Hot News

• USA's January CPI exceeds expectations across the board! Year-on-year growth rate rises to 3%, supporting the Federal Reserve's gradual rate cuts.

USA's January CPI increased by 0.5% month-on-month, the largest increase since August 2023, which supports the Federal Reserve's rationale for gradually advancing rate cuts. Traders have adjusted their expectations for the next Federal Reserve rate cut from September to December. The 'New Federal Reserve News Agency' states that the strong inflation data in January makes the rationale for further 're-adjusting' the rate cut path before mid-year untenable.

• Powell: The Federal Reserve may adjust rates due to tariffs, CPI shows more effort is needed to reduce inflation.

The Federal Reserve may adjust rates due to tariffs. Powell stated at a Congressional hearing that the CPI indicates the Federal Reserve is close to but has not yet achieved the inflation target, and the Fed will not be excited about the good or bad of one or two data points; he hinted that rates would remain high in the near term, stating, 'Hope to keep policy restrictive temporarily'; stated, 'There is enough time to wait' for restrictive monetary policy to take effect, 'There are ways to continue balance sheet reduction,' and reiterated that reserves are 'ample.'

• Trump calls for rate cuts again, attributing the January CPI exceeding expectations to 'Biden inflation.'

Trump stated that interest rates should be lowered. Subsequently, the USA released the January CPI data exceeding expectations across the board. Trump posted again, criticizing this inflation report as 'Biden inflation.' Analysts say that Trump's move aims to avoid potential political risks in the early stages of his second term. The January CPI data includes 12 days from Trump's administration.

• Trump's cryptocurrency company launches strategy 'Token Reserve.'

The cryptocurrency platform WLF, held by Trump, announced the launch of a strategic token reserve aimed at supporting Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other mainstream cryptocurrencies to address market volatility, invest in decentralized finance projects, and establish strategic collaborations with financial institutions.

• Three Wall Street investment banks: Driven by DeepSeek, the Chinese stock market will continue to rise.

The rise of the Chinese stock market driven by AI has been affirmed by Wall Street strategists. Analysts from Morgan Stanley, JPMorgan, and UBS Group expect that the Chinese stock market will continue to rise under the impetus of the DeepSeek AI model. Morgan Stanley stated, "After a long period of limited attention, global investors are beginning to reassess the investability of China's technology and AI sectors."

• The first shot of the Republican budget plan in the House of Representatives: seeking a tax cut of 4.5 trillion and raising the debt ceiling by 4 trillion.

Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives took the first step on Wednesday towards implementing trillions of dollars in tax cuts and raising the debt ceiling to 36 trillion dollars. The budget plan will allow Congress's tax-writing committee to increase the deficit by 4.5 trillion dollars to accommodate the tax cuts, while also planning to cut mandatory spending such as Medicaid and agricultural subsidies by 2 trillion dollars. The draft also proposes to allow an increase of the debt ceiling by 4 trillion dollars through a fast-track process to avoid a catastrophic debt default later this year.

• OpenAI has canceled the independent release of the o3 model and will launch GPT-5 in the future.

On Wednesday, Altman stated that the company is close to releasing a new AI model called GPT-4.5, which will be the last "non-thinking chain model" launched by OpenAI. GPT-5 is expected to be released in the coming months, integrating multiple AI technologies such as the company's o3, indicating that the release plan for the o3 model has been canceled.

Review of the U.S. stock market.

• The three major US stock indices closed mixed, with Meta achieving 18 consecutive daily gains, and the China concept index rising significantly by 2.73%.

The US January non-seasonally adjusted CPI year-on-year recorded 3%, the largest increase since June 2024; the three major US stock indices closed mixed, with the Nasdaq up 0.03%, the S&P 500 Index down 0.27%, and the Dow down 0.5%.

The 'Tech Seven Sisters' had mixed results, with Intel up over 7%, hitting a new closing high since December last year; Tesla rose over 2%, ending a five-day decline. Netflix and Apple both rose over 1%, with Meta slightly up, achieving 18 consecutive daily gains and continuing to hit new highs. Amazon and NVIDIA dropped over 1%, while Microsoft and Alphabet dipped slightly.

Chinese concept stocks saw more gainers than losers, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index closing up 2.73%, reaching a new closing high since October 8 of last year. Alibaba rose nearly 5%, reaching a new high since July 2022. UP Fintech surged nearly 12%, Bilibili rose over 6%, Li Auto, NIO, and Baidu rose over 4%, while Xpeng Motors and NetEase increased by more than 3%.

• Intel surged more than 7%, with Baird stating that the company may partner with Taiwan Semiconductor to establish a joint-foundry.

$Intel (INTC.US)$ Continuing its upward trend, Intel closed up 7.2% in a single day. A report from Baird indicated that the US government may participate in a plan involving Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor.

Taiwan Semiconductor will send engineers to Intel's 3nm/2nm foundry, utilizing their expertise to ensure the feasibility of the foundry and Intel's subsequent manufacturing projects. Intel may spin off the foundry to become a company jointly held by Intel and Taiwan Semiconductor, which would be responsible for its operation, receiving funding from the US Chips Act.

Analyst Tristan Gerra states that although this news has not yet been confirmed and will take a long time to complete, the project has its rationale. Baird rated Intel stock as neutral, with a Target Price of $20.

• Apple will expand TV+ to Android phones, aiming to increase user numbers.

According to informed sources, $Apple (AAPL.US)$ It will announce the first expansion of the TV+ streaming video service to Android phones. This move marks a rare occasion when Apple offers services on its competitor Google's Android system.

Although Apple does provide music services through Android apps, it typically tries to keep customers within its own product ecosystem. This indicates that Apple is attempting to enhance the appeal of TV+ and challenge streaming services like Netflix and Disney+.

• AppLovin surged over 27% in Post-Market Trading, with Q4 results and Q1 guidance exceeding expectations.

Last year, the hottest technology stocks in the USA.$Applovin (APP.US)$After-hours trading rose by 27.23%, with Q4 total revenue reaching 1.373 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 44%, surpassing market expectations of 1.26 billion USD; net income was 0.599 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 248%. Advertising revenue was 0.9995 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 73%; application revenue was 0.3733 billion USD, down 1% year-on-year.

• Collaborating with Apple, Alibaba shares rose nearly 5%, with a cumulative increase of over 14% during the week.

$Alibaba (BABA.US)$ Closed up 4.92%, with a cumulative increase of over 14% during the week. Reports state that Apple recently started collaborating with Alibaba Group to launch AI features in China. Apple and Alibaba have submitted the jointly developed China AI features to the country's internet regulators for approval, indicating that the partnership has made significant progress.

• Google CEO: 'Useful' quantum computers will appear in 5 to 10 years.

$Alphabet-A (GOOGL.US)$ CEO Sundar Pichai stated on February 12 at the World Government Summit in Dubai that 'practically useful' quantum computers will take another 5 to 10 years, adding, 'The quantum moment reminds me of the AI development in the 2010s when we were developing Google Brain and making early progress.'

• Cisco surged over 6% in post-market trading, with Q2 revenue exceeding expectations, announcing an additional 15 billion Share Buyback plan.

$Cisco (CSCO.US)$In post-market trading, it rose 6.67%, with Q2 revenue reaching 13.99 billion dollars, while analysts expected 13.87 billion dollars; product revenue was 10.23 billion dollars, compared to analysts' expectation of 9.99 billion dollars; service revenue was 3.76 billion dollars, while analysts expected 3.74 billion dollars. The Board of Directors authorized an additional 15 billion dollars Share Buyback plan.

The company expects full-year revenue of 56 billion to -56.5 billion dollars; it anticipates Q3 revenue of 13.9 billion to -14.1 billion dollars, with analysts expecting 13.88 billion dollars.

Top 20 by trading volume

Hong Kong market outlook

• North Water aggressively bought Alibaba exceeding 3 billion HKD, bought MEITUAN-W for nearly 1.4 billion HKD, and sold TENCENT exceeding 1.1 billion HKD.

On February 12 (Wednesday), southbound funds net bought Hong Kong stocks worth 7.512 billion HKD.

$BABA-W (09988.HK)$、$MEITUAN-W (03690.HK)$、$SMIC (00981.HK)$Net purchases were 3.043 billion HKD, 1.383 billion HKD, and 0.834 billion HKD respectively.

$TENCENT (00700.HK)$、$XIAOMI-W (01810.HK)$、$CHINA VANKE (02202.HK)$They faced net sales of 1.148 billion Hong Kong dollars, 0.959 billion Hong Kong dollars, and 58.56 million Hong Kong dollars respectively.

• Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation conference call: urgent orders have appeared in various fields including Consumer Electronics, and the first quarter is expected to be "not dull in the off-season."

$SMIC (00981.HK)$ At the shareholder meeting, it was stated that driven by the benefits of national consumer subsidy policies, customers have a strong willingness to restock and supplement their inventory, with many urgent orders for consumer Internet-connected mobile phones. The first quarter is not a dull season. Additionally, Semiconductor Manufacturing International Corporation plans to increase the sales proportion of automotive products to 10% over the next three years, at which point the corresponding production capacity will meet one-third of the domestic automotive market demand.

• Bank of America: DeepSeek is the "Alibaba IPO moment" for the China stock market.

Bank of America stated that Alibaba's listing in 2014 propelled the rise of China's XINJINGJI Sector, attracting Global long-term capital Inflow. DeepSeek may become the current 'Alibaba IPO moment' for the Chinese stock market. The 'Holy Grail' of AI development in China does not necessarily have to be the 'best in class,' but should be 'good enough' to support large-scale AI applications in China, driving productivity growth and economic growth.

Today's focus

Keywords: USA January PPI year-on-year, month-on-month, initial claims data for the week, 10-year Treasury auction; Applied Materials, Coinbase earnings.

On Thursday, regarding economic data, the USA will release January PPI year-on-year and month-on-month, initial jobless claims for the week ending February 8, and the 10-year Treasury auction data on February 12, along with the EIA Henry Hub Natural Gas inventory for the week; the Eurozone will publish the month-on-month industrial output for December.

In terms of financial events, 2027 FOMC voting member and Atlanta Fed President Bostic will give a speech on the economic outlook; the Bank of Canada will publish the minutes from the January monetary policy meeting; the IEA will release the monthly Crude Oil Product market report.

Regarding the IPOs, $SailPoint Parent, LP (SAIL.US)$ will be listed on the US stock market.

Regarding the Earnings Reports, the Hong Kong stock market$HUA HONG SEMI (01347.HK)$will release its performance results, $Applied Materials (AMAT.US)$、 $Coinbase (COIN.US)$The results will be released during Post-Market Trading.

Futubull Morning Reading:

Start saving and invest early, this is the best habit to cultivate.
——Warren Buffett

Editor/danial