The Chinese mainland's top Taiwan affairs official on Saturday urged efforts to promote peaceful development of cross-Strait relations and advance national reunification.
Song Tao, head of both the Taiwan Work Office of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and the Taiwan Affairs Office of the State Council, made the statement at a gathering to celebrate the upcoming Mid-Autumn Festival in Fuzhou, the capital city of Fujian Province.
The gathering was joined by Taiwan guests including Sean Lien, vice chairman of the Chinese Kuomintang (KMT) party.
At the event, Song called for efforts to safeguard the overall interests of the Chinese nation, resolutely oppose Taiwan separatism and external interference, and boost exchanges, cooperation and integrated development across the Taiwan Strait.
In his remarks, Lien said the KMT will continue to strengthen cross-Strait exchanges and cooperation while working to promote peaceful development of cross-Strait relations on the basis of upholding the 1992 Consensus and opposing Taiwan separatism.
To the Chinese people, the Mid-autumn Festival means family reunion and harmony. The festival is held on the 15th day of the eighth month of the Chinese calendar. This year, the Mid-Autumn Festival falls on October 6.
Mainland's Taiwan affairs official urges peaceful development of cross-Strait relations
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
