Hot news
Before the market opened, the three major stock index futures of US stocks fell on Friday.
Most of the popular Chinese concept stocks rose before the market, with Alibaba and JD.com up more than 2%.
Eric Schmidt, the former CEO of Google, has been waving the flag for Nvidia: the dominant position in AI cannot be shaken.
Eric Schmidt, former CEO of Google, recently gave a speech on artificial intelligence to Stanford students, saying that although he is not good at providing investment advice, he sees an obvious opportunity in the stock market. The opportunity mentioned by Schmidt is $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$ He implied that Nvidia's stock is worth buying, but emphasized that he is not recommending stocks.
Cingulate rose nearly 90% before the market, and the company's main candidate CTx-1301 for the treatment of ADHD won a European patent.
Biopharmaceutical Company$Cingulate (CING.US)$Before the market rose nearly 90%, reporting $8.89. On the news side, Cingulate obtained a European patent because it can be used to treat ADHD.
Meta's social platform Threads launched new features to attract businesses and digital creators.
$Meta Platforms (META.US)$ The new social platform Threads launched by Meta has introduced new features that will make the platform more useful to businesses and digital creators. Meta said in a blog post on Thursday that Threads users can now view data, insights on post indicators and follower statistics, and write multiple post drafts. The company will also launch a feature that allows users to schedule the release of multiple posts several days in advance.
As the number of cases of the smallpox variant surged, the World Health Organization sounded the highest-level global alarm, and vaccine developers rose before the market.
WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus held a press conference to announce that the smallpox variant epidemic spreading rapidly in Africa constitutes an "international emergency of concern" under the International Health Regulations. The vaccine developer $Emergent BioSolutions (EBS.US)$ rose nearly 9% before the market, $GeoVax Labs (GOVX.US)$rose nearly 8% before the market.
In the second quarter, 8.9 million Apple Watches were shipped, accounting for about half of the global smartwatch market.
On August 16th, the TechInsights wearable device ecosystem terminal market analysis research channel estimated that in the second quarter of 2024, the global shipment of Apple Watch was 8.9 million, once again ranking first, and accounting for about half of the global smartwatch market. Due to the continued unfavorable factors compared with the same period last year, Apple Watch's shipment volume in the second quarter of 2024 decreased slightly year-on-year (-1%). $Apple (AAPL.US)$ Beigene rose more than 2% before the market, still the second largest heavyweight stock of Hillhouse, with a holding position of about 5.177 million shares, a market value of approximately $738 million, accounting for 11.4% of the investment portfolio.
Beigene rose more than 2% in pre-market trading, with a price of $195.11. According to HHLR Advisors' Q2 holdings report released by Highland, Beigene remains the firm's second largest position with approximately 5.177 million shares and a market value of approximately $738 million, or 11.4% of the investment portfolio.
Microchip technology rose more than 2% before the market, receiving an upward target price and rating adjustment from Piper Sandler.
$Microchip Technology (MCHP.US)$Before the market, it rose more than 2% to $83.37. Piper Sandler plans to raise Micron Technology's target price from $90 to $100 and upgrade its rating from "neutral" to "shareholding". Citigroup is still bullish on the semiconductor industry and believes that spending related to artificial intelligence and memory will not slow down in the short term; from the comments of the supply chain, the fundamentals of the PC, data center, and mobile terminal markets (accounting for about 60% of the total semiconductor demand) seem to be very stable, and semiconductor shipments are still far from demand terminals.
Alibaba rose more than 2% before the market and will complete the dual primary listing at the end of August.
$Alibaba (BABA.US)$ Before the market, it rose more than 2% to $81.44. Alibaba executives said in a conference call last night that Alibaba is currently actively seeking to make Hong Kong the company's primary listing location. The company will hold a shareholder meeting on August 22 and will submit relevant proposals to shareholders at that time. If the shareholders' meeting approves, it is expected to complete the dual primary listing in New York and Hong Kong at the end of August.
JD.com continued to rise more than 3% before the market, and Q2 performance exceeded expectations. Citigroup maintained a buy rating.
$JD.com (JD.US)$Continued to rise more than 3% before the market, reporting $27.82 per share. The company released its performance yesterday, with net revenue of 291.4 billion in the second quarter, higher than the expected 290.51 billion yuan; the adjusted earnings per ADS of 9.36 yuan far exceeded the expected 6.21 yuan. Citigroup analyst Alicia Yap and others stated in the report that they expect the improvement in electronics and home appliances products for JD.com to continue into the second half of the year. Maintaining a buy rating on the company, based on reasonable valuations and stable profit margin trends.
BioNTech fell more than 3% before the market due to slower-than-expected progress in the joint vaccine project with Pfizer.
$BioNTech (BNTX.US)$ Before the market, it fell more than 3% to $84.4. Pfizer and BioNTech provided the latest progress on the mRNA-based influenza and COVID-19 joint vaccine project for 18- to 64-year-olds. The third phase of the vaccine's clinical trial failed to achieve one of its main goals. Pfizer will continue to evaluate the influenza vaccine project.
Applied Materials fell more than 2% before the market, and Q3 revenue reached a new high. Q4 revenue guidelines were in line with expectations.
$Applied Materials (AMAT.US)$Fell more than 2% before the market. The company's Q3 revenue increased by 5.4% year-on-year to US$6.78 billion, a record high, and the market expected US$6.68 billion. However, the company announced its Q4 revenue guidance only meets expectations, disappointing investors who have been hoping for greater returns from its artificial intelligence investment. The company expects fourth-quarter sales to reach around US$6.93 billion, in line with analysts' average expectations. Excluding certain items, the Q4 earnings per share is about US$2.18, while analysts expected US$2.15.
Walmart's stock price hit a new high again! Options trading volume surged more than five times.
Q2 profits exceeded expectations. $Walmart (WMT.US)$ Bullish sentiment is strong for Walmart, and the latest call options ratio is 84%. Overnight options trading volume was 0.76 million contracts, a sudden increase of more than 5 times compared to normal days. The most active contracts on the options chain are call contracts with a maturity date of today and a strike price of 70 US dollars, with a trading volume of approximately 0.11 million contracts and an open interest of 0.023 million contracts.
Global macro
Fed's Gulbis: Warning signals are emerging in the economy and labor market.
Federal Reserve Gulspie said that the labor market and some leading economic indicators are flashing warning signals, and added that people are worried that the unemployment rate will continue to rise. Gulspie said: "Historically, if the unemployment rate starts to rise, and if the number of temporary employees is negative, this is a leading indicator." He pointed out that the increase in credit card defaults and the increase in small business default rates are also worrying issues. He said that when the employment market begins to encounter problems, they often do not happen slowly.
Fed rate cut is imminent! Wells Fargo & Co: the US stock market will usher in a bull market comparable to 1995.
As U.S. inflation cools down, it seems that a rate cut in September is in the cards. Although a rate cut by the Federal Reserve is not always good for the stock market, once the Federal Reserve starts the rate cut button, the United States may usher in a big rise. Paul Christopher, global investment strategy director of Wells Fargo & Co., said in an interview with the media on Thursday that the US stock market is about to usher in a bull market that has not been seen in 30 years.
Three key words for the Q2 financial report season in the U.S. stock market: labor market, consumption, and AI.
As the Q2 US stock earnings season draws to a close, Goldman Sachs' latest research report states that the overall performance of the S&P 500 index in Q2 was better than expected. As of August 13th, 456 companies have announced their Q2 results, with a consensus on Wall Street that annual earnings per share (EPS) will increase by 9%, and as the reporting season draws to a close, the expectation has risen to 11%. In addition, labor markets, consumer conditions, and artificial intelligence are the three words with the highest mention frequency among U.S. listed companies in the Q2 earnings season, which may become key factors affecting the U.S. stock market.
As U.S. companies ignite a stock buyback frenzy, trillion-dollar "ammunition" will help the U.S. stock market rebound.
As the US stock market suffered its most severe pullback since last October last week, US companies were among the big buyers who bought on the dip. With the S&P 500 index falling for the fourth consecutive week, the department responsible for executing share buybacks for Goldman Sachs' clients received record orders, with trading volume surging to 2.1 times the daily average of last year. Bank of America's corporate clients also sparked a buying frenzy, speeding up their share buybacks, which have been above seasonal levels for 22 consecutive weeks.
On Thursday, as the latest retail sales and initial jobless claims data strengthened confidence in a "soft landing" for the US, the stock market climbed and volatility continued to decline. It is worth noting that this round of volatility decline saw the largest 7-day decline in history. Over the past 7 trading days, the VIX index (also known as the panic index) measuring the volatility of the S&P 500 index fell from 38.57 to 15.30, a decline of 60.3%.
20:30 US July housing starts total annualized (10,000 households) 20:30 US July construction permits total number (10,000 households) 22:00 US August University of Michigan consumer confidence index preliminary value 22:00 US August one-year inflation rate forecast preliminary value 01:00 US to August 16th Week Total Number of Oil Rigs (Mouth) 01:25 2025 FOMC Voting Committee Goolsbee participates in a fireside chat 02:45 US Democratic presidential candidate Harris speaks in North Carolina 04:15 2025 FOMC Voting Committee Goolsbee interviewed by CNBC
Bilibili rose more than 3% pre-market trading and was upgraded to "buy" by UBS, which raised its EPS estimate per share.
Reminder for US Macro Events
(All in Peking Time)
In July, the total number of new housing starts in the US (in ten thousand households)
Total number of construction permits in the US in July (in ten thousand households)
Preliminary value of the University of Michigan's Consumer Confidence Index for August in the United States
Preliminary one-year inflation rate forecast for August in the United States
The next morning
Total number of oil rigs in the US for the week ending August 16 (in mouths)
01:25 2025 FOMC Voting Member Goolsbee participates in a fireside chat
02:45 US Democratic presidential candidate Harris speaks in North Carolina
04:15 2025 FOMC Voting Committee Goolsbee interviewed by CNBC
Editor/ping