China's first domestically made large cruise ship, Adora Magic City, set sail from China's Qingdao International Cruise Terminal on Sunday to South Korea and Japan with over 4,000 tourists boarded, marking their first appearance at a Chinese port outside its homeport in Shanghai.
The cruise, named after Shanghai's nickname, began its commercial operations in January 2024 with over a hundred voyages. On April 6 and 10, the ships will embark two five-day, four-night international cruises from Qingdao City in east China's Shandong Province to Jeju in South Korea and Fukuoka in Japan.
The Adora Cruises with two large ships, Magic City and Mediterranean, have served over 560,000 tourists from China and abroad. Its second domestically made cruise ship, the Adora Flora City, has completed the main hull assembly and is scheduled for delivery by the end of 2026. Similarly, the cruise ship is named after the nickname of south China's Guangzhou, "Flower City," where it plans to launch its international services.
China's first domestically made large cruise ship set sail from Qingdao to South Korea, Japan
U.S. stocks ended sharply lower on Thursday, with all of the so-called "Magnificent Seven" tech stocks seeing steep losses, just a day after turbulent U.S. markets notched substantial gains on Wednesday.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 2.50 percent, following a 7.87 percent gain on Wednesday, the Standard and Poor's 500 sank 3.46 percent, after jumping 9.52 percent the previous day, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite Index shed 4.31 percent, after a 12.16 percent Wednesday hike.
The extreme volatility in the U.S. financial markets comes following a week of fast-changing and unpredictable tariff decisions from President Donald Trump's administration which have prompted widespread concerns for investors, businesses and governments across the globe.
Ten of the 11 primary Standard and Poor's 500 sectors ended Thursday in red, with energy and technology leading the laggards, dropping 6.40 percent and 4.55 percent respectively. Stocks in the consumer staples sector bucked the trend by rising 0.19 percent.
Major tech companies were under pressure again, with the "Magnificent Seven" stocks of Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet, Meta, Nvidia and Tesla all closing sharply down.
Tech stocks drag turbulent US markets lower Thursday after strong gains on Wednesday
