock announced plans for a $1.75 billion convertible notes offering to potentially fund its new bitcoin purchase strategy.

The company said it intends to use the net proceeds from the offering for general corporate purposes, “including making investments in a manner consistent with GameStop’s Investment Policy and potential acquisitions.”

Part of the investment policy is to add cryptocurrencies on its balance sheet. Last month, GameStop bought 4,710 bitcoins, worth more than half a billion dollars.

The stock tanked more than 15% in premarket trading following the announcement.

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GameStop

GameStop is following in the footsteps of software company MicroStrategy, now known as Strategy, which bought billions of dollars worth of bitcoin in recent years to become the largest corporate holder of the flagship cryptocurrency. That decision prompted a rapid, albeit volatile, rise for Strategy’s stock.

Strategy has issued various forms of securities including convertible debt to fund its bitcoin purchases.

CEO Ryan Cohen recently said GameStop’s decision to buy bitcoin is driven by macro concerns as the digital coin, with its fixed supply and decentralized nature, could serve as protection against certain risks.

The brick-and-mortar retailer reported a decline in fiscal first-quarter revenue on Tuesday as demand for online gaming rose. Its revenue dropped 17% year-over-year to $732.4 million. 

The shares fell 6% on Wednesday after those results. Wall Street appears uncertain it can mimic the success of MicroStrategy.

Wedbush analyst Michael Pachter reiterated his underperform rating on GameStop Wednesday, saying the meme stock has consistently capitalized on “greater fools” willing to pay more than twice its asset value for its shares. The Wedbush analyst believes the bitcoin buying strategy makes little sense as the company, already trading at 2.4 times cash, isn’t likely to drive an even greater premium by converting more cash to crypto.

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