Mandarin-language videos on May 1, 2025, targeting disillusioned Chinese officials to recruit them as informants against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The cinematic videos portray fictional senior and junior officials frustrated by corruption and Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaigns. Building on a 2024 initiative, the campaign provides secure contact instructions in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English to bypass China’s “Great Firewall.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe underscored China as a key intelligence focus, seeking insights into military, cyber technology, and foreign policy.
China’s Foreign Ministry has not responded, though its intelligence agency continues to counter such recruitment efforts.
Mandarin-language videos on May 1, 2025, targeting disillusioned Chinese officials to recruit them as informants against the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The cinematic videos portray fictional senior and junior officials frustrated by corruption and Xi Jinping’s anti-corruption campaigns. Building on a 2024 initiative, the campaign provides secure contact instructions in Mandarin, Cantonese, and English to bypass China’s “Great Firewall.” CIA Director John Ratcliffe underscored China as a key intelligence focus, seeking insights into military, cyber technology, and foreign policy.
China’s Foreign Ministry has not responded, though its intelligence agency continues to counter such recruitment efforts.
Spiking bond yields driving sharp losses in tech stocks
A spike in interest rates since the start of the year has accelerated a rotation out of high-growth technology stocks and into value stocks poised to benefit from a reopening of the economy. The Nasdaq has fallen more than 10% over the past month as the Dow has soared to record highs, with a spike in the 10-year US Treasury yield acting as the main catalyst. It recently surged to a cycle high of more than 1.60% after starting the year below 1%. But according to Jim Paulsen, the Leuthold Group's chief investment strategist, rising interest rates do not represent a long-term threat to the stock market. Paulsen expects the 10-year yield to cross 2% by the end of the year.
A spike in interest rates and its impact on the stock market depends on the economic backdrop, according to Paulsen. Rising interest rates amid a strengthening economy "may prove no challenge at all for stocks," Paulsen said.
