Source: Wall Street News Author: Li Dan
The three major US stock indexes turned downward due to another fall on Friday. The NASDAQ closed down nearly 1%, falling for two consecutive weeks with S&P, and the Dow falling for three weeks. The chip stock index fell 4%, the second biggest weekly decline in the year. Nvidia, which once rose nearly 2% in the intraday period, closed down 0.1%. This week's rise was less than 0.4%. AMD rebounded, rising more than 2%, and is still falling nearly 8% this week. After the earnings report, the AI concept stock Adobe fell nearly 14%. China's stock index fell two times in a row, and continued to rise by nearly 4% this week, while Ideal Auto closed up more than 2%. The Pan-European stock index fell two times in a row and continued to rise for eight weeks, making it the longest weekly gain since 2018, and French, Italian and Western stocks all hit record highs. US bond yields hit a new two-week high, rising more than 20 basis points in a week. The US dollar index hit a one-week high, the biggest weekly gain in February. Offshore RMB lost four times in a row and failed to recover 7.20 throughout the day. Bitcoin once fell below 66,000 US dollars in the intraday period, down nearly $8,000 from the record high set on Thursday. Crude oil fell to a four-month high and is still up nearly 4% this week, with US oil holding the $80 mark. Gold fell to a new low of more than a week for the second time in a row. Luntong rose above 9,000 US dollars for the first time in four months, rising nearly 6% in a week.
This Friday is the first “Three Witch Day” of the year. According to estimates, the total size of stock index futures and options and individual stock options contracts that expire on that day is about 5.3 trillion US dollars. Goldman Sachs expects individual stock options trading volume in March to surpass cash stock trading volume for the first time since the end of 2021, making the market more likely to fluctuate significantly. Faced with the threat of increased volatility, major US stock indexes have been falling to a low point for more than a week.
Technology stocks in general continued to put pressure on the US stock market on Friday. Due to another fall on Friday, the three major stock indexes all spit out their cumulative gains for several days this week, and failed to continue the rebound trend of last week. Adobe, an artificial intelligence (AI) concept stock and software company whose performance guidance fell short of expectations, plummeted by more than 10%. Analysts commented that AI monetization was slower than investors expected, and Adobe, which continues to focus on promoting AI applications, is more likely to monetize later this year or next year.
The chip stock index fell for three days in a row. This week's trend recorded the second-worst weekly performance since the beginning of the year, while Nvidia's decline abated markedly on Friday. At one point, it leveled off a decline of nearly 2% and turned upward. It thrilled to maintain its excellent record of continuous weekly gains since entering 2024, making it the longest continuous rise since listing. China Securities continued to recover on Friday, but with the support of outperforming the market for the first three days of this week, the China Securities Index rebounded strongly throughout the week, falling only last week since entering the Year of the Dragon.
After the US PPI growth exceeded expectations was announced in February, US Treasury bonds fell further, and the increase in yield moderated compared to Thursday when PPI was announced. The benchmark 10-year US Treasury yield and the interest-rate sensitive 2-year US Treasury yield continued to hit two-week highs, rising above 4.30% and 4.70% for the first time in two weeks, respectively. US bond yields generally rose sharply by more than 20 basis points this week, reflecting the release of February core CPI and overall and core PPI inflation data, which exceeded expectations, and the market's expectations for the Fed to cut interest rates this year have declined over and over again.
On the foreign exchange market, Japan's largest trade union organization announced that its member “Chunto” has received an average salary increase of 5.28% so far. The commentators believe this may prompt the Bank of Japan to raise interest rates. However, the yen did not rebound, weakening further in the intraday period, and both the euro and the British pound continued to hit intraday lows for a week. Recently, Japanese media quoted analysis as saying that even if the Bank of Japan were to raise interest rates, it is very unlikely that the European and American central banks would raise interest rates as drastically, so it is unlikely that the yen will rise sharply. The US dollar index hit a new one-week high for two consecutive days after the PPI was announced. It rebounded strongly this week. It was the first time since the end of February that it had accumulated weekly gains for the first time since the end of February, making it the biggest weekly gain in two months.
Cryptocurrency continues to explode. Bitcoin, which dived intraday on Thursday, accelerated its decline. At one point, it fell below 66,000 US dollars, down nearly $8,000 from the record high set by breaking through $73,700 before turning down on Thursday. Although the average daily average hit a record high in the first four days of this week, it has continued to change from rise to fall in the past week.
