Breakfast | Powell says the Federal Reserve does not need to rush to cut interest rates! Tesla falls over 6%, Nvidia's five-day winning streak ends

Market Overview

Powell reiterated patience in interest rate cuts. After Powell's speech, the three major U.S. stock indices hit new daily lows, with the Dow Jones and S&P 500 narrowly closing up, while the Nasdaq and Chinese concept index retreated. Tesla fell over 6%, and Nvidia's five-day winning streak ended; Apple rose over 2%, Meta saw its 17th consecutive day of gains, setting a new record, and Intel closed up over 6%. The Chinese concept index fell over 1%, but Alibaba remained strong, closing up over 1%.

Specifically, Tesla recorded its largest single-day drop since December 18, 2024. Analysts at investment bank Stifel stated that Musk's leadership of the "Department of Government Efficiency" (DOGE) to cut U.S. government spending may begin to impact Tesla's car sales. Consumer sentiment towards Musk has dropped to near historic lows.

AMD fell 9.47%, showing a V-shaped movement after hours, initially dropping over 17%, then rising over 12%. Reports indicate that AMD has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Department of Justice and SEC due to accusations from short sellers, delaying its submission of the 10-Q report to the SEC, and is currently cooperating with related document requests. However, the company stated it can submit a corrected report to the SEC before the deadline.

Powell's First Day of Congressional Hearing: No Rush for Fed to Cut Rates, Law Prevents Trump from Dismissing Fed Governors

Powell stated that the economy remains strong, and the Fed hopes to continue making progress on lowering inflation, with no reason to rush into rate cuts. The policy is prepared to address risks and uncertainties; the labor market is not a major source of inflationary pressure; the neutral interest rate has risen significantly compared to pre-COVID levels; he believes the federal payment system is secure, and the Fed acts merely as a "proxy" for the Treasury in processing payments, assuring the safety of bank accounts across the U.S.; it is too early to assess the economic impact of tariffs, acknowledging that tariffs may drive up inflation.

"The New Federal Reserve News Agency": Powell summarized this year's Fed path as no rate cuts without progress on inflation reduction, and rate cuts if the economy slows significantly.

Media: Apple and Alibaba to Develop AI Features for Chinese iPhone Users

Reports citing informed sources indicate that Apple's goal is to find a Chinese partner capable of understanding requests from Chinese users based on personal data. Alibaba, as an e-commerce giant, possesses more personal data on Chinese consumers, such as shopping and payment habits, which is one of the reasons Apple decided to collaborate with Alibaba.

As a result, Apple rose over 2%, Alibaba rose 1.3%, and Baidu fell 4.7%.

"Trump-Musk" Combination Clearing Regulatory Hurdles for Tesla

The Trump administration is reshaping the regulatory framework from multiple angles: controlling key agencies like NHTSA through personnel appointments, abolishing regulatory measures of an executive order nature, and promoting the formulation of federal autonomous driving regulations—this aligns with Musk's public calls. This could deal a devastating blow to competitors.

OpenAI CEO: Willