Hello, this is Leonie Kidd coming to you from London.
It's a sign of the times when a humanoid robot maker, founded 10 years ago in a 50-square-meter office in Hangzhou, China, takes to market with a near 500% rally on its opening day of trading.
In a nervous market full of geopolitical tension, IPOs have attracted a lot of investor attention, with AI darlings Anthropic and OpenAI preparing for their own debuts.
But today, it's Unitree with the "superhuman" start to trade.
What you need to know today
Unitree Robotics made a blockbuster stock market debut in Shanghai on Wednesday, with its newly listed shares last trading 484% higher. The Hangzhou-based humanoid robot maker has raised around 6.1 billion yuan ($905 million), according to its prospectus.
The group counts Chinese tech giant Tencent as an investor, while AI group DeepSeek also invested in the IPO. On Monday, Unitree unveiled a new humanoid robot called "Superhuman," which it says can jump two meters from a standing position and run at speeds of up to 12.66 meters per second.
Don't blame Canada
An 11th-hour decision from U.S. President Donald Trump will pause the implementation of 50% tariffs against certain Canadian imports. The restrictions were due to kick in overnight, but in a post on Truth Social, the president said the move was "based on the fact that Canada and the U.S.A., subject to the finalization of documents, have a DEAL!"
The new tariffs would have covered roughly $20 billion worth of Canadian imports, according to the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative.
Unyielding rout for bonds
Global bond yields are holding near multi-decade highs, applying downward pressure to stock markets from Japan to New York. Across Asia-Pacific, equity markets were lower on Wednesday, with a weaker open predicted across Europe and the U.S.
Analysts are pointing to the prolonged war in Iran putting inflation fears back at the fore, with investors once again pricing in higher oil prices for longer. Later today, the Federal Reserve's Open Market Committee will release minutes for the July meeting, where three dissenters voted to hike rates.
Earnings season
Earnings season is coming to a close for the quarter with a set of key earnings from U.S. retail giants. On Wednesday, Target, Lowe's and TJX will report numbers before the bell. You can find all of today's big stock stories stateside here.
— Leonie Kidd
And Finally...
Russia says its economy is strong. It just fired a top economist who warned otherwise
Russian government officials told CNBC that the economy is strong and healthy despite "unprecedented foreign pressure" following the country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in early 2022.
That message sits in stark contrast with the views of the former chief economist of Russia's state-controlled development bank VEB, who was dismissed on Sunday after comments he made earlier in the year were reported in Russian-language media.
Andrei Klepach, a former deputy economy minister, was reportedly fired after presenting a report warning that Russia could not win a prolonged war of attrition with Ukraine and predicting a major social crisis.
— Sam Meredith