Among commodities, various basic metals rose higher in the external market. The prospect of Chinese copper companies cutting production drove Luntong's strong rebound, closing at the 9,000 US dollar mark for the first time in four months. At a symposium held by the China Nonferrous Metals Industry Association in Beijing a few days ago, 19 domestic copper smelting companies agreed on adjustments to existing production line maintenance plans, reducing production load, delaying the commissioning of new production capacity, and delaying the time to meet production standards.
While the US dollar strengthened, gold and international crude oil fell sharply. New York futures fell to a low level in more than a week, and after rising sharply last week, they repeatedly fell from closing record highs. Although crude oil fell to a four-month high, it easily rebounded this week after rising on Wednesday and Thursday. US oil held the $80 mark on Friday. The Russian-Ukrainian conflict, the sharp drop in US EIA crude oil inventories last week, the International Energy Agency (IEA) raised its forecast for global oil demand growth this year, and lowered non-OPEC fuel supply expectations are all driving up oil prices.
The three major stock indexes fell again on Friday, and the chip stock index recorded the second largest weekly decline in the year, and Adobe fell nearly 14% after earnings reports
The three major US stock indexes generally opened lower and moved lower. At a new low in midday trading, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell more than 1.2%, the S&P 500 index fell nearly 0.9%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell nearly 290 points, or more than 0.7%. The three major indices will collectively close down for two consecutive days. The S&P and NASDAQ fell for three consecutive days.
S&P closed down 0.65% to 5117.09 points, while the NASDAQ closed down 0.96% to 15973.17 points, breaking the closing lows since March 6 and March 5, respectively. The Dow closed down 190.89 points, or 0.49%, to 38714.77 points. Not only did it spit out the gains of the first three days of this week, but it also set a new closing low since March 6.
The small-cap stock index Russell, which is mainly value stocks, turned up at the beginning of the 2000 session and closed up 0.4%, breaking away from the closing low since February 26, when it fell back nearly 2% on Thursday. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index closed down 1.15%, falling for three consecutive days until its closing low since February 21. The Nasdaq Technology Market Capitalization Weighted Index (NDXTMC), which measures the performance of technology components in the NASDAQ 100 index, closed down 1.37%, falling from the 3rd straight to the closing low since March 5, and fell 1.03% this week.
Major stock indexes collectively declined this week due to Friday's decline. S&P fell 0.13%, the NASDAQ fell 0.7%, and the NASDAQ 100 fell 1.17%. They all fell for two consecutive weeks, falling for the fourth week within 11 weeks of the beginning of 2024. The Dow fell 0.02% for three consecutive weeks. The Russell 2000, which had been rising for two weeks, fell 2.32%.
Among the major sectors of the S&P 500, a total of seven were closed down on Friday. Microsoft and IT, where multiple chip stocks are located, led the decline by nearly 1.3%, communication services where Google and Meta are located fell nearly 1.2%, Amazon's non-essential consumer goods fell more than 1.1%, and other sectors fell less than 0.4%. Among the four sectors that closed up, the biggest increase was energy, which was only over 0.2%, while utilities, materials, and industry rose by around 0.1%.
A total of five sectors declined this week. Interest rate-sensitive real estate fell by more than 3%, Tesla's non-essential consumer goods fell by more than 1%, and other sectors fell less than 0.8%. Among the six sectors that increased, energy led by nearly 4%, materials rose 1.5%, and other sectors rose less than 0.5%.
Including Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Google's parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Facebook's parent company Meta, and Tesla, the seven major technology stocks fell sharply in the intraday market. Tesla, which has been falling for three days in a row, turned down in early trading and closed up 0.7% in midday trading, breaking out of the closing low since May 2023, which had been refreshed for two consecutive days. This week it fell 6.7%, falling for two consecutive weeks. The decline was less than last week, when it fell by more than 13%.
