The Third Senior Officials' Meeting (SOM3) of the 2026 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) concluded on Friday in Dalian, northeast China's Liaoning Province, achieving broad consensus and making positive progress across various cooperation areas in preparation for the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting scheduled for November.
The Senior Officials' Meeting serves as the primary channel and platform for advancing APEC cooperation and shaping outcomes for the Leaders' Meeting.
Chen Xu, chair of the 2026 APEC Senior Officials' Meeting, said that during the SOM3, participants held in-depth discussions around the three priority areas of openness, innovation, and cooperation. They focused on in-depth communication and coordination regarding the outcomes of the Leaders' Meeting, and achieved positive progress in cooperation across all areas.
"During the meeting, all parties spoke highly of China's proposals and the preparatory work that has been done. They expressed their willingness to work with China to advance cooperation in all fields and deliver more outcomes, so as to make the Leaders' Meeting a success and contribute more to the development and prosperity of the Asia-Pacific region," Chen said.
Chen noted that following the SOM3, the preparations for the Leaders' Meeting will enter a new important phase. China will continue to maintain close communication with all parties and advance the preparatory work in an orderly manner to ensure the success of the meeting.
Ahead of the Leaders' Meeting in November, a series of ministerial meetings on small and medium enterprises, energy, human resources, transport, and finance, as well as the APEC Young Entrepreneurs' Summit, will also be held.
As the host of APEC 2026, China will hold the 33rd APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in Shenzhen City, south China's Guangdong Province from Nov 18 to 19.
Since the launch of the APEC "China Year", China has hosted three senior officials' meetings and a series of activities under APEC Digital Week. It has also convened ministerial meetings on women and the economy, trade, tourism, forestry and food security.
More than 300 meetings and activities have been held in over 10 Chinese cities, attracting a cumulative total of around 7,000 participants.
3rd APEC Senior Officials' Meeting achieves broad consensus on cooperation
U.S. stocks ended lower on Friday as investors reacted to the keynote address by Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh at the central bank's Jackson Hole economic symposium.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 9.45 points, or 0.02 percent, to 53,559.99. The S and P 500 sank 19.23 points, or 0.25 percent, to 7,711.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 138.93 points, or 0.52 percent, to 26,402.42.
Six of the 11 primary S and P 500 sectors ended in the red, with technology and utilities leading the laggards by dropping 1.29 percent and 1.14 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, consumer discretionary and communication services led the gainers by adding 1.69 percent and 1.56 percent, respectively.
Speaking at the annual Jackson Hole Economic Policy Symposium, Warsh said, "On the price stability side of our mandate, the numbers are more concerning."
Warsh's remarks came as broad inflation measures have fallen from their 2022 peaks, though Warsh characterized the progress over the past two years as modest. He pointed specifically to the personal consumption expenditures price index, noting that "the numbers are more concerning."
Market sentiment turned cautious after Warsh emphasized that domestic inflation remains elevated and that restoring price stability remains the Federal Reserve's primary objective. Wall Street interpreted the remarks as hawkish, pushing short-term U.S. Treasury yields higher and lifting market expectations of a quarter-point rate increase at the Fed's September meeting to 57 percent, according to CME FedWatch.
"We got far more here from Chair Warsh than we were getting from his two FOMC meetings to date. He was keen not to provide forward guidance, but his words smacked of forward guidance; he was net hawkish," wrote Padhraic Garvey, Americas regional head of research at ING. "That does not guarantee anything, but front end rates are higher and back end rates lower as a reaction. Seems fair. Nothing on the Treasury buybacks, as expected."
In the corporate arena, PayPal plummeted nearly 13 percent following reports that private equity firm Advent International and payments company Stripe abandoned a proposed 50-billion-U.S.-dollar acquisition bid. Marvell Technology declined following its second-quarter earnings disclosure, while apparel retailer Gap jumped 12.94 percent after announcing a new CEO for its Old Navy division.
On the macroeconomic front, a final reading of the University of Michigan's consumer sentiment index dropped to 51.7 in August from 55.2 in July. The figure showed a slight improvement from earlier preliminary estimates and came in above market expectations.
U.S. stocks close lower after Fed chair's Jackson Hole remarks
