Cailian News November 15th (Editor Zhao Hao) On Friday (November 15th) in pre-market trading, the three major index futures continued to decline. As of this writing, the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 0.32%, the S&P 500 index futures fell by 0.46%, and the Nasdaq 100 index futures fell by 0.71%.

In the previous trading day, the three major US stock indices collectively declined as Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell stated that he is not in a hurry to cut interest rates, dampening investor optimism. Powell mentioned that the economy has not sent any signals that require the Federal Reserve to cut rates quickly, granting the central bank the ability to make cautious decisions.

The CME's "FedWatch" tool shows that the market expects the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut in December to shrink to around 60%, while the probability of maintaining the current rate has risen to nearly 40%, about 20 percentage points higher than the previous day.

On the other hand, the "Donald Trump trade" that previously supported US stocks to continually hit new highs has clearly cooled down. CFRA Research Chief Investment Strategist Sam Stovall stated that investors are assessing whether the previous surge in prices is justified.

Stovall added: "We currently do not see any signs that could overturn the stock market, but investors are always looking for factors that might end this trend." One of the Donald Trump concept stocks, Tesla, has fallen over 3% this week following a significant drop yesterday.

At the same time, the boosting effect of the "Donald Trump trade" on cryptocurrencies seems not to have disappeared yet, as shortly before this report, Bitcoin briefly returned above 0.09 million USD. As of this writing, MicroStrategy is up over 3% in pre-market trading, and Coinbase is up nearly 2%.

In other stocks, Applied Materials fell by 7.5% as the company's revenue guidance fell short of Wall Street's expectations, indicating weak demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment; Domino's Pizza rose by 5.7% as the company's stock was built up by Berkshire in the third quarter.

Pharmaceutical stocks such as pfizer, astrazeneca, glaxosmithkline, and novo-nordisk a/s declined. The day before, donald trump nominated Robert Francis Kennedy Jr. as the Secretary of Health and Human Services. It is understood that Kennedy holds unorthodox views on medicine, including skepticism about vaccines.

Most of the european stock markets are declining, with the german dax30 index down 0.17%, the uk ftse100 index down 0.12%, and the france cac40 index down 0.36%.

Company news

[FTC plans to investigate microsoft's cloud computing business for anti-competitive behavior]

Informed sources reveal that the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is preparing to investigate anti-competitive behavior in microsoft's cloud computing business. Strategies under review include significantly raising subscription fees for departing users, charging exorbitant exit fees, and allegedly making its Office 365 products incompatible with competitors' clouds.

[Japan's first ASML EUV lithography machine will arrive in mid-next month for trial production at the Rapidus wafer fab]

The first ASML EUV lithography machine purchased by the advanced semiconductor foundry company Rapidus will arrive at Hokkaido's New Chitose Airport in mid-December 2024, and it will also become the first EUV lithography equipment in all of japan. According to previous statements by Rapidus executives, this lithography machine is an earlier model of 0.33 NA, rather than the 0.55 NA (High NA) version, of which there are currently fewer than 10 units globally.

[Reports say sk hynix is considering introducing ASML High NA EUV equipment]

SK hynix's technology chief Seon-yong Cha stated that they are considering introducing ASML's High NA EUV lithography equipment, which costs 0.4 billion USD, to produce the next generation of memory chips.

[General Motors' autonomous driving unit Cruise admits to submitting false reports and is fined 0.5 million USD]

The U.S. Department of Justice stated that Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors' autonomous driving division, admitted on Thursday to submitting a false report to influence a federal investigation and will pay a criminal fine of $0.5 million as part of a deferred prosecution agreement.

[Alibaba's revenue for the second fiscal quarter of 2025 reached 236.5 billion yuan, a year-on-year growth of 5%]

Alibaba's revenue for the second fiscal quarter of 2025 (the quarter ending September 30, 2024) was 236.5 billion yuan, a 5% year-on-year increase, estimated at 239.43 billion yuan; net income was 43.547 billion yuan (6.205 billion USD), representing a 63% year-on-year growth; adjusted EBITA (a non-GAAP financial indicator) decreased by 5% year-on-year to 40.561 billion yuan (5.78 billion USD). As of the quarter ending September 30, 2024, non-GAAP net income was 36.518 billion yuan (5.204 billion USD), down 9% compared to 40.188 billion yuan in the same period of 2023.

[Xpeng Motors' He Xiaopeng: The production target for Xpeng MONA M03 will reach a monthly capacity of 0.02 million vehicles before the Spring Festival]

At today's 2024 Guangzhou Auto Show, Xpeng Motors' director He Xiaopeng stated that since the launch of the Xpeng MONA M03, sales have exceeded 10,000 for two consecutive months, with November's production capacity increasing by 40%; the target monthly production capacity is expected to reach 0.02 million vehicles before the Spring Festival.

[Avita and Nio Energy have reached a charging network cooperation]

Avitake Technology announced today a partnership with Nio Energy, officially reaching a cooperation on charging network. From now on, Avitake users can search for and use Nio Energy charging stations nationwide through the Avitake App, further enhancing the charging experience and efficiency.

Events to watch during the US stock market hours (Beijing time)

November 15

22:15 USA October industrial production month-on-month rate

23:00 USA September business inventory month-on-month rate

22:00 Boston Fed President Collins (2025 FOMC voting member) gives opening remarks at the 68th Economic Conference

23:30 Boston Fed President Collins gives an interview to the media

November 16

02:00 Total number of oil rigs in the USA for the week ending November 15.

02:15 New York Federal Reserve President Williams (permanent voting member of FOMC) delivers opening remarks at an event.

04:30 CFTC releases weekly hold positions report.