Hot news

• Pre-market, the three major US stock index futures are all rising.

Optimism continues to spread, with strong gains in the Asia-Pacific stock markets and pre-market gains in the US stock market. As of the time of publication, Dow Jones futures are up 0.37%, S&P 500 index futures are up 0.75%, and Nasdaq futures are up 1.41%.

usa initial jobless claims for the week ending September 21st were 0.218 million, expected 0.225 million, and the previous value revised from 0.219 million to 0.222 million.

usa's actual GDP annualized growth rate for the second quarter of 3%, in line with expectations of 3%, unchanged from the previous value of 3.00%.

Large-cap technology stocks are all rising in pre-market trading, with Nvidia and Taiwan Semiconductor up over 2%, Tesla, Meta Platforms, and Google up over 1%.

Micron Technology sparks the 'AI faith', with chip stocks surging in pre-market trading, Micron up nearly 17%, ASML Holding and KLA Corp up nearly 5%.

Hot China concept stocks are soaring in pre-market trading! PDD Holdings, jd.com, and Bilibili are skyrocketing over 11%, Alibaba and Baidu are up over 8%.

China concept ETF surged in pre-market trading, leveraged three times to long FTSE China ETF, skyrocketed over 25%.

• Micron Technology soared nearly 17% in pre-market trading, with AI demand driving Q4 revenue to surge over 90%, also exceeding performance guidance.

$Micron Technology (MU.US)$ In the fourth quarter, recorded revenue of $7.75 billion, a year-on-year increase of 93.3%. Micron CEO Sanjay Mehrotra attributed the revenue growth in the fourth quarter to AI demand, stating that Datacenter SSD sales led to a record NAND revenue, surpassing $1 billion for the first time; Micron also announced strong performance guidance, expecting revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 to range between $8.5 billion and $8.9 billion, while analysts forecast $8.32 billion; Adjusted earnings per share are expected to range between $1.66 and $1.82, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.52.

• Continued rise! Tesla rose 1.43% in pre-market trading, and the Robotaxi launch event is officially scheduled for October 10.

$Tesla (TSLA.US)$ The company announced that its highly anticipated self-driving taxi Robotaxi will officially debut at the event on October 10th (October 11th Beijing time) in California. It is reported that the concept of Robotaxi first appeared in Tesla's Master Plan Chapter 2 in 2016, aiming to reduce reliance on car ownership through mature L4+ autonomous driving technology.

• Stock price hits an all-time high! Meta releases heavyweight new products: AR glasses prototype, and more affordable VR headsets.

$Meta Platforms (META.US)$ Launching its first augmented reality (AR) glasses Orion, which can display a combined view of digital and real-world. In addition, Meta also released a multimodal large language model and the latest virtual reality (VR) headset Quest 3S. Meta's pre-market trading continued to rise by nearly 2%, opening at a record high.

• Faraday Future rose over 9% in pre-market trading, announcing executive changes to drive the implementation of its dual-brand strategy.

$Faraday Future Intelligent Electric Inc. (FFIE.US)$ U.S. stocks surged over 9% in pre-market trading. The company announced personnel changes to advance its dual-brand strategy and its short-term and long-term business goals. The board of directors has appointed Koti Meka as the company's Chief Financial Officer, effective September 23, 2024.

• Intel rose over 3% in pre-market trading, unveiling the Xeon 6 performance core processor.

$Intel (INTC.US)$ Announced the launch of the Xeon 6 performance core processor. Compared to the Xeon 5 scalable processor, the Xeon 6 processor has up to a 2x increase in core count per socket, an average 1.2x improvement in single-core performance, an average 1.6x increase in performance per watt, and can support data centers, cloud computing, and many AI acceleration computing scenarios.

• Taiwan Semiconductor rises over 2% in pre-market trading, as Morgan Stanley's survey shows CoWoS may expand production a year earlier.

A recent survey by Morgan Stanley shows, $Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US)$ the decision to advance the expansion of CoWoS capacity from 2026 to 2025 is mainly due to strong customer demand. TSMC originally planned to increase CoWoS production to 0.08 million pieces per month in 2026. However, it appears that this target can be achieved ahead of schedule by the end of 2025. The newly purchased TSMC building from AU Optronics is expected to join the production line.

• Accenture rises nearly 5% in pre-market trading, with fourth-quarter revenue and profit both exceeding expectations, indicating optimistic future growth prospects.

$Accenture (ACN.US)$ In the fourth quarter of 2024, adjusted earnings per share were $2.79, up from $2.71 in the same period last year, estimated at $2.79; earnings per share were $2.66, compared to $2.15 in the same period last year; revenue was $16.41 billion, a 2.6% year-on-year growth. Accenture expects operating cash flow of $9.4 billion to $10.1 billion in 2025, with an estimated $10.77 billion.

• Alibaba and JD.com mutually open up to each other:$JD LOGISTICS (02618.HK)$Enter Taobao, Alipay enters jd.com

$Alibaba (BABA.US)$ Taobao and Tmall are about to officially integrate. $JD.com (JD.US)$ Logistics, expected to go live in mid-October, thereafter when Taobao and Tianmao merchants choose a shipping method in the system, they will have an option for JD Logistics. Meanwhile, JD will also integrate Cainiao Express and Cainiao Post Stations - the former being Cainiao's self-operated express brand and the latter for package collection. It was also learned that JD will officially integrate Alipay payments, expected to be launched on the eve of November 11th.

• Alibaba was selected for the 2024 "Fortune" "Change the World" list.

Fortune magazine released the list of 'Companies that Change the World' for 2024, with a China company making it to the top ten thanks to proficient use of AI technology to assist in detecting pancreatic cancer. This marks the sixth time that Alibaba has made it onto the list in the past decade, making it the most frequently listed Chinese company. $Alibaba (BABA.US)$ Due to the effective use of AI technology in assisting the detection of pancreatic cancer lesions, a unique Chinese company has made it into the top ten of Fortune's list of 'Companies that Change the World' for the first time in 10 years. Alibaba has appeared on the list six times, making it the most frequently listed Chinese company.

• JD.com rose more than 10% in pre-market trading and received a target price upgrade to $40 from JPMorgan.

JPMorgan issued a report indicating that since being $Walmart (WMT.US)$after selling its stake in August. $JD-SW (09618.HK)$ Nvidia. $JD.com (JD.US)$ The bank reiterated its 'shareholding' rating, and raised the target price of JD.com's US and Hong Kong-listed stocks from $36 and HK$140, to $40 and HK$155 respectively.

• Fangdd Network soared 25% in pre-market trading, while KE Holdings surged nearly 12%, following a political meeting statement aiming to stabilize the real estate market.

$Fangdd Network (DUO.US)$ Surged over 31% in pre-market trading. $KE Holdings (BEKE.US)$ Surged over 15%. On the news front, the Central Political Bureau of the Communist Party of China held a meeting on September 26. The meeting emphasized the need to stabilize the real estate market, strictly control the increment of commercial housing construction, optimize the existing stock, improve quality, increase loans for 'white-listed' projects, support the activation of idle land stocks, adjust housing purchase restrictions in response to public concerns, reduce mortgage rates for existing homes, expedite the improvement of land, financial, and tax policies, and promote the establishment of a new development model for the real estate sector.

• Policy boosts led to a pre-market surge in China concept education stocks, with Gaotu surging over 12%.

The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued opinions on implementing a strategy of prioritizing employment to promote high-quality and full employment. The opinions propose accelerating the development of modern vocational education, promoting the integration of vocational and general education, industry and education, science and education, and cultivating more high-quality technical and skilled personnel. $Gaotu Techedu (GOTU.US)$ Surged over 18% in pre-market trading. $TAL Education (TAL.US)$ Rising nearly 15%, $New Oriental (EDU.US)$ Sea has risen for 8 consecutive days, with the stock price rebounding by more than 32%.

Global macro

• The market is waiting quietly for speeches from a number of Federal Reserve officials like Powell.

Tonight, several Federal Reserve officials including Powell, Collins, Kugler, Bauman, Williams, Barr, and Cook will give speeches one after another, which may determine whether the Federal Reserve will make another significant rate cut in November. Previously, the Federal Reserve initiated a rate-cutting cycle with a 50BP cut, and the market is continuously pricing the remaining rate cuts for this year. As the first week after the Federal Reserve meeting, the officials' remarks tonight may help clarify things for the market.

• Global before the US electionMergerA 14% increase in size, but cautious sentiment prompting a slowdown in US mergers and acquisitions.

According to Dealogic's statistics, as of the third quarter ending on September 25, the total value of announced M&A deals globally in 2024 reached a high of $846.8 billion, a 14% year-on-year increase. Among them, the M&A deal value in the United States dropped by 8% to $338 billion, due to stock market volatility, strict regulatory scrutiny, and high interest rates restraining M&A activities. Companies in the United States have postponed pursuing large targets before the 2024 presidential election, analysts say this is only a temporary setback in the M&A market, and a significant rebound is expected next year.

• BlackRock: Even with a slight decline in profit expectations, stock market valuation still has support.

Helen Jewell, senior investment officer at BlackRock, said that global companies seem optimistic about the remaining time of the year, but the stock market may also be able to digest the impact of the slight downward adjustment in profit expectations. Jewell stated that profit forecasts for 2024 have been "delayed" to the second half of the year. She said this does not necessarily mean the market will decline, as valuations are "not excessively high." She added, "Profits may decline, but the price-earnings ratio will rise slightly to temper this expectation."

• Gold price hits new high again! Goldman Sachs and UBS Group sing in chorus: the uptrend will continue until 2025.

Large banks expect the gold price to continue to rise until next year, as a large amount of funds are flowing back in.$HUANGJINETF (518880.SH)$In addition, the market expects central banks including the Federal Reserve to further cut interest rates. Analysts at JPMorgan stated that over the past two years, strong physical demand from China and various central banks has supported the price of gold. UBS analysts also believe that despite gold prices hitting new highs this year, there is still "significant upward potential in the next 6-12 months".

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)

21:10: Boston Fed President Collins hosts an online meeting on central bank supervision and financial inclusion, in which Fed Governor Kugl will attend.

At 21:15, Federal Reserve Board member Bauman delivered a speech on economic outlook and monetary policy.

At 21:20, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell pre-recorded a video to deliver opening remarks for an event.

At 21:25, FOMC permanent voter and New York Fed President Williams delivered a speech.

At 22:00, the seasonally adjusted US existing home sales pending index rate for August was announced.

At 22:30, Federal Reserve Board member Barr gave a speech, and Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook participated in a roundtable discussion on artificial intelligence and labor development.

At 23:20, US Treasury Secretary Yellen delivered a speech.

At 01:00 the next day, 2026 FOMC voter and Minneapolis Fed President Kashkari had a fireside chat with Federal Reserve Board member Barr.

At 06:00 the next day, Federal Reserve Board member Lisa Cook delivered a speech on artificial intelligence and labor market.

Editor/Emily