China Fund News reporter Zhao Xinyi
On December 22 (Thursday) Eastern Time, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed down. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell more than 800 points during the session. Economic data made investors worry that the Federal Reserve will maintain higher interest rates for a longer period of time.
American semiconductor giant Micron Technology performance is thundering! The quarterly profit and guidance were lower than expected and it announced that it would lay off 10% of its employees. The market was worried about the development prospects of the chip industry, and chip stocks fell across the board.
Tesla fell 9%! Musk , which has always implemented a "no discount" policy, suddenly provided discounts to North American Tesla customers and was questioned as a "price war." Tesla fell 11% during the session, the largest drop in eight months, and the total market value fell below 390 billion US dollars!
GDP data has reignited hawkish interest rate hike expectations
Well-known hedge fund managers tend to " short U.S. stocks"
The annualized GDP of the United States in the third quarter was significantly revised to 3.2% from the previous quarter, and hawkish interest rate hike expectations have revived. The U.S. Commerce Department said that the increase in GDP in the third quarter mainly reflected increases in exports, consumer spending, nonresidential fixed investment, state and local government spending, and federal government spending, which were partially offset by decreases in residential fixed investment and private inventory investment.
Media compiled the opinions of many industry insiders. Sam Stovall, chief investment strategist at CFRA Research, said that a series of latest data released on Thursday showed that the U.S. economy showed resilience, exacerbating market concerns that the Federal Reserve will adhere to a radical tightening path; Circle Squared Alternative Investments CEO Jeffrey Sica said: "Thursday's economic data shows that the Federal Reserve is very likely to maintain high interest rate policies for a longer time in the future."
David, a well-known hedge fund manager and founder of Appaloosa Management Company, said Tepper said: "I tend to be short the U.S. stock market. When so many people and so many central banks have made it clear what they will do next, the so-called up/down analysis makes no sense to me." After the third quarter GDP data was released, U.S. stock indexes opened lower across the board. After the well-known hedge fund manager's speech, the decline in U.S. stocks expanded.
The Dow closed down 348.99 points, or 1.05%, at 33027.49 points; the Nasdaq fell 233.25 points, or 2.18%, at 10476.12 points; the S&P 500 index fell 56.05 points, or 1.45%, at 3822.39 points.
Tesla’s year-end sales volume discounted in North America
Intraday market value fell to a two-year low
Popular technology stocks fell across the board, Tesla fell 8.88%, Microsoft fell 2.55%, Facebook fell 2.20%, Netflix fell 0.07%, Amazon fell 3.43%, Google fell 2.03%, Apple fell 2.38%.
Tesla fell nearly 9% on Thursday, once falling by more than 11% during the session, and its market value fell below US$390 billion, a new low since September 2020.
Tesla’s stock price has fallen by 61% in three years. Data from financial analysis company S3 Partners shows that investors shorting Tesla’s stock will receive a collective benefit of US$15 billion (approximately 104.7 billion yuan) in 2022.
Tesla’s official website shows that it will provide a discount of US$7,500 to US customers who purchase Model 3 or Model Y from December 21 to 31, and will also provide them with free super charging service up to 10,000 miles (approximately 16,000 kilometers). The discount for Canadian customers is US$5,000.
The U.S. Inflation Reduction Act will start on January 1 next year. Consumers who purchase electric vehicles that meet the standards and take delivery of the car after that time will receive incentives of up to $7,500.
This regulation makes most consumers hope to purchase cars after the New Year. However, Tesla does not allow buyers to postpone orders. This directly leads to an increase in the number of Tesla order cancellations.
data shows that in the first three quarters of this year, Tesla’s global sales were only 908,000 vehicles, still far from the target of 1.5 million.
Thunderstorms in the U.S. chip industry continue
Micron Technology's performance and guidance are lower than expected
After the U.S. stock market closed on Wednesday, U.S. semiconductor giant Micron Technology announced its first fiscal quarter results for fiscal year 2023. Key financial indicators and guidance for the next quarter were both lower than market expectations. At the same time, it announced that it would lay off 10% of its employees. The
financial report shows that during the reporting period, Micron Technology's revenue fell 47% year-on-year to US$4.085 billion, lower than market expectations of US$4.13 billion; net loss under GAAP was US$195 million, and diluted loss per share was US$0.18; non-GAAP net loss was US$39 million, diluted loss per share was US$0.04, and the loss was higher than the market average expectation of US$0.01. As of the end of the reporting period, the company's operating cash flow was US$943 million, compared with US$3.78 billion in the previous quarter and US$3.94 billion in the same period last year.
Micron Technology forecasts second-quarter revenue of approximately US$3.8 billion, lower than market expectations of US$3.88 billion, and lower than revenue in the first fiscal quarter; the company expects a non-GAAP loss per share of 62 cents in the second fiscal quarter, which is much higher than the market forecast of 29 cents.
Micron Technology President and CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said that the industry is experiencing the worst supply and demand imbalance in 13 years, and that by around the middle of 2023, customers' inventories will reach healthier levels and chipmakers' revenue will improve in the second half of the year. At the same time that
announced its financial report, Micron announced that it would lay off 10% of its employees. As of early September, the company had 48,000 employees, which means that about 5,000 employees will be laid off. After the release of
's financial report, Micron Technology fell 3.44% on Thursday.
Affected by the thunderous performance of Micron Technology, chip stocks collectively underperformed the market . The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell more than 6% in midday trading and closed down more than 4%. Ram Research fell 8.65%, Nvidia fell 7.04%, AMD fell 5.64%, Intel fell 3.21%, Qualcomm fell 3.41%.
