News

Glonghui, May 7th | After the U.S. market closed on Wednesday, Albemarle, the world’s largest lithium producer, released exceptionally strong financial results, with quarterly profit nearly doubling Wall Street expectations due to rising lithium prices and increased sales volume. The financial report shows: Albemarle’s first-quarter revenue was $1.4 billion, surpassing analysts’ expectations of $1.32 billion as compiled by LSEG, and marking a significant 33% increase from $1.1 billion in the same period last year. Net profit was $319.1 million, while net profit in the same period last year was only $49.3 million, representing a year-on-year increase of over 547%. Notably, the company’s lithium business segment revenue grew by 70% year-on-year, reaching $891.2 million, thanks to a 51% increase in lithium prices and a 14% rise in sales volume.

BlockBeats News, May 7th, Yunfeng Financial (00376.HK)’s subsidiary, Yunfeng Yoyow, officially launched the "Physical Gold Token" product, open to accredited professional investors (PI). The product is supported by AlphaToken's blockchain and RWA tokenization infrastructure, aiming to provide compliant gold digital asset allocation services to professional investors. According to reports, the gold token is backed by LBMA-certified gold with a purity of 99.99% as the underlying asset, with each token corresponding to 1 gram of gold. The related assets are held in an internationally accredited gold vault, and transparency and security are ensured through independent audits and full reserve custody mechanisms. AlphaToken stated that its AlphaChain network and RWA Tokenization technology system, based on its proprietary infrastructure, have embedded KYC, AML, asset issuance, auditing, and risk control processes to provide licensed financial institutions with on-chain issuance and management capabilities. Yunfeng Financial stated that the launch of this product is a significant move in its real-world assets (RWA) field and will further integrate AI and Web3 technologies to launch on-chain wealth management products for institutions and professional investors.

BlockBeats News, May 7th: Shortly before the US and Iran Close to Reaching Ceasefire MOU was reported by the American media Axios, the WTI crude oil futures market suddenly saw a massive sell-off of over $1.7 billion, sparking suspicions of insider trading and early information leakage. Data shows that around 3:40 to 4:10 AM ET, the market, in the absence of major news, aggressively built up nearly 10,000 short contracts for crude oil, with a notional value of about $920 million. Approximately 70 minutes later, Axios, citing US officials, reported that the US and Iran were close to reaching a "14-point agreement" to end the conflict. Subsequently, oil prices plummeted by over 12%, causing the related short positions to temporarily gain unrealized profits of around $125 million. Several energy traders stated that trading activities are usually thin during the early hours, making such large-scale precise trades "highly unusual." There are suspicions that some traders may have had early access to the information. Axios reporters, however, denied the accusations of colluding with market participants to manipulate the situation. The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had previously been reported to be investigating abnormal trading behavior related to "genuine social" media posts and media coverage. US Senator Elizabeth Warren also publicly questioned the related trades, stating that they "look like insider trading." Furthermore, Iranian Parliament Speaker Kalibaf publicly refuted Axios's report on the "US-Iran agreement," calling it a "fabricated media narrative" and mocking it as "Operation Fauxios (Fake News Operation)."