U.S. PPI and retail sales data will be released tonight, and rising energy costs may continue to pass through to the corporate sector.

Beating AI News Flash: Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook confirmed in a live interview with APPSO that Apple Intelligence will launch a beta version in mainland China by the end of October. The initial features include writing tools, photo erasure, and real-time translation, but exclude the new Siri AI. Domestic Chinese users, who have waited nearly two years, finally have a clear beta launch timeline. This July, Apple’s China-focused generative AI service completed its regulatory filing. On September 29, network access permits for multiple domestic iPhone models added model filing numbers for Apple Intelligence, Alibaba’s Qianwen (Tongyi Qianwen) and Tongyi Wanxiang. Alibaba has confirmed that Qianwen will be directly integrated into Apple devices. Reuters previously also disclosed that Apple, with Alibaba’s support, trained a dedicated large language model for the Chinese market.

The U.S. September Producer Price Index (PPI) will be released at 20:30 Beijing time on October 15. U.S. diesel prices rose 24% month-on-month and 77% year-on-year in August, according to data from the American Automobile Association (AAA). Retail diesel prices hit a record high of $6.528 per gallon on September 22, and stood at $6.30 as of Wednesday, up more than 70% from the same period last year. Oxford Economics forecasts U.S. September PPI will rise 0.6% month-on-month, exceeding the market consensus of 0.5% and the 0.4% reading in August. Analysts note that diesel is a key input for road freight, rail transport and agricultural production; its price hikes will first push up corporate production and transportation costs, then gradually pass through to consumers via fuel surcharges, transport contracts and retail pricing. Even if diesel prices stop rising, cost pass-through may still lag, meaning inflationary pressures have not fully materialized. The Trump administration has taken steps to ease fuel supply strains, including temporarily relaxing some agricultural fuel use restrictions, and claimed Russia will supply diesel to the global market. However, industry insiders believe these measures will not resolve refinery capacity and finished product supply bottlenecks in the short term. Markets will watch whether this PPI data further confirms that the energy cost shock is spreading to corporate-level prices.

Bitfinex stated in a report that the average holding cost of long-term Bitcoin holders is approximately $49,300, with an unrealized profit of around 64% at present. The average cost for recent BTC buyers is roughly $74,400, translating to just a 9% unrealized gain. Bitfinex pointed out that if Bitcoin’s price drops further, recent buyers may be the first to face heavier selling pressure, while long-term holders have a larger unrealized profit buffer.

According to market sources, AI firm DeepSeek is issuing refunds to all its API users, with the refund amount equal to the total usage fees users incurred on the DeepSeek API platform over the past three days. Earlier today, DeepSeek experienced a 5-hour service outage before restoring operations. The refund initiative is likely linked to the prolonged service disruption the platform faced today, while the specific cause of the outage and detailed refund arrangements remain to be officially confirmed.

Beating AI News (Dongcha) reports that developer Guru, after using the WHOOP fitness tracker for 18 months, decided to cancel his subscription while keeping the device. He modified the community project NOOP into his own iPhone app Zhoop, allowing him to continue accessing heart rate, step count, and sleep data without relying on WHOOP’s servers. He also integrated this data into his personal health AI agent. WHOOP’s annual U.S. membership ranges from $199 to $359; once users stop paying, they lose access to the brand’s core official health analysis services. This solution does not require modifying the tracker’s firmware. NOOP first emerged back in June this year, with developers reverse-engineering WHOOP’s Bluetooth communication protocol to enable direct reception of sensor data on mobile devices, then using public algorithms to calculate metrics including sleep, heart rate variability, and physical recovery. Guru adopted this underlying code, added features such as diet tracking, calorie deficit calculation, and weight loss planning, and redesigned the interface to suit his needs. Guru believes AI has broken the software lock-in that manufacturers impose on their hardware.

According to Digital Asset, South Korean crypto influencer "Coin King Jonbur Kim" has been acquitted by the Seoul Southern District Court over his alleged involvement in a crypto scam worth 340 billion won (approximately $253 million). The court announced Thursday that the prosecution’s evidence was insufficient to prove his guilt. The influencer’s real surname is Park; he was previously accused of involvement in issuing and launching fraudulent tokens, spreading false information, and manipulating coin prices in cases involving projects such as Podo Coin and Artube. The court’s ruling holds that existing evidence is insufficient to support the relevant criminal charges.