Popular Chinese concept stocks mostly weakened
Popular Chinese concept stocks mostly weakened, Xpeng Motors fell by nearly 4%, NIO fell by more than 3%, BeiGene bucked the trend and rose by more than 6%, Qutoutiao rose by more than 5%.
Gold and U.S. oil fell 1%
The most actively traded February 2023 gold futures price in the New York Mercantile Exchange gold futures market fell by US$30.1 on the 22nd from the previous trading day, closing at US$1,795.3 per ounce, a decrease of 1.65%.
U.S. WTI crude oil futures ended lower on Thursday, ending three consecutive days of gains. The price of WTI crude oil futures for February delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 80 cents, or 1%, to close at $77.49 a barrel.
Some analysts said that WTI crude oil is still likely to record gains this week, driven by the reduction in U.S. crude oil inventories, increased fuel demand, and expectations that the U.S. government will soon replenish the Strategic Crude Oil Reserve (SPR).
Putin: Russia’s goal is to end the Russia-Ukraine conflict
According to CCTV News, on December 22, local time, Russian President Putin communicated with media representatives at the Kremlin and answered questions related to the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
On December 22, local time, Russian President Vladimir Putin communicated with media representatives in the Kremlin. Source: Vision China
Putin said that all conflicts will be resolved through negotiation in some way, and all parties to the conflict will negotiate sooner or later. Russia has never refused to negotiate. Putin also said that the increased combat tempo during special military operations led to combat losses. The goal of Russia is not to accelerate the Russia-Ukraine conflict, but to end it. Russia is committed to ending the conflict, and the sooner the better.
Regarding whether the United States is more involved in the situation in Ukraine, Putin said that this issue should be viewed more broadly and deeply. The United States has long been involved in this process and intervened in Soviet and post-Soviet space affairs.
Putin said that he will sign a presidential decree on December 26 or 27 to announce countermeasures in response to the West’s price ceiling on Russian oil .Putin said that the West's practice of setting a price ceiling for Russian seaborne oil exports has not caused any losses to the Russian oil and gas industry and enterprises. The sales price of Russian oil is roughly within the ceiling price set by the West. However, if unfriendly countries violate their obligations under the contract, Russia will consider whether to continue to perform the contract.
Putin also mentioned that he is expected to deliver a State of the Union address early next year.
Putin signed the presidential decree!
According to CCTV, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree on the 22nd, prohibiting Gazprom and its subsidiaries from conducting some business transactions with companies and individuals associated with countries that have unfriendly behavior towards Russia and its citizens before October 1, 2023.
Presidential Decree stipulates that if foreigners have ties to countries that have unfriendly behavior towards Russian legal persons and natural persons (including if foreigners have citizenship of these countries and their place of registration, main business activities or main place of profit are located in these unfriendly countries), or are controlled by the above-mentioned persons, some business transactions with Gazprom and its subsidiaries are prohibited. The prohibited business transactions of
mainly focus on the natural gas and condensate extracted from the Akimov sedimentary layer of the Urengoy oil and gas field, the natural gas extracted from the South Russian gas field, and the related mining services in the above two areas. The presidential decree requires the Russian government to determine the maximum prices and ceilings for the above-mentioned oil and gas products and extraction services within 10 days. If unfriendly foreign persons attempt to exceed the ceiling prices or ceilings, the business will be prohibited from execution before October 1, 2023.
Macron called on Europe to reduce its security dependence on the United States.
China News Service news. According to the US " Wall Street Journal " report on the 22nd, French President Macron called on Europe to reduce its security dependence on the United States. He made the comments as he returned to Paris from an international conference in Amman, Jordan, this week.
reported that Macron said that Europe needs to take a firmer stance within the NATO organization , reduce its dependence on the United States, and develop self-defense capabilities to ensure peace in the European region affected by the Ukraine crisis. He believes that developing European defense is not seeking to replace NATO . The
report quoted Macron as saying that a stronger Europe would allow the continent to become more autonomous within NATO, "within NATO, in cooperation with NATO, but not dependent on NATO." He believes that alliances should not be something I rely on, but something I should choose, and we must rethink our strategic autonomy.
Macron also pointed out that Europe needs to gain more autonomy in technology and defense capabilities. He expressed his support for ensuring Ukraine's defense and revealed the political and security situation after considering the Ukrainian crisis, pointing out that political stability and security in the Ukrainian region and Europe should be ensured. He believes that the newly constructed security guarantee applies to Ukraine and Russia’s neighboring countries such as Georgia, Azerbaijan, and Russia.
A bus fell off a cliff in India, killing 7 people and injuring 35 others. Modi mourned
Global Times reported that according to the "Indian Express" report on the 22nd, a bus falling off a cliff in India killed at least 7 people and injured 35 others. All the victims were girls between 14 and 17 years old. Indian Prime Minister Modi tweeted on the 21st local time to express condolences to the families of the victims.
Modi issued a message saying, "A tragic bus accident occurred in Noni district of Manipur, resulting in the death of people. My heart goes out to the families who lost their loved ones. I hope the injured recover soon. The Manipur government is providing all possible assistance to the affected people." At around 11 o'clock on December 21, two buses carrying high school students went to the valley for an outing, one of which mainly carried female students. According to officials, the driver of the bus lost control of the vehicle at a sharp turn without guardrails, and the vehicle eventually fell off a cliff. Five students died on the spot. After the accident, the state's education department banned schools from conducting excursions until January 10, 2023.
Manipur Chief Minister Singh announced a pension of 500,000 rupees (1 rupee is approximately 0.084 yuan) to the families of the victims, 100,000 rupees to each seriously injured person, and 50,000 rupees to each person with minor injuries. In addition, the government will bear the medical expenses of the injured.
Editor: Xiaomo
