（纳斯达克指数日线图，来源：TradingView）① Powell's remarks were "just right", and the Dow Jones closed above 45,000 points for the first time in history; ② AI applications and the chip sector saw bullish financial reports; ③ The CEO of the largest health insurance company in the USA was murdered in a street attack; ④ Trump nominated an SEC chair with a pro-crypto stance.
On December 5, the Financial Associated Press reported (Editor: Shi Zhengcheng) that last night and this morning, with Federal Reserve Chairman Powell giving a balanced commentary on the US economy, combined with bullish financial reports from both the AI applications and chip sectors, the three major US stock indexes set historical records.
As of Wednesday's close, the S&P 500 index rose by 0.61% to 6086.49 points; the Nasdaq composite index rose by 1.3% to 19735.12 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 0.69% to 45014.04 points, closing above 45,000 points for the first time in history.
(Nasdaq index daily chart, source: TradingView)
Powell stated in New York on Wednesday that the state of the US economy is better than expected in September, which gives Federal Reserve officials more room to be cautious about interest rate cuts. Meanwhile, the Fed's beige book released on Wednesday also reflected a more optimistic outlook for demand from the business sector.
Krishna Guha, head of global policy and central bank strategy at Evercore ISI, commented that Powell's remarks were somewhat "hawkish", yet they were positioned just right, not challenging the market's growing confidence in a rate cut in December.
Popular stocks performance
Wednesday was also a moment when Trump showcased his influence in the US stock market. Following his announcement of the nomination of crypto supporter Paul Atkins as chairman of the SEC, bitcoin surged to 0.099 million dollars, also driving crypto concept stocks like Coinbase up by 6.98% and MicroStrategy by 8.72%.
In addition to supporting cryptos, Atkins also holds an overall position favoring relaxed regulations. For example, he has criticized the Dodd-Frank Act for placing excessive burdens on the banking industry.
Wednesday was also a day when tech giants continued to lead the index forward. However, there was some progress in the overall logic, with Salesforce surging 10.99% in AI applications, and chip manufacturer Marvell Technology soaring 23.19%; both companies showcased strong boosts from AI in their latest earnings reports.
(Marvell Technology hit an all-time high, source: TradingView)
Driven by this, the "seven giants" of technology also advanced together. By the close, Nvidia rose 3.48%, Microsoft rose 1.44%, Amazon rose 2.21%, Google C rose 1.77%, Tesla rose 1.85%, Apple rose 0.15%, and Meta rose 0.02%.
For the usa stock market, which depends on tech stocks for direction, there was also a potential bullish signal on Wednesday—OpenAI plans to hold a product launch event every day for the next 12 trading days. If it can meet market expectations, it could at least guide the usa stock market until the end of the year.
The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index closed down 1.38% on Wednesday, marking its fourth consecutive decline. Among them, Alibaba fell 0.88%, JD.com fell 3.69%, Baidu fell 1.51%, pdd holdings rose 0.26%, and AI concept stocks Kingsoft Cloud surged 8.51%.
On Wednesday, there were reports from usa media that Apple is working with Baidu to fine-tune the Wenxin large model 4.0. Unlike OpenAI, although there are still a series of difficulties at the moment, if Baidu's model integrates into the iOS system, Apple would pay Baidu for the use of the Wenxin model and cover the expenses for matching it to Apple's system.
Other news
【CEO of the largest health insurance company in the USA assassinated on the street】
According to the New York police, UnitedHealth Group, a publicly listed company in the USA, had its CEO, Brian Thompson of UnitedHealthcare, shot dead by an ambush gunman on Wednesday morning in front of the Hilton Worldwide in Midtown Manhattan. The company was scheduled to hold its annual investor day today, and Thompson arrived early for preparations.
UnitedHealth Group's latest market cap exceeds $560 billion, ranking it 16th among global listed companies. The UnitedHealthcare led by Thompson is the largest health insurance company in the USA, contributing nearly two-thirds of the group's revenue.
【Eli Lilly directly challenges Novo-Nordisk】
The American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly announced on Wednesday that in a comparison trial, Zepbound (tirzepatide) showed a relative weight loss effect 47% higher than Novo-Nordisk's Wegovy (semaglutide). After 72 weeks of treatment, patients using Zepbound lost an average of 20.2% of their weight (about 50 pounds), while those using Wegovy lost 13.7% (about 33 pounds).
At the close, Eli Lilly rose by 2.03%, while Novo-Nordisk fell by 0.21%.
