The latest news is coming from the situation in the Red Sea.
On December 26th local time, the UK Maritime Trade Action Office reported that shortly after the discovery of two drones, a ship sailing near the coast of Yemen reported two explosions in the Red Sea on the 26th. The explosion occurred in the Red Sea area about 80 kilometers away from the port of Hodeida on the west coast of Yemen, only 8 kilometers away from the aforementioned ship.
In addition, the Biden administration's chip program has been hit hard. The latest news is that Samsung Electronics has postponed production plans for a new chip factory located in Texas, USA. Previously, global chip giant TSMC also announced that its factory in Arizona, USA will postpone production from next year to 2025. Analysts point out that the unexpected announcement of delayed mass production by the two major chip giants is undoubtedly a significant blow to Biden's chip plan.
At the market level, the latest transaction by Cathie Wood, the female stock goddess on Wall Street, has attracted attention. On December 26th local time, according to Bloomberg, Wood bought a total of approximately 1.71 million shares of Japanese technology giant LY last Thursday and Friday, marking the first time in over a year. Industry insiders have pointed out that Wood's latest purchase of LY may be equally significant as Buffett's strategy to increase his holdings in Japanese stocks.
Red Sea Outbreak
On December 26th local time, Reuters reported that the UK Maritime Trade Action Office reported that shortly after discovering two drones, a ship sailing near the coast of Yemen reported on the 26th that two explosions had occurred in the Red Sea.
According to reports, the UK Maritime Trade Action Office stated in a notice that the explosion occurred in the Red Sea area, approximately 80 kilometers from the port of Hodeida on the west coast of Yemen, and only 8 kilometers from the aforementioned ship.
The identity of this ship, detailed information on the cargo on board, and the location of its departure or departure have not been publicly disclosed.
According to reports, the UK Maritime Trade Operations Office stated that the ship is in contact with the coalition forces, and it is reported that both the ship and crew are safe.
The report pointed out that a week before this incident, the United States announced a multi country maritime security initiative in the Red Sea to respond to attacks on ships by the Yemeni Housa organization.
According to CCTV News on December 25th, despite the high-profile announcement by the United States that 20 countries have joined the so-called "Red Sea Escort Alliance," Spain, Italy, and France have all clearly stated their unwillingness to act under the leadership of the United States so far. Most of the remaining countries are only willing to symbolically send a small number of personnel to participate, and at least 8 countries require anonymity.
Since October this year, the Husai organization has launched attacks on commercial ships sailing in the Red Sea. The organization claims that this is in solidarity with the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip who have been besieged by Israel.
The Hussein organization said its targets are ships associated with Israel and ships bound for Israel, and warned shipping companies not to deal with Israeli ports. As a result, several global shipping giants have urgently suspended their business via the Red Sea route and instead diverted to the Cape of Good Hope in Africa.
According to the report, the Hussein organization has vowed to continue its attacks until Israel stops the war. The Hussein organization also warned that if the organization is attacked, it will launch an attack on US warships. If the United States and its allies continue their provocative behavior, the Red Sea will become a battlefield.
Affected by the tense situation in the Red Sea, shipping futures prices have once again skyrocketed. On December 26th, the main futures contract 2404 of the consolidation index (European line) rose to the limit again, with a rise of 16.99% to 1498.7 points. The cumulative increase in December expanded to 82.23%.
The Biden chip project has been severely impacted
On December 26th, according to the Seoul Economic Daily, Samsung Electronics postponed its production plan for a new chip factory located in Texas, USA. This may have dealt another major blow to the Biden administration's ambition to increase domestic semiconductor supply.
According to reports, Choi Siyoung, President of Samsung's foundry business, stated at an industry event held in San Francisco that it is expected that Samsung Electronics' $17 billion wafer fab in Texas will begin mass production in 2025. When initially announcing investment in building the factory, Samsung Electronics stated that it would enter production in the second half of 2024.
Additionally, according to a spokesperson, Samsung Electronics is currently unable to confirm the production schedule.
Before Samsung Electronics, global chip giant TSMC also announced that due to a lack of experienced construction workers and equipment installers, the production date of its factory in Arizona, USA will be postponed from next year to 2025.
Analysts point out that the unexpected announcement of delayed mass production by the two major chip giants is undoubtedly a significant blow to Biden's chip plan.
Due to global chip supply chain issues in 2021, the US market experienced a chip shortage, resulting in economic losses of hundreds of billions of dollars. Afterwards, the White House was determined to increase domestic chip production in the United States, vigorously promoting global semiconductor companies to build factories in the United States, and promised them generous subsidies.
However, industry insiders speculate that Samsung Electronics' announcement of postponing the mass production of its US chip factories may be related to the delay in US policy subsidies.
The Biden administration has promised to provide a total of $52.7 billion (approximately RMB 380 billion) in subsidies to companies building semiconductor factories in the United States. Recently, it was reported that the United States has provided $4 billion in subsidies to Intel, sparking speculation in the market about the priority of US government subsidies.
Meanwhile, the US government's building permit process is also considered one of the important factors causing production delays for the two major chip giants. Samsung Electronics announcing a delay in mass production may be a wait-and-see strategy.
It is worth mentioning that TSMC and Samsung Electronics have postponed production plans or intend to delay the production capacity of new factories until after the US election, which may weaken the effect of Biden's use of chip plans for election campaigning.
The "female stock god" suddenly takes action
On December 26th local time, according to Bloomberg, Cathie Wood, known as the "Goddess of Wall Street", bought stocks of Japanese tech giant LY last week, marking the first time in over a year. This indicates that her view of LY may be becoming more positive.
According to daily trading data compiled by Bloomberg's Ark Investment Management LLC, Wood's ARK Fintech Innovation ETF (ARKF) purchased a total of approximately 1.71 million LY shares last Thursday and Friday, with an average purchase amount of approximately 830 million yen. As of September this year, ARK has reduced its holdings of the stock for four consecutive quarters.
As of the close on December 26th, LY's stock price has risen by 2.5%, with a year-on-year increase of 46.1%. The latest total market value is approximately 3.63 trillion yen (approximately RMB 182 billion).
LY Corporation, formerly known as Z Holdings Corporation, is the parent company of Yahoo Japan. In October 2023, Z Holdings Corporation merged with LINE and was later renamed LY. The majority of its equity is held by a joint venture between SoftBank Group of Japan and Naver Group of South Korea.
Among them, LINE is a well-known mobile communication application in Japan, known as the "Japanese version of WeChat"; Yahoo! JAPAN is one of the main search engines in Japan and consistently ranks among the top search engines and portal websites in Japan.
Since Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway Company significantly increased its holdings in the five major Japanese companies in April this year, the momentum of foreign investors buying Japanese stocks has been continuously increasing.
Industry insiders have pointed out that although the layout varies, Wood's latest purchase of LY may be equally significant as Buffett's strategy of increasing his holdings in Japanese stocks.
Kathy Wood has a more aggressive investment style and continues to bet heavily on emerging technology tracks. She has allocated a large amount of Tesla stocks through Ark Innovation ETF (ARKK) and Ark Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW).
Since 2023, US technology stocks have continued to soar, with Casey Wood's investment performance particularly impressive.
Wood's flagship fund, ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), has seen a cumulative increase of nearly 70% this year, recovering a significant amount of lost ground after a sharp decline in 2022.
In addition, Wood's ARK Next Generation Internet ETF (ARKW) has seen an even more astonishing increase of 98.4% this year, successfully seizing the bull market in popular tracks such as artificial intelligence and cryptocurrencies.