On Thursday, April 25, 2024, local time, the three major US stock indexes saw a full correction, with the Nasdaq index falling 0.64% and the S&P 500 falling 0.46%. In terms of constituent stocks, tech giants have performed differently, with Tesla up over 4%, Nvidia up over 3%, and Meta down over 10%.
In terms of the US economy, the latest data shows that the US GDP in the first quarter grew at an annual rate of 1.6%, slightly lower than the expected 2.5%; In terms of inflation, the inflation indicator that the Federal Reserve is most concerned about, the PCE price index, which excludes food and energy prices, grew by 3.7%, higher than market expectations. It should be noted that the lower than expected GDP growth rate in the United States this time is mainly due to the drag of imports and inventories, rather than the weakening of domestic demand in the United States; Therefore, this seemingly weak GDP data does not indicate a recession in the US economy, and combined with the unexpected PCE, it is not a combination of stagflation. Investors do not need to worry excessively.
In terms of financial reports from technology giants, Meta, Microsoft, and Google, among the seven giants in the US stock market, have all recently disclosed their latest performance reports. Meta's Q2 performance guidance was lower than expected, triggering a significant correction in this round; However, the AI giant Microsoft exceeded market expectations in terms of revenue, profits, and the intelligent cloud business that investors are more concerned about. After the performance disclosure, it rose by 6% in the afternoon, staging a "elephant dance" market trend; Google's performance is also impressive, with cloud revenue of $9.57 billion, which is highly correlated with AI, exceeding analyst expectations. At the same time, Google announced its first dividend payout and increased stock repurchases. Driven by multiple positive factors, Google rose over 16% after market hours.
Looking ahead to the future, Tianhong Fund believes that the recent volatility in the US stock market indicates that the market is gradually digesting the expectation of only cutting interest rates once a year. However, taking a long-term view of the US stock market's decline is not a bad thing, but rather helps to restart interest rate cutting trading. It is highly likely that the US economy will move towards a soft landing under a timely shift in monetary policy, and we will continue to maintain a positive view on the US stock market. Although the increase is amazing, the technology stocks in the US stock market have not reached the risk pressure of the technology foam in 2000. The fundamental indicators, such as income, operating cash flow and net profit, are significantly better than the level before the foam in 2000. Follow up financial reports from Amazon, Apple, and Nvidia suggest that everyone keep an appropriate eye on them. Investors who are interested in US stocks can follow the Tianhong S&P 500 (Class C: 007722) and the Tianhong NASDAQ 100 Index (Class C: 018044). There are risks in the market, and investment should be cautious. The above stocks are only for objective display and not for individual stock recommendations.