On Friday, December 15, Eastern time, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed mixed, with all three major stock indexes recording their seventh consecutive week of gains, and the Dow hitting another intraday and closing all-time high. New York Fed President Williams stood up to "hawk" and suppressed market expectations for interest rate cuts.
LinkedIn, Microsoft's $27 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, a workplace social services platform, has shelved plans to migrate websites from physical servers to Microsoft's Azure cloud services.
WTI crude oil closed lower on Friday after market news said Danish shipping giant Maersk asked all its container ships to suspend Red Sea sailings.
The three major stock indexes recorded a seven-week winning streak, and Fed officials spoke intensively
Friday is the last "Four Witch Day" of the year, and U.S. stock index futures, stock index futures options, individual stock futures and stock options all expire on this day.
At the close, the Dow rose 0.15% to 37,305.16, continuing to hit a record high, the S&P 500 fell 0.01% to 4,719.19, and the Nasdaq rose 0.35% to 14,813.92.
The three major stock indexes had a strong week, with the Dow up 2.92%, the S&P 500 up 2.49%, and the Nasdaq up 2.85%. The S&P 500 has its longest weekly winning streak since 2017. The Dow Jones recorded its longest weekly winning streak since 2019.
U.S. Treasury yields fell sharply this week, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling below 4% this week and briefly topping 5% in October. When the yield on 10-year US Treasury bonds broke through 4%, the US "bond king" Gundlach issued a warning, which was an alert that the US economic outlook was not good.
On Friday, Fed member Williams, president of the New York Fed, said that there is no real discussion about cutting interest rates, focusing on whether interest rate policy is in the right position and not speculating on the direction of interest rates. The economy and inflation remain highly uncertain, and the Fed must be prepared to raise interest rates again if needed.
Atlanta Fed President Bostic has said that a rate cut is not imminent, but staff have been instructed to begin working on possible principles and thresholds to guide the rate cut process. Two 25bp rate cuts are expected in 2024, with the first coming "sometime" in Q3, provided that progress in inflation expectations continues.
Chicago Fed President Goolsbee said he did not rule out a rate cut at its March meeting next year. If the data is supportive, it will support a rate hike, but if inflation continues on its current path, a rate cut may be appropriate. Interest rates are expected to be lower than they are now next year, but not significantly.
AI security issues are highly valued
Technology stocks mostly rose, with Apple down 0.27%, Amazon up 1.73%, Netflix up 0.47%, Google up 0.5%, Facebook up 0.53%, and Microsoft up 1.31%.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said U.S. regulators will make AI and the threat it could pose a top priority in 2024.
The Japanese government is considering setting up an organization next year to explore the security aspects of artificial intelligence (AI), including the risk of civilian AI technology being diverted for military purposes, with the aim of improving its security without hindering research and development, the Financial Associated Press quoted Nikkei.
Wind news, Apple's current focus on the development of the iPad product line is mainly on the transition to OLED, and foldable products will be considered later. Apple doesn't have a specific timeline for the launch of the foldable iPad, and it's not the company's current development focus. Apple will launch the foldable iPhone before launching the foldable iPad.
LinkedIn, Microsoft's $27 billion acquisition of LinkedIn, a workplace social networking service, has put its website on hold from moving from a physical server to Microsoft's Azure cloud service. LinkedIn CTO Raghu Hiremagalur told R&D staff in June that the company would focus on expanding and innovating "local infrastructure," according to memos obtained by the media. A separate memo also shows that Microsoft and LinkedIn have agreed to suspend the use of LinkedIn on the Azure cloud.
Popular Chinese concept stocks were mixed
Popular Chinese concept stocks were mixed, Canaan Technology rose 10.34%, JD.com rose 4.46%, MINISO rose 3.68%, Zhiwen Group rose 3.47%, Daqo New Energy rose 2.95%, Alibaba rose 2.79%, JinkoSolar rose 2.34%, and BOSS Zhipin rose 2.17%.
In terms of declines, New Oriental fell 9.44%, Tuniu fell 7.69%, Lufax Holdings fell 7.37%, Zhihu fell 5.94%, and Shanda Technology fell 3.37%.
China's new energy vehicle stocks were mixed, with NIO up 1.53%, Xpeng down 7.53%, and Li Auto down 0.37%.
According to comprehensive media reports, SEC filings show that Alibaba plans to sell 25 million shares of Xpeng Motors.
WTI crude ended lower on Friday
Crude oil futures in New York closed lower on Friday, up about 0.3% for the week, the first weekly gain in seven straight weeks.
Crude oil futures for January delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 15 cents, or 0.21%, to settle at $71.43 a barrel. Based on the most active contract, the futures are up 0.28% for the week.
Danish shipping giant Maersk has asked all its container ships to suspend Red Sea voyages, according to market sources. (Compiled by Zhao Xinyi)
Editor: Xiao Mo
Review: Muyu