Among the six major FAANMG technology stocks, Microsoft closed down nearly 2.1%, falling to the high closing record created by Thursday's rebound; Amazon, which had been rising for three consecutive days to close since November 2021, closed down 2.4%; Alphabet, which had been rising for six days and repeatedly refreshing its closing position since February 23, closed down 1.3%; Meta closed down nearly 1.6%, falling for three days, approaching the low since February 26 created on Monday. Apple closed down 0.2%, unable to continue to approach the closing high since March 4, which was set on Tuesday; rebounded until March 4; Netflix, which has been high since the 4th, fell close to closing 1.2%
Most of these six technology stocks have risen this week. Alphabet has risen more than 4%, Microsoft has risen 2.5%, Apple, which has fallen by nearly 5% last week, has risen more than 1%, Netflix has risen by nearly 0.2%, while Meta has dropped more than 4%, and Amazon has dropped 0.5%.
Chip stocks generally fell for three consecutive days. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and semiconductor industry ETF SOXX both fell more than 1% at the beginning of the session. They closed slightly, falling by more than 0.5% and 0.7% respectively in early trading. They closed down on the fourth day of this week and the fifth day of the last six trading days, breaking their closing lows since February 29 for three consecutive days. This week, they fell by about 4% and 4.1%, the biggest weekly decline since the week ending January 5, the first week of 2024.
Among chip stocks, Nvidia fell nearly 2% at the beginning of the session and turned up less than an hour after opening. It turned 1.8% in early trading, and closed down more than 0.1% for three consecutive days, thanks to a sharp rise of more than 7% on Tuesday, rising more than 0.3% throughout the week, and rising for ten weeks, setting a record for the longest consecutive week of gains. The increase this week was far less than 6.4% last week; AMD, which rose at the beginning of the session, closed 2.1%, breaking out of the low position since February 28, which was caused by two consecutive declines. The cumulative decline was nearly 7.9%; TSMC's US stock closed down nearly 1.9%, down 6.4% this week; by the close, Arm had fallen more than At 3%, Broadcom fell more than 2%, and Intel fell nearly 0.3%. After Citi raised its target price by 53% to $150 and included in its preferred ranking, Micron Technology rose 2%.
Most AI concept stocks followed the general market decline. Adobe (ADBE), whose revenue guidance for the second fiscal quarter fell more than 12% and closed down nearly 13.7%. At the close, ultra-micro computers (SMCI) fell more than 5%, Palantir (PLTR) fell nearly 4%, C3.ai (AI) rose 0.6% in midday trading, while SoundHound.ai (SOUN) rose more than 6%, and BigBear.AI (BBAI), which had been rising in early trading, closed down.
Popular Chinese securities had mixed ups and downs. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) rose nearly 0.7% in early trading, turned down 0.4% in midday trading, and continued to fall from its closing high since November 28, 2023, which was refreshed for four days. This week it has been rising more than 3.8%, smoothing last week's 3.7% decline. It has fallen only last week in the five weeks since entering the Year of the Dragon. China's general ETFs KWEB and CQQQ closed down about 0.5% and closed slightly higher, respectively. Among individual stocks, Ideal Auto and Xiaopeng Auto rose more than 2%, JD rose more than 1%, Station B rose more than 1%, Pinduoduo rose 0.4%, NIO Auto rose nearly 0.2%, Alibaba rose slightly, while Jinshanyun fell more than 2%, Tencent Fandan fell more than 1%, Baidu fell more than 0.7%, and NetEase fell nearly 0.6%.
Among the volatile individual stocks, the biotech company Geron Corporation (GERN) closed 92% after the US Food and Drug Administration's FDA advisory committee voted to support its hematologic disease treatment drug imetelstat; after announcing that in 2023 it recorded its first EBITDA annual profit in four years and the first-quarter guidance was higher than expected, the digital advertising platform Cardlytics (CDLX) closed up 77.1%; after saying they are trying to raise more capital and hope to reach an agreement with another car company, electric vehicle manufacturers Fisker (FSR) closed up 12.8%, rebounding after falling more than 50% on Thursday when news broke that it was preparing to file for bankruptcy; while Jabil (JBL), whose second-fiscal quarter revenue was lower than expected and the 2024 guidance was lowered, closed down 16.5%.
In terms of European stocks, the pan-European stock index declined for two consecutive days. The European Stoxx 600 index continued to fall from its all-time high, which was refreshed for two consecutive days. Stock indices of major European countries had mixed ups and downs. The French stock index closed slightly higher, breaking its closing record high for four consecutive days. The Italian and Spanish stock indexes smoothed back on Thursday, closing at record highs on the 3rd and 4th days of the last 4 and 5 days respectively, while British stocks, which had been rising for 3 to 10 months, fell for 2 consecutive days. German stocks continued to fall slightly, falling from closing record highs for 3 consecutive days.
Among various sectors, interest rate-sensitive real estate led the decline by nearly 2%, due to Vonovia, Germany's largest real estate company, which announced a loss of 6.76 billion euros in 2023 and the highest annual record after further writing down the value of its properties; the technology sector fell nearly 1.9%, affected by news that China is pushing domestic electric vehicle manufacturers to buy domestic chips, and German automotive chip giant Infineon closed down 6%. Other chip stocks were not spared. ASML, the highest market-capitalized chip stock listed in the Netherlands, fell 2.6%; while the telecom sector closed up close to 1.6% Thanks to the London listing Vodafone rose 5.7%. Swisscom rose 4.9% after announcing that it would acquire Vodafone Italy for 8 billion euros and merge its business with its Italian company Fastweb.
The Stoxx 600 index rose slightly this week, rising for eight consecutive weeks, making it the longest consecutive week since 2018. Stock indices from all countries have been rising. Western stocks, which are leading gains of nearly 3%, and French stocks, which have risen nearly 2%, have been rising for two weeks. Italian stocks have been rising for seven weeks, German stocks have been rising for six weeks, and British stocks have rebounded after falling for three weeks. Among the various sectors, technology fell 3.5% and real estate fell by more than 3% due to Friday's decline, while the oil and gas sector, driven by a rebound in crude oil this week, surged 2%, and banks that closed 1% higher on Friday.
US Treasury yields hit a new two-week high and rose more than 20 basis points in a week
The yield on the US 10-year benchmark treasury bond fell to a new low of 4.27% before the US stock market. US stocks rose above 4.30% in early trading, breaking 4.32% in early trading, breaking the high level since the end of February for 2 consecutive days. At the end of the bond market, it was about 4.31%, rising about 2 basis points during the day. This week, it rebounded after three consecutive weeks of decline, equalizing the decline of about 11 basis points last week.
The yield on 2-year US bonds, which is more sensitive to interest rate prospects, fell 4.69% before the European stock market, rose 4.70% before the market, and rose 4.73% at the end of the market. It also hit a high level since the end of February for 2 consecutive days. It was about 4.73% at the end of the bond market, rising more than 3 basis points during the day, and the yield on other US bonds rising for five consecutive days. This week, the two-year yield increased cumulatively by about 26 basis points, and rebounded after two weeks of continuous decline.
The US dollar index hit a new high for a week, the biggest weekly gain in February, Bitcoin once fell back nearly $8,000 from the high level set on Thursday
The ICE dollar index (DXY), which tracks the exchange rate of a basket of six major currencies including the US dollar against the euro, fluctuated slightly on Friday. Before the European stock market, the European stock market, and the US stock market fell below 103.30 to 103.301 in early trading, falling less than 0.1% during the day. US stocks maintained their gains after turning up in early trading. The midday session approached 103.50. For two consecutive days, it reached a high level since last Wednesday, March 6, and rose more than 0.1% during the day.
By the close of the US stock market on Friday, the US dollar index was above 103.40, rising less than 0.1% during the day, stopping two consecutive days on Wednesday, and rising 0.7% this week; the Bloomberg US Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the exchange rate of the US dollar against ten other currencies, rose nearly 0.2%, rising continuously for 2 consecutive days until March 6, rising 0.5% this week, and the US dollar index both rebounded after falling more than 1% last week to the biggest weekly decline since mid-December last year, stopping two weeks of continuous decline since mid-December last year. The week declined.
Among non-US currencies, the yen fell for four days in a row. This week, the US dollar hit its biggest weekly decline since January 19. The US dollar reached 149.20 at the beginning of midday trading, breaking the high level since March 6. At the close of the US stock market, it was above 149.00, rising 0.5% during the day, and rising by nearly 1.4% this week; EUR/USD was close to 1.0870 before the European stock market, and GBP/USD fell below 1.2730 in midday trading. However, the Euro traded at a new low of 1.0900 in early trading. High, up nearly 0.3% during the day, US stocks closed At that time, the pound fell by about 0.1%, and the euro rose by less than 0.1%.
The offshore renminbi (CNH) fell slightly against the US dollar on Friday and failed to recover 7.20 throughout the day. European stocks reached 7.2001 on the pre-market refresh day and 7.2069 on the midday trading day for US stocks, continuing to fall from the intraday high since January 31, which was refreshed after rising above 7.1 on Tuesday. At 4:59 Beijing time on March 16, the offshore renminbi reported 7.2057 yuan against the US dollar, down 31 points from the end of Thursday in New York. After stopping three consecutive declines on Monday, it fell 57 points this week. After rebounding more than 100 points last week, it fell sharply in the second week in the five weeks since entering the Year of the Dragon.
Bitcoin (BTC) fell below 66,000 US dollars in early trading of European stocks, falling nearly 7,000 US dollars and falling more than 9% from the intraday high above 72,000 US dollars in early Asian trading, falling back more than nearly $8,000 from the historical intraday high of $73,700 on Thursday. It reached a record high of intraday trading within the first day of the week. US stocks reached 70,000 US dollars in midday trading, and fell below 69,000 US dollars at the end of the session. The US stock was above $68,000 and still below $69,000 in the last 24 hours. The daily decline was about 0.2%.
Crude oil fell to a four-month high and still rose nearly 4% this week, and US oil held the $80 mark
International crude oil futures, which closed higher for two consecutive days, retreated. US WTI crude oil futures for April closed down 0.27% to $81.04 per barrel; Brent crude oil futures for May closed 0.09% to $85.34 per barrel, and US oil both fell to their closing highs since November 2, 2023, which were set on Thursday.
US oil surged more than 3.88% this week, while oil surged by 3.97%. It rebounded after falling back last week, and continued to rise for the sixth week in the last nine weeks. In the 23 weeks since the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, crude oil has been rising for a total of 11 weeks. This week's rise mainly stemmed from an increase of at least 2% on Wednesday, the biggest daily increase since February 8.
US gasoline and natural gas futures had mixed ups and downs. NYMEX April gasoline futures closed up nearly 0.7% to 2.7208 US dollars/gallon, rising about 7.7% this week, and rebounded after falling more than 3% last week; NYMEX's April natural gas futures, which rebounded on Thursday, closed down about 4.94% to 1.655 US dollars/million British thermal units, breaking the low since February 20 set on Wednesday. This week, it fell 8.31% for two consecutive weeks.
For the first time in four months, Luntong rose above 9,000 US dollars, rose nearly 6% in a week, and gold fell to a new low in more than a week
London basic metals futures mostly rose on Friday. Luntong, which led the rise, rose more than 2% and rebounded after stopping three consecutive gains on Thursday. Following Wednesday, which surged more than 3%, it hit a new high since late April last year, closing above the 9,000 US dollar mark for the first time in 11 months. Renxi rose for two days, hitting a seven-month high for three days after closing above $28,000 for the first time since the beginning of August last year on Wednesday. Lunzinc, which fell back on Thursday, began to approach the high level of more than two weeks set by Wednesday's rebound. Lunlu, which has been falling for two days in a row, refreshed the high since the end of January set on Tuesday.
However, after rising for three consecutive days to a high level since the end of January, lun nickel fell for two days, and lun nickel continued to fall below the four-month high level set on Tuesday.
Basic metals have collectively surged this week. Luntong, which led the rise, rose 5.7%, and Lunn Lead, which rose more than 1%, both rose for two weeks; Lunzn, which rose more than 1%, and Lun Ni, which rose more than 0.3%, continued to rise for five weeks. Lunxi rose nearly 3.8% and continued to rise for three weeks. Lun Aluminum, which stopped rising for two weeks last week, rose 1.5%.
After New York gold futures rose in the Asian market, European stocks reached a new daily high of 2176.9 US dollars in early trading, rising more than 0.4% during the day. After the pre-market decline, US stocks turned up in the short term in early trading. The decline widened in midday trading, falling below 2,160 US dollars at the low of the new day and falling 0.4% during the day.
In the end, COMEX's April gold futures closed down 0.28% to $2161.50 per ounce, falling two consecutive days until the closing low of $2,1582 on Wednesday, March 6.
Gold fell by nearly 1.1% during the current cycle, falling after surging nearly 5% last week to the biggest weekly gain in nearly five months. It fell for the first time in the last four weeks. In the 23 weeks since the outbreak of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, futures declined for only seven weeks. The biggest decline was in the week of December 8, which fell nearly 3.6%. In that week and the week of February 16, spot gold fell below the $2,000 mark in the intraday period.
edit/lambor