1. U.S. job openings unexpectedly hit three-month high in December
2. The global growth forecast for 2024 is raised to 3.1%! IMF says global economic "soft landing" is in sight
3. Apple analyst Ming-Chi Kuo "throws cold water": Shipments are expected to decline sharply by 15% this year
4. Is AI progress still lagging behind? Google’s Q4 ad revenue falls short of expectations
5. AMD's fourth-quarter revenue exceeds expectations, Q1 guidance is lower than expected
6. Microsoft's second-quarter revenue beats expectations, cloud business growth disappoints some investors

U.S. job openings unexpectedly hit three-month high in December

The Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS) released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics on Tuesday showed that the number of job openings increased to 9 million in December. The previous month's data was revised upward to 8.9 million, rising to the highest level in three months, highlighting the strength of the labor market. Performance. The December data topped the expectations of all economists surveyed by Bloomberg. But the decline in resignations suggests that workers are becoming more cautious even as demand for labor remains strong.

Interest rate swaps show chance of Fed rate cut in March drops to about one-third

Bond traders have trimmed their bets on a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in 2024, with the likelihood of a rate cut in March falling to about one-third after a U.S. job openings report highlighted a strong labor market. Traders also lowered their bets on a rate cut by the Federal Reserve in May, as well as on the extent of monetary policy easing during the year. On Tuesday, expectations for the Fed to ease fell to the lowest level since the last meeting in mid-December.

Related targets: $TLT , $TMF , $QQQ , $SQQQ , $TQQQ , $SPY

The global growth forecast for 2024 is raised to 3.1%! IMF says global economic "soft landing" is in sight

On Tuesday (January 30) local time, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) released its latest "World Economic Outlook" report. The agency believes that with inflation slowing and growth stabilizing, the global economy is on the path to a soft landing, but risks remain. In the latest report, the IMF raised its global growth forecast for 2024 to 3.1%, 0.2 percentage points higher than the 2.9% it forecast in October last year.

March interest rate cut is too early! BlackRock chief investment officer expects Fed to wait until May before acting

Rick Rieder, BlackRock's chief investment officer for global fixed income and head of its global allocation investment team, said that while the Fed may lower interest rates to achieve a "more neutral" stance on monetary policy, they are "in no rush to cut rates." Rieder believes a rate cut in March is too early. He said more data was needed to show a more pronounced decline in the economy than what was being seen so far.

JPMorgan strategist: The "Big Seven" and other monopolized U.S. stocks have a concentration level second only to that of the Internet bubble period

Quantitative strategists at JPMorgan Chase said that the dominance of the top ten stocks in the U.S. stock market has further strengthened recently and is increasingly similar to the "Internet bubble", a sign that increases the risk of a stock market sell-off. According to a report released by MSCI on December 29, 2023 last year, the top ten stocks are Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Nvidia and Google A, as well as Meta, Google C, Tesla, Broadcom and JPMorgan Chase, equivalent to the "Big Seven" "Bring Botong and Xiaomo.

Hong Kong’s first Nikkei 225 Index ETF will be listed on January 31

Hong Kong's first Nikkei 225 Index ETF - CSOP Nikkei 225 Index ETF will be listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange on January 31. This product has received an initial investment of US$13 million. It adopts a comprehensive replication strategy, with a listing price of approximately HK$78 per unit, a trading unit of 10 per lot, and a management fee of 0.99% of the fund's net value per year.

The three major U.S. stock indexes had mixed gains and losses on Tuesday, with the Dow hitting a record closing high for the seventh time this year. As of the close, the S&P 500 Index fell 0.06% to 4924.97 points; the Nasdaq Index fell 0.76% to 15509.9 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Index rose 0.35% to 38467.31 points. Earlier strong U.S. labor market data once again highlighted the resilience of the economy and raised questions about how soon the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates.

General Motors closed up 7.80%, with Q4 results exceeding expectations and earnings expected to improve in 2024; UPS fell 8.2%, saying 2023 will be difficult and disappointing. Popular Chinese concept stocks generally fell, with Weilai falling nearly 6%, Bilibili falling more than 4%, and Pinduoduo, Manbang, JD.com, and Xpeng Motors falling more than 3%.

Remark $MARK, an AI concept stock, once rose more than 330% during the session and closed up 264.43%. According to the news, as an application software developer, Remark has established a partnership with Microsoft Azure.

Microsoft, Google and AMD jointly released financial reports after the market closed. As Google's Q4 advertising revenue was lower than expected, it fell more than 5% after the market; Microsoft's financial report overall exceeded expectations, but the growth rate of its cloud business disappointed some investors, and it fell slightly after the market; AMD fell more than 5% after the market, ranking first Quarterly guidance fell short of expectations.

Apple's earnings report is about to be released, and Ming-Chi Kuo "throws cold water": shipments are expected to decline sharply by 15% this year

Tianfeng International analyst Ming-Chi Kuo's latest research report said that Apple has lowered its 2024 iPhone shipment forecast for key upstream semiconductor components to about 200 million units (a year-on-year decline of 15%). He believes that among the world's major mobile phone brands, Apple may have the largest decline in 2024, especially as shipments in the Chinese market continue to decline. Ming-Chi Kuo said that shipments of the iPhone 15 series and the new iPhone 16 series are expected to decline by 10-15% year-on-year in the first and second quarters of this year respectively. The reason for the significant decline is that the iPhone is facing "structural challenges."

