In the early morning of the 13th, Beijing time, US stocks had mixed ups and downs on Wednesday afternoon, and the Dow turned down. The Federal Reserve kept interest rates unchanged, implying that they will only cut interest rates once this year. The US CPI data for May showed a rapid cooling in inflation, which greatly increased the probability that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates in September.

The Dow fell 62.80 points, or 0.16%, to 38684.62 points; the NASDAQ rose 279.22 points, or 1.61%, to 17622.77 points; and the S&P 500 rose 43.40 points, or 0.81%, to 5418.72 points.

Apple surpassed Microsoft to become the largest company by market capitalization in the US.

Software provider Oracle shares hit a record high. Although the company's results in the most recent fiscal quarter fell short of expectations, the market took note of the company's newly announced cloud deals with Google and OpenAI.

US stocks closed with mixed ups and downs on Tuesday. Apple's stock price reached new highs, helping push the S&P 500 index and the Nasdaq Composite Index to new closing highs.

Apple released updates to systems such as iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 this week, and announced its entry into the field of artificial intelligence—building a partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT. These news contributed to a sharp rise in the stock.

The Federal Reserve's monetary policy meeting attracted much attention

After a two-day policy meeting, the Federal Reserve announced at 2 p.m. EST on Wednesday that it would keep interest rates unchanged, implying that it will only cut interest rates once this year.

US CPI fell to a three-year low in May. The market predicts a sharp increase in the probability of interest rate cuts in September

On Wednesday's economic data, data from the US Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that in May of this year, the consumer price index (CPI), a broad measure of the cost of goods and services, remained flat month-on-month, and the index rose 0.3% in April.

In terms of specific data, the US CPI increased 3.3% year on year in May, lower than the forecast of 3.4%, down from the previous value of 3.4%, to a three-month low. The CPI for May remained the same as in April, with a month-on-month increase of 0%, the lowest level since July 2022. It was also lower than the expected 0.1%, compared to the previous value of 0.30%.

Excluding food and energy, which are highly volatile, the core CPI increased by 3.4% year on year in May, lower than the expected 3.5% level. The previous value was 3.6%. Core CPI increased 0.2% month-on-month in May, lower than expectations and 0.3% of previous values.

Analysts pointed out that since the release of solid data in February and March, the US CPI has been on a downward trend. Price pressure is likely to continue to ease as major retailers drastically reduce prices for products from food to diapers.

After the May CPI data was released, market expectations for the Fed to cut interest rates in September heated up sharply. Interest rate futures now suggest that the Federal Reserve is about 70% likely to cut interest rates by September.

According to the swap agreement, the market expects 100% of the possibility that the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in November. Futures market traders have completely absorbed expectations of two interest rate cuts this year, and according to London Stock Exchange Group (LESG) data, before the US May CPI data was released, the market expected to cut interest rates once or twice during the year.

Some analysts believe that the unexpected decline in consumer prices in the US in May was due to falling gasoline prices, but against the backdrop of a continued strong job market, the inflation rate may still be too high, so the Federal Reserve cannot start cutting interest rates before September.

Analyst Chris Anstey commented on the US May CPI report and stated, “This was actually the first month with a good inflation report. We need a few more good reports like this before we can actually get the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates in September.” He pointed out that interest rate futures show that traders' confidence in the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts twice this year has increased slightly.

Moderate CPI data may set the tone for the next much-watched US Federal Reserve policy meeting.

Individual stocks in focus

The Florida State Pensions Commission supports a $56 billion compensation package for Tesla CEO Elon Musk.

J.P. Morgan believes that fully automated driving technology is the biggest challenge facing Tesla's Robotaxi project, and the next-generation production platform, uncertain regulatory environment, and infrastructure that needs to be improved have also made commercialization difficult.

Apple is in the spotlight. The stock closed up about 7.3% to a record high on Tuesday. The company released updates to systems such as iOS 18, iPadOS 18, and watchOS 11 this week, and announced its foray into the field of artificial intelligence—building a partnership with OpenAI to integrate ChatGPT. These news drove the stock up sharply.

Danish renewable energy company European Energy said on Wednesday that it has signed several long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with US tech giant Microsoft to provide it with green electricity. European Energy said in a statement: “These renewable energies will be produced by a combination of wind and solar assets in Sweden and Denmark.”

The company said that under the agreement, it will provide more than 3.6 terawatt-hours (TWh) of electricity during the contract period, supporting Microsoft's goal of using renewable energy to meet all of its energy needs by 2025 and achieving negative carbon emissions by 2030.

Korea Telecom regulators said on Wednesday that 188 companies, including Google and Apple's Korean subsidiaries, have been fined for allegedly violating location data collection laws. According to the Korea Communications Commission (KCC), Google's Korean subsidiary was ordered to pay a fine of 3 million won (approximately RMB 15,900) for allegedly violating the terms of its policy on disclosing location data.

Apple's Korean subsidiary was ordered to pay a fine of 210 million won (approximately RMB 1.11 million) for allegedly collecting location data without consent and violating provisions such as the location data disclosure policy.

Bank of America raised TSMC's target price to $180. In response to rumors of price increases, TSMC said that the company's pricing strategy has always been strategy-oriented rather than opportunity-oriented, and that the company will continue to work closely with customers to provide value.

Oracle's fourth fiscal quarter results fell short of expectations, but demand for cloud services is still high.

GameStop announced the completion of a stock allotment to raise $2.14 billion.

BHP Billiton reached a preliminary agreement with copper miners to avoid a strike.

Paramount Global terminated the sale of shares with Skydance.

German air vehicle manufacturer Lilium will establish its Asia Pacific headquarters in Bao'an, Shenzhen.

Krypton's revenue for the first fiscal quarter surged 71% year over year.