On the evening of the 23rd Beijing time, US stocks opened higher on Thursday. Investors are betting that the Fed's interest rate hike cycle is nearing its end. Data on unemployment claims in the US dropped unexpectedly at the beginning of last week, indicating that the labor market situation is still extremely tense.
The three major US stock indices rose collectively. As of press release, the S&P 500 index rose 0.8%, the NASDAQ rose 1.24%, and the Dow rose 0.61%.
The Federal Reserve announced a 25 basis point rate hike on Wednesday, indicating that the recent banking crisis could hit the US economy and hinted that austerity actions to fight inflation may be coming to an end.
The Federal Reserve's statement removed the expression “FOMC members expect continued interest rate increases will be appropriate” (FOMC members expect continued interest rate increases to be appropriate), which has been used repeatedly in the past eight statements, and changed it to “anticipate that some additional policy tightening may be appropriate” (some additional policy firing may be appropriate).This change in wording has been interpreted to suggest that the Fed's interest rate hike cycle is nearing its end.
Regarding the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike, Wells Fargo said that policymakers have underestimated the extent and timing of damage to the economy due to the tightening credit environment. The number one risk in the next three months is financial instability, not inflation.
Former Vice President Lehman warned that the US authorities need to vigorously increase deposit guarantees, and that the Federal Reserve needs to cut interest rates; another 50 banks in the US region may go out of business.
The recent sharp decline in regional bank stocks and the speech of US Treasury Secretary Yellen have also weighed on the market. Yellen told the US Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday that the US currently does not provide a “package insurance” for bank deposits, and emphasized that bank owners and bond holders are not protected by the government.
Yellen's remarks on Wednesday shattered market expectations that the government might quickly provide guarantees to stop further banks from crowding out the threat, and caused Bank of America stocks, particularly regional banks such as First Republic Bank, to fall on Wednesday.
In terms of economic data on Thursday, the US Department of Labor reported an unexpected decline in unemployment claims at the beginning of last week, indicating that labor market conditions are still extremely tense.
According to specific data, the number of initial jobless claims in the US for the week ending March 18 was 191,000, a decrease of 1,000 from the previous week and lower than the market average of 198,000. The number of people who continue to receive unemployment benefits increased by 14,000, bringing the total to 1,694 million.
According to news from overseas central banks, the Bank of England announced a 25 basis point rate hike, raising the benchmark interest rate to 4.25%, the highest level since October 2008. Since December 2021, the Bank of England has raised interest rates by a total of 415 basis points.
Key focus
Star Technology stocks rose collectively, with Tesla and Nvidia rising more than 3%, while Microsoft, Google, etc. rose more than 1%.
Popular Chinese securities firms have collectively strengthened, with Bilibili rising by nearly 10%, Alibaba and Jingdong by more than 4%, and NIO by more than 3%.
In terms of individual stocks,$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$It rose more than 3% to become the fifth largest company in terms of market capitalization in the world. The target price was previously raised by Bank of America to 310 US dollars.
Leading mobile payment stocks in the US$Block (SQ.US)$The stock price plummeted by more than 21%. Earlier, Hindenburg released a report on shorting Block. The report showed that Block seriously exaggerated the number of real users and underestimated its customer acquisition costs.
People familiar with the matter revealed,$Apple (AAPL.US)$The plan is to invest 1 billion US dollars to produce theatrical movies every year, and discussions have been held with film companies to cooperate to release several films in theaters this year. As of press release, Apple is up nearly 1%.
$Sanofi (SNY.US)$With an increase of nearly 6%, its subsidiary Dupixent is expected to be the first biopharmaceutical approved to treat lung diseases.
Editor/Somer