Musk's $55 billion compensation package invalidated by court

According to the latest news before publication, a judge in Delaware, USA, ruled that Tesla’s huge option award package awarded to Musk in 2018 was unfair. Musk has already received all the rewards, with a total value of more than 55 billion US dollars. Judge McCormick wrote in the ruling that the plaintiff and defendant will negotiate on the form of a final order to implement this award and submit a joint letter identifying all issues, including costs, that need to be resolved in order to resolve the matter at the trial stage.

Is AI progress still lagging behind? Google’s Q4 ad revenue falls short of expectations

Google parent Alphabet reported strong fourth-quarter results, but the stock fell after the bell as revenue from its core search advertising business fell short of analysts' expectations. The financial report shows that Q4 revenue increased by 13% year-on-year to US$86.3 billion, which was higher than analyst forecasts and was the best quarter of revenue growth in seven years. Earnings per share were $1.64, compared with Wall Street expectations of $1.59. But Alphabet’s core search business revenue was $48 billion, slightly lower than analysts’ expectations of $48.15 billion.

Microsoft's second-quarter revenue beats expectations, cloud business growth disappoints some investors

Microsoft's quarterly revenue hit its largest increase since 2022, thanks to demand for artificial intelligence products. However, the growth rate of cloud business still disappoints some investors. In the second fiscal quarter, Microsoft achieved revenue of US$62.020 billion, an increase of 18% compared with the same period last year; net profit was US$21.870 billion, an increase of 33% compared with the same period last year; diluted earnings per share was US$2.93, an increase of 18% compared with the same period last year. A year-on-year increase of 33%. Microsoft's second-quarter adjusted earnings per share and revenue exceeded Wall Street analysts' expectations.

AMD's fourth-quarter revenue was US$6.168 billion, and its revenue outlook for the next quarter fell short of expectations.

AMD announced its fourth quarter 2023 results. The financial report shows that AMD’s fourth-quarter revenue was US$6.2 billion, a year-on-year increase of 10.7%, exceeding market expectations; net profit was US$667 million, compared with US$21 million in the same period last year; diluted earnings per share was US$0.41, compared with 0.01 in the same period last year. Dollar. In terms of performance outlook, AMD's revenue outlook for the first quarter of fiscal 2024 failed to meet analyst expectations.

Related targets: Related targets: $AVGO , $AMD , $INTC , $QCOM , $MU , $TXN , $NVDA

Starbucks first-quarter same-store sales growth lower than expected

Starbucks same-store sales in the first fiscal quarter increased by 5%, analysts expected a growth of 6.39%; first fiscal quarter net revenue was US$9.43 billion, analysts expected US$9.6 billion; US same-store sales in the first fiscal quarter increased by 5%, analysts expected 5.73%; adjusted earnings per share in the first fiscal quarter were $0.90, analysts expected $0.93.

Walmart announces 1-for-3 stock split

Walmart, the largest U.S. retailer, announced a 3-for-1 stock split after the bell on Tuesday, with the company’s stock price slightly below its all-time high. The company said the additional shares will be paid after the close of trading on February 23 to shareholders of record as of the previous day. Walmart stock will begin trading on a post-split basis on February 26. Walmart said it chose to split its shares in part to get more employees to participate in its stock purchase plan.

Lithium salt prices have dropped sharply, and Ganfeng Lithium's net profit may have fallen by about 70% last year.

Affected by the plunge in lithium salt prices, lithium mining-related companies will no longer be prosperous in 2023. On the evening of January 30, Ganfeng Lithium Industry released a performance forecast stating that the company's net profit attributable to the parent company in 2023 will be 4.2 billion-6.2 billion yuan, a year-on-year decrease of 69.76%-79.52%. In 2022, its revenue and net profit both surged, with net profit attributable to the parent company reaching 20.5 billion yuan that year, a year-on-year increase of 292%.

Huadian International Power Co. , Ltd.: Net profit is expected to be 4.15 billion to 4.98 billion yuan in 2023, a significant increase of 3478% to 4193% after the year-on-year restatement.

China Shenhua: Net profit is expected to be 62.7-65.7 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 9.9% to 14.0%.

Tianqi Lithium: Net profit is expected to drop by approximately 62.90%-72.56% year-on-year in 2023 to 6.62 billion-8.95 billion yuan.

Haitong Securities: Net profit is expected to be 918 million yuan-1.01 billion yuan in 2023, a year-on-year decrease of 84.57% to 85.97%. It plans to repurchase shares for 300 million yuan to 600 million yuan.

CanSino Biologics : It expects a loss of 1.269 billion yuan to 1.49 billion yuan in 2023, a loss of 909 million yuan in the same period last year.

US stock earnings report

Before the market

Novo Nordisk $NVO

Mastercard $MA

Thermo Fisher $TMO

Novartis Pharmaceuticals $NVS

Boeing $BA

Automatic Data Processing $ADP

United Microelectronics $UMC

after hours

Qualcomm $QCOM

New US stocks

BioLingus (Cayman) Ltd. $SUBL

FibroBiologics (Direct Listing) $FBLG

The above is today’s Washington Morning Post. Welcome to leave a message for discussion. I wish you good luck with your investment!

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