An estimated 1.249 billion trips were made across China in the first four days of the eight-day National Day and Mid-Autumn Festival holiday starting from October 1, up 5.7 percent year on year, said the Ministry of Transport.
The holiday will run through Oct 8 this year.
During the first four days of the holiday, the railway systems nationwide handled an estimated 78.78 million trips, up 5.3 percent year on year. The highway systems handled an estimated at 1.15 billion passenger trips, an year-on-year increase of 5.6 percent. Waterway transport saw a projected 6.81 million passenger trips, up 11.7 percent from a year earlier, and airlines carried 9.62 million passenger trips, up 5 percent.
On Oct 4 alone, there were an estimated 306.66 million cross-regional trips nationwide, marking an 8 percent year-on-year increase.
On the day, railways handled around 18.2 million passenger trips, up 3.7 percent. An estimated 284.22 million people traveled on highways, up 8.3 percent, plus 1.9 million trips by water and 2.34 million by air, up 5.2 percent and 5.1 percent, respectively.
Holiday trips expected to top 1.2 billion in first 4 days
Holiday trips expected to top 1.2 billion in first 4 days
U.S. stocks ended mixed on Friday following the market's steepest declines in a month.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 309.74 points, or 0.65 percent, to 47,147.48, marking its second straight drop but still notching a weekly gain. The S and P 500 slipped 3.38 points, or 0.05 percent, to 6,734.11. The Nasdaq Composite Index rose 30.23 points, or 0.13 percent, to 22,900.59, snapping a three-day losing streak.
Seven of the 11 primary S and P 500 sectors finished lower, with materials and financials leading the laggards, down 1.18 percent and 0.97 percent, respectively. Energy and technology outperformed, advancing 1.37 percent and 0.74 percent, respectively.
The tech trade regained some footing after several days of pressure. AI leaders Nvidia and Oracle rebounded from their losses in the prior session, as did Palantir Technologies and Tesla, both of which had dropped more than 6 percent on Thursday.
Those sharp declines had briefly put the Nasdaq on course to break its seven-week winning streak, but Friday's recovery lifted the index back into positive territory for the week. Concerns about the sustainability of the AI rally have intensified, with the recent rout in cloud-computing giant Oracle heightening worries over stretched valuations, heavy reliance on debt financing, and soaring capital expenditure plans across the sector.
"AI is truly testing the limits of Wall Street spreadsheets right now," David Krakauer, vice president of portfolio management at Mercer Advisors, told CNBC, adding that investors pricing in "so much of this future growth that they really can't measure yet" just spurs an "environment of swings."
Adding to the market unease, traders continued to assess the Federal Reserve's upcoming policy decision. Market pricing now puts the odds of a quarter-point rate cut in December at below 50 percent, which is sharply lower than the roughly 95 percent probability seen a month ago, according to the CME FedWatch Tool.
U.S. stocks close mixed following steep declines
