On the evening of the 12th Beijing time, US stocks opened lower on Friday. The first earnings season for US stocks has begun. Investors are evaluating the performance of J.P. Morgan Chase, Citibank, Wells Fargo, BlackRock, etc., and watching the development of the geopolitical situation in the Middle East.

As of press release, the three major indices have weakened collectively. The S&P 500 index fell 0.55%, the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.72%, and the Dow Jones index fell 0.54%.

Before the market on Friday, the market was greeted with financial reports from several large commercial banks. J.P. Morgan's earnings for the first fiscal quarter increased 6% year over year to $13.42 billion, or $4.44 per share. The market expects US stocks to yield $4.11. Revenue for the first fiscal quarter was $42.55 billion, higher than market expectations of $41.85 billion.

J.P. Morgan said that in 2024, net interest income, a key measure of its revenue from lending activities, may be slightly lower than Wall Street analysts' expectations. CEO Jamie Dimon also warned that continued inflationary pressure is putting pressure on the economy.

Citibank earned $1.58 per share for the first fiscal quarter, higher than market expectations of $1.23. Revenue of US$21.1 billion was higher than market expectations of US$20.4 billion.

Wells Fargo earned $1.26 per share for the first fiscal quarter, and the market expected $1.11. Revenue was US$20.86 billion, and the market expected US$20.2 billion.

BlackRock reported better-than-expected first-quarter results. The company's adjusted earnings per share were $9.81 billion, and revenue was $4.73 billion. Analysts surveyed by LSEG expected earnings of $9.35 per share and revenue of $4.68 billion. The company managed assets of $10.473 trillion, exceeding StreetAccount's estimate of $10.4 trillion.

George Ball, chairman of Sanders Morris, said, “What will drive the market forward will not be the Fed's interest rate cuts, but corporate earnings reports. Even in an environment where interest rates are rising, corporate profits are much stronger than people expected.”

US stocks closed mixed on Thursday. The sharp rise in technology stocks drove a sharp rebound in the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq index. The Dow Jones 30 index fell slightly by 0.01%, for the fourth day in a row.

Apple closed up 4.3% on Thursday, the biggest one-day gain since May 2023, after reports that the company plans to overhaul its Mac products with new artificial intelligence chips.

Artificial intelligence darling Nvidia rose 4.1% on Thursday, while Amazon closed up 1.7% and hit a record intraday high.

Looking ahead, Thomas Martin, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments, said that the tailwind of artificial intelligence will be the key to deciding which stocks will lead the current bull market.

He said, “The divergence between the NASDAQ and the Dow on Thursday was very illustrative. Driven by the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, the US stock market remains a highly fragmented market. AI is what you're looking for in the future that can help you achieve sustainable development.”

The outlook for central bank policy remains the focus of the market. Currently, investors expect the Eurozone to cut interest rates three times this year, while the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates less than two times.

Mohit Mittal, chief investment officer at Pimco's core strategy, said that considering the different prospects facing the two central banks, “you might see the ECB cutting interest rates without the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates — even the ECB may cut interest rates faster than the Federal Reserve because the Eurozone's inflation trajectory is different.”

Boston Federal Reserve Bank Governor Susan Collins (Susan Collins) said on Thursday that interest rates are expected to be cut twice this year. She said it will take time for the inflation rate to return to the target level. As to when the Federal Reserve will start cutting interest rates, Collins said “the data is still fluctuating, there is some noise, and there is still a lot of uncertainty,” but said that the rate hike was not within her basic expectations.

The ECB kept interest rates unchanged for the fifth time in a row at the monetary policy meeting on Thursday, and sent the clearest signal that it is about to cut interest rates. The bank said in a statement: “If the ECB Governing Council's latest assessment of inflation prospects, potential inflation dynamics, and the strength of monetary policy transmission can further strengthen its confidence that inflation continues to move closer to the target, then it would be appropriate to reduce the current level of monetary policy suppression.”

At the press conference after announcing the monetary policy, ECB President Christine Lagarde (Christine Lagarde) said that this “important” latest expression was a “loud and clear indication” of the bank's current sentiment. The ECB did not directly mention easing monetary policy in its communiqué issued earlier.

Investors are also closely watching the development of tension in the Middle East. Some media quoted official US sources as reporting that Iran may carry out retaliatory attacks against Israel within the next two days.

Individual stocks in focus

Most star tech stocks fell, with Nvidia falling more than 1%, AMD falling nearly 5%, Tesla, Microsoft, and Meta falling about 1%, Amazon falling slightly, and Apple rising nearly 1%.

Popular Chinese securities fell sharply. Xiaopeng Motor fell more than 8%, JD fell nearly 5%, NIO, Ideal Auto, and NetEase fell about 4%, and Pinduoduo, Ali, and Baidu fell about 3%.

$JPMorgan (JPM.US)$The net interest income outlook for the full year was slightly lower than analysts' expectations, and the cost guidance for the full year was raised.

J.P. Morgan Chase's net interest income for the first fiscal quarter was US$23.1 billion, up 11% year over year. The company still expects to receive about $90 billion from this major revenue source this year, but raised the net interest income guidance excluding market operations to about $89 billion. Meanwhile, J.P. Morgan predicts adjusted expenses for the full year to be about 91 billion US dollars, which is higher than previously anticipated.

J.P. Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon said in a statement: “Many economic indicators continue to improve. Looking ahead, however, we remain wary of some major uncertainties.” He mentioned the war, growing geopolitical tension, continuing inflationary pressure, and the effects of quantitative austerity. As of press time, the stock is down nearly 4%.

$Blackrock (BLK.US)$The results for the first quarter of 2024 were announced on Friday. Among them, the company's profits grew, and the rise in global stock markets boosted the company's investment consulting and management expenses.

According to the data, in the three months ending March 31, the net profit of the world's largest asset management company increased to US$1.57 billion, or US$10.48 per share, an increase of 37% over US$1.16 billion (US$7.64 per share) in the same period last year. Adjusted net profit increased 23% over the same period last year to US$1.5 billion, or US$9.81 per share, above Wall Street's average forecast of US$9.34. As of press time, the stock has declined slightly.

$Citigroup (C.US)$Earnings per share for the first fiscal quarter were $1.58, above market expectations of $1.23. Revenue of US$21.1 billion was higher than market expectations of US$20.4 billion. Net interest income of $13.51 billion. FICC's sales and transaction revenue for the first quarter was US$4.15 billion, and the market estimated US$4.12 billion. As of press time, the stock is up more than 1%.

$Tesla (TSLA.US)$CEO Musk recently made a bold prediction about the development of general artificial intelligence (AGI) during an interview. He believes that AGI may achieve a breakthrough beyond human intelligence in the next 2 years, but this process requires a large amount of GPUs and electricity consumption.

According to Musk, its artificial intelligence company XAI is currently training the second-generation big language model Grok 2 and is expected to complete the next training phase in May. Grok 2's training has already consumed around 20,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs. The development of future advanced versions of Grok 3 may require up to 100,000 Nvidia H100 GPUs. As of press time, the stock is down more than 1%.

On April 9, local time,$Intel (INTC.US)$The launch of the latest AI chip product, the Gaudi 3 accelerator, was announced at the Vision 2024 customer and partner conference. Intel said that compared to Nvidia's H100 GPU, the Gaudi3 AI chip's model training speed and inference speed were increased by 40% and 50%, respectively. As of press time, the stock is down nearly 4%.

$Apple (AAPL.US)$It is preparing a major upgrade to its Mac product line, so that Mac computers will be equipped with the next-generation M4 chip, with a view to boosting the computer business. According to reports, Apple released the first batch of Mac computers equipped with M3 chips five months ago. Currently, Apple is planning to produce M4 chips with AI functions to upgrade all of its Mac models. According to the plan, the company will launch at least three versions of M4 chips, and different levels of M4 chips will also be equipped with Mac computers with different positions. As of press time, the stock is up nearly 2%.

$Microsoft (MSFT.US)$It was announced that the financial report for the third fiscal quarter of fiscal year 2024 will be released on April 25 EST (April 26, Beijing time). After the financial report is released, the company will hold a results meeting at 5:30 p.m. EST on the 25th.

Microsoft will launch new Windows AI features at the Build 2024 conference to be held in May this year. Microsoft said it will be showcasing new features at the Build 2024 conference, allowing users to deeply interact with digital life on Windows through advanced AI features. Users can explore how their apps integrate with these experiences to increase engagement and satisfaction. As of press time, the stock is down nearly 1%.

$Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$The parent company Alphabet announced that it will release its financial report for the first quarter of 2024 on April 25 EST. After the financial report is released, the company will hold a results meeting at 1:30 p.m. Pacific time on April 25.

Epic Games has taken further action in its ongoing legal battle with Google, filing a mandatory request with a federal judge in California, hoping to break the Google Play Store market monopoly and increase more market competition. The motion was filed after Epic Games won an antitrust case against Google. The verdict in this case showed that Google had abused its position as a gateway to the Android platform application market.

Epic Games proposed in court filing with San Francisco Federal District Judge James Donato that Google should allow other third-party app stores to distribute apps on its Android platform, a move that should last for six years. Additionally, Epic is requiring control of agreements between Google and device manufacturers to prevent these manufacturers from pre-installing competitors' app stores on new devices. As of press time, the stock has risen slightly.

$Meta Platforms (META.US)$It was announced that the financial report for the first quarter of 2024 will be released on April 24, EST. After the financial report is released, the company will hold a results meeting at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time on April 24. As of press time, the stock is down more than 1%.

E-commerce platforms and cloud computing giants$Amazon (AMZN.US)$It has received attention. Recently, the stock price has continued to rise, and its market value is approaching 2 trillion US dollars. As of press time, the stock is down nearly 1%.

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