On Thursday Eastern Time, the three major US stock indices collectively closed higher. As of the close, the Nasdaq rose 2.51%, the S&P 500 index rose 1.7%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.26%. Among them, the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 index reached historic highs. Large tech stocks generally rose, with Tesla rising over 7%, reaching a new closing high since late July. Nvidia, Meat, and Apple have risen by over 3%, Netflix has skyrocketed by over 2%, and Intel, Microsoft, Google, and Amazon have risen by over 1%. MobilEye rose about 15%, the largest daily increase since June 7th. Skechers fell nearly 10%, marking the largest single day decline in seven months.
Chip stocks generally rose, ASML rose over 6%, Nvidia rose over 5%, and TSMC rose over 5%.
Bitcoin rose over 6% to break through $63000, blockchain concept stocks strengthened, MicroStrategy rose over 11%, and Coinbase rose over 6%.
Popular Chinese concept stocks rose, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index up 4.15%. Futu Holdings rose nearly 14%, Xiaopeng Motors rose over 8%, NIO rose over 7%, JD.com and Bilibili rose over 6%, Tencent Music, Alibaba, and Vipshop rose over 4%, iQiyi, Manbang, NetEase, and Weibo rose over 3%, Baidu and Ideal Auto rose over 2%, and Pinduoduo rose over 1%.
Global News
The Federal Reserve aggressively initiates a cycle of interest rate cuts! Survey: Nearly 80% of investors believe that the US stock market will continue to rise
According to the latest Markets Live Pulse survey, among the 173 respondents surveyed, 44% expect the S&P 500 index to rise less than 6% from Wednesday's closing price, 37% expect an increase of over 6%, and only 19% expect the index to decline. The expected rebound by investors is relatively mild, which means that the S&P 500 index may not be able to break through 6000 points by the end of this year. The cautious expectation of a future stock market rise highlights the ongoing uncertainty in the Federal Reserve's policy path and the US economy.
Is US debt no longer fragrant? Three major overseas creditors have all reduced their holdings of Japanese US bonds, resulting in four consecutive declines
In July this year, the holdings of US treasury bond bonds held by the three major overseas "creditors" of the United States declined in unison, of which Japan's holdings of US treasury bonds fell to the lowest level since October last year. According to the International Capital Flows Report (TIC) released by the US Treasury Department on September 18th local time, in July 2024, the top three overseas "creditors" of the United States, Japan, China, and the United Kingdom, all saw a decrease in their holdings of US bonds.
SEC Chairman's Spicy Comment on AI: Tool singularity may trigger financial crises in the future!
US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chairman Gary Gensler warned on Wednesday that excessive use of similar artificial intelligence (AI) systems by too many securities firms and fund managers could lay the groundwork for future turbulence. He said in an interview that if market participants "all rely on the same model, algorithm, and data," there may be a financial crisis in the future.
Mortgage interest rates hit a two-year low. Industry insiders: Don't expect the US housing market to recover soon
On Wednesday Eastern Time, the Federal Reserve lowered its interest rate for the first time in four years, with a single significant cut of 50 basis points, lowering the benchmark interest rate from a 20-year high of 5.25% to 5.5% to a range of 4.75% to 5%. The latest data released earlier on the same day showed that US mortgage rates fell to their lowest level since September 2022 last week, and new home construction in August also reached its highest level in four months. But analysts warn that don't expect the Fed's interest rate cuts to continue lowering mortgage rates. At the same time, the US real estate market still faces other pressures and will not recover quickly with interest rate cuts.
US East Coast Freight Urgent! Dock workers may go on strike and protest starting in October
The East Coast of the United States and the Gulf of Mexico may experience a major strike starting from October 1st. At present, American retailers are preparing for the traditional promotional season, which includes the holiday seasons of Black Friday, Christmas, and New Year, and is the most critical three months of the fiscal year for American retailers. If the labor and management sides cannot reach an agreement by the end of this month, American retailers will face great difficulties in this important sales quarter. Several of the largest retail trading companies in the United States have warned that this could have a devastating impact on the US economy.
Company News
Contrary to Musk, employees of companies such as Tesla tend to support Harris!
As is well known, billionaire Elon Musk has publicly expressed his support for the Republican presidential candidate and former President Trump, but employees of his company have a different stance from him: they have donated more funds to Trump's opponent Harris. According to OpenSecrets, a non partisan non-profit organization that tracks campaign donations and lobbying data in the United States, Tesla employees donated $42824 to Harris' presidential campaign and $24840 to Trump's campaign.
Alibaba CEO Wu Yongming: Investing in AI research and infrastructure with unprecedented intensity
In the past 22 months, the speed of AI development has exceeded any historical period, but we are still in the early stages of AGI transformation On September 19th, Alibaba Group CEO Wu Yongming delivered a keynote speech at the 2024 Yunqi Conference, stating that the investment threshold for advanced models in the next stage is in the billions or even tens of billions of dollars. He pointed out that the rapid rise of generative AI is not about creating one or two new super apps on mobile screens, but about taking over the digital world and changing the physical world.
Musk announces that brain computer interfaces can help blind people regain sight
Recently, Neuralink, a brain computer interface company, announced that it has obtained the breakthrough medical device certification for the Blindsight project from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It is reported that the "Blind" project is used to help blind people restore their vision and regain sight. Medical devices that have been granted breakthrough certification can receive FDA support earlier, thereby accelerating their research and market approval process. These devices can typically treat or diagnose life-threatening illnesses.
Novo Nordisk responds to illegal online sales of metformin: actively supports the government in taking effective law enforcement actions
On September 18th, the website of the National Medical Products Administration announced four typical cases of illegal and irregular online sales of drugs (the sixth batch), including multiple cases of illegal sales of semaglutide or drugs containing semaglutide ingredients through the internet. As of now, Novo Nordisk has not sold Novo Nordisk on any online platforms (including e-commerce, social media, etc.), nor has it authorized or commissioned any third party to sell the drug on online platforms.
The EU hits hard again! Apple must open its operating system within 6 months, otherwise it may face huge fines
On Thursday (September 19th) local time, the European Union required Apple to open its iPhone and iPad operating systems to developers and competitors, otherwise it may face huge fines. Simply put, the EU requires Apple to improve the compatibility of its operating system with third-party devices and applications.