Market Overview - U.S. private credit market risks are emerging, with significant exposure concentrated in large banks and insurance funds rather than smaller banks[6] - The U.S. economy grew at its fastest pace in two years in Q3 2025, with GDP growth reaching 4.3%, exceeding expectations of 3.3%[31] Stock Market Performance - A-shares experienced a slight increase, with the Shanghai Composite Index closing at 3,919 points, up 0.07%[15] - U.S. stock indices reached new highs, with the S&P 500 up 0.5% to 6,909.8 points and the Nasdaq up 0.6% to 23,561.8 points[9] Commodity and Currency Trends - Gold and silver prices reached record highs due to U.S. interest rate cut expectations and geopolitical risks[28] - The U.S. dollar index fell to its lowest level since early October, while the Chinese yuan approached the 7 yuan mark against the dollar[28] Fixed Income Market - U.S. Treasury yields rose sharply in the short term following strong GDP data, with the 2-year yield at 3.53%[31] - A $44 billion auction of 7-year Treasury bonds is scheduled, reflecting ongoing market adjustments[31] Sector Insights - The healthcare sector in Latin America showed strong performance, with the medical care sector rising by 2.48%[9] - The real estate sector in China is under focus, with government efforts to stabilize the market and support reasonable financing needs for real estate companies[31]

Investment Rating - Industry rating is maintained as "Outperform" [9] Core Insights - The report highlights that reduced-harm products and oral tobacco have become the core growth engines for British American Tobacco (BAT) and Philip Morris International (PMI) [1][3] - BAT's revenue for the first half of 2025 was £12.069 billion, a decrease of 2.2% year-on-year, but a 1.8% increase when excluding currency effects, primarily driven by recovery in the US market [1] - PMI reported a revenue of $19.4 billion for the first half of 2025, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 6.5% [3] Summary by Sections British American Tobacco (BAT) - BAT's operating profit for the first half of 2025 was £5.069 billion, a year-on-year increase of 19.1%, with an operating margin rising by 7.5 percentage points to 42.0% [1] - The diluted EPS for BAT was £2.036, up 1.6% year-on-year [1] - The number of consumers of BAT's reduced-harm products reached 30.5 million, an increase of 1.4 million year-on-year [2] - Modern oral products generated £470 million in revenue, a 38.1% increase year-on-year, with sales volume rising by 42.2% [2] Philip Morris International (PMI) - PMI's gross profit for the first half of 2025 was $13.1 billion, a 12.0% increase year-on-year [3] - The adjusted diluted EPS for PMI was $3.6, reflecting a year-on-year growth of 16.1% [3] - PMI's total shipment volume for the first half of 2025 was 387.9 billion units, a 2.5% increase year-on-year [4] - Reduced-harm product shipments reached 87.9 billion units, a 13.1% increase year-on-year, with 41.5 million consumers globally, an increase of 5 million [4] Regional Performance - In Japan, IQOS covered over 10 million legal-age consumers, with a shipment volume of 13.9 billion units in Q2 2025, a 3.2% increase year-on-year [6] - In the EU, IQOS shipments reached 6 billion units in Q2 2025, a 13.21% increase year-on-year [6] - In South Korea, IQOS shipments were 1.6 billion units in Q2 2025, a 12.8% increase year-on-year [6] Investment Opportunities - The report suggests focusing on the vaping supply chain, including companies like Smoore International and Yihua Healthcare, as well as the tobacco supply chain with companies like China Tobacco Hong Kong and China Boton [7]