Overview of this week's important schedule.

• As the Christmas holiday approaches, financial markets around the world are closing, will the "Santa Claus Rally" in the USA be repeated?

Due to the Christmas holiday, on Tuesday, the financial markets in the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Australia will close half a day early, while the European financial markets will be closed for one day; on Wednesday, the financial markets in the USA, Hong Kong, Singapore, Australia, Canada, and Europe will be closed; on Thursday, the Hong Kong and European Exchanges will be closed, while Australia and Canada will be closed for one day due to Boxing Day.

In addition, it is worth looking forward to whether the historical "Santa Claus Rally" in the USA can be replicated. Historically, in the seven trading days following Christmas each year, which includes the five trading days at year-end and the first two trading days of the following year, investors tend to go long, and the USA stock market is likely to rise. This seven-day market trend is referred to as the "Santa Claus Rally." Data shows that over the past 70 years, the average ROI of the S&P 500 Index during the Christmas rally period has been 1.3%, with nearly an 80% chance of rising during these seven trading days.

• This week, there are no speeches from Federal Reserve officials, but attention can be paid to the USA Consumer Confidence Index and the initial jobless claims.

The earnings reporting season for the USA stock market has ended; due to the Christmas holiday, there will be no speeches from Federal Reserve officials this week, and there will be few data releases.

On Monday, the Consumer Confidence Index from the Conference Board in the USA may attract some market attention. This index has been rising for the past two months, and one of its sub-indices—the 'job difficulty' index—has been declining during the same period. The latter is closely correlated with the official unemployment rate, so a further decline in this indicator in December will indicate accelerated job growth and may further boost the dollar.

On Tuesday, the USA will release the durable goods orders and new home sales data for November, with the market expecting a 0.4% decline in November after a 0.3% increase in October durable goods orders. However, investors often prefer the narrower measure of non-defense capital goods orders excluding aircraft, which is less volatile and will be used in GDP calculations.

On Thursday, the USA will also announce the initial claims for unemployment benefits for the week ending December 21.

• The Governor of the Bank of Japan, Kazuo Ueda, delivered a speech on Wednesday, indicating that measures may be taken to intervene in the yen.

At the end of the year, macroeconomic data from overseas markets is relatively sparse this week, with special attention on the speech by the President of the Bank of Japan, Kazuo Ueda, scheduled for Wednesday. The Bank of Japan has previously kept interest rates unchanged, standing still for three consecutive times; it has stated that it may wait at least until March next year to raise interest rates. Investors may pay attention to any verbal or actual intervention measures the Bank of Japan might take in the foreign exchange market, as Japanese Finance Minister Shunichi Suzuki stated on the 20th that measures will be taken to address excessive volatility in the yen exchange rate.

In terms of economic data, Japan will release preliminary data on unemployment rate, retail sales, and industrial output for November on Friday. Before that, investors can pay attention to the minutes of the Bank of Japan's October meeting, which will be released on Tuesday, to seek further clues regarding policymakers' thoughts on interest rate hikes. Additionally, the Bank of Japan will also release a summary of the opinions of the monetary policy meeting review committee on December.

• The 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress will be held in Peking from the 21st to the 25th, reviewing the Private Economy Promotion Law and other legal drafts.

According to news from the website of the National People's Congress of China on December 19, the Legislative Affairs Commission of the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress held a press conference on December 19. The spokesperson introduced that the 13th meeting of the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress will be held in Peking from December 21 to 25.

The meeting will review the draft amendments to the representative law, the draft VAT law, the draft amendments to the supervision law, the revised draft of the science and technology popularization law, and the draft national park law; it will review the State Council's proposal to consider the draft private economy promotion law, the draft of the amendments to the anti-unfair competition law, the draft amendments to the fishery law, and the draft dangerous chemicals safety law; it will consider the proposal from the chairman's meeting regarding the review of the draft decision by the Standing Committee of the National People's Congress on convening the third session of the 14th National People's Congress.

The draft private economy promotion law was submitted for the first review by the Standing Committee of the 14th National People's Congress on the 21st. The draft has a total of 9 chapters and 78 articles, mainly covering eight aspects: overall requirements, fair competition, investment and financing environment, technological innovation, regulation and guidance, service assurance, rights protection, and legal liability. Elevating important measures to promote the development of the private economy to legal norms is of great significance for further optimizing the development environment of the private economy, accelerating the construction of a new development pattern, and promoting high-quality development.

December 23, Monday

Keywords: USA December Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index; the new IPO in the region today.

On Monday, economic data will be released for the final value of the UK's Q3 GDP year-on-year and the USA December Conference Board Consumer Confidence Index.

In terms of IPOs, in the Hong Kong stock market, $DOBOT (02432.HK)$ Today, listed on the Hong Kong stock market. $INNOSCIENCE (02577.HK)$ 、 $HEALTHYWAY INC (02587.HK)$ 、 $XUNFEIHEALTH (02506.HK)$ The IPO Subscription has ended.

December 24, Tuesday

Keywords: Hong Kong stocks, US stocks, etc., afternoon market closed; Minutes of the Bank of Japan's October monetary policy meeting.

On Tuesday, economic data will be released including the USA's November Durable Goods Orders month-on-month, the USA's December Richmond Fed Manufacturing Index, and the USA's annualized total of new home sales in November.

In terms of financial events, the Bank of Japan will release the minutes of its October monetary policy meeting.

Regarding new stocks, the Hong Kong stock market $MINIEYE (02431.HK)$ Announce the result of the lottery.

In addition, on Christmas Eve, the Hong Kong stock market, the USA stock market, Singapore stocks, and Australia stocks will close at noon.

December 25, Wednesday

Keywords: Hong Kong stocks, USA stocks, etc. will be closed all day due to Christmas; Bank of Japan Governor Ueda Kazuhiro will give a speech.

On Wednesday, the economic data regarding USA API Crude Oil Product inventory for the week ending December 20 will be released.

In terms of financial events, the Governor of Japan's Central Bank, Kazuo Ueda, will give a speech.

Additionally, the USA stock market, Hong Kong stocks, Singapore stocks, Canadian stocks, Australian stocks, and Malaysian stocks will be closed for Christmas, and the HK->SZ and SZ->SH trading will be suspended.

December 26, Thursday

Keywords: USA initial jobless claims for the week; Hong Kong stock market closed.

On Thursday, the economic data for the USA initial jobless claims for the week ending December 21 will be released.

Additionally, Canadian stocks and Australian stocks will be closed for Boxing Day; Hong Kong stocks will continue to be closed for Christmas, and the HK->SZ and SZ->SH trading will be suspended.

December 27, Friday

Keywords: Summary of the opinions of the committee members from the Bank of Japan's monetary policy meeting in December; Youjia Innovation is going public today.

On Friday, economic data will be released, including Japan's unemployment rate for November, as well as EIA Crude Oil Product inventory, EIA Strategic Petroleum Reserve inventory, and EIA Henry Hub Natural Gas inventory data for the week ending December 20 in the USA.

In financial events, the Bank of Japan will release a summary of the opinions of the committee members from the monetary policy meeting in December.

In terms of IPOs, in the Hong Kong stock market, $MINIEYE (02431.HK)$ is going public today, $INNOSCIENCE (02577.HK)$ 、 $HEALTHYWAY INC (02587.HK)$ 、 $XUNFEIHEALTH (02506.HK)$ will announce the lottery results.

Wishing Mooers a successful week of investment!

编辑/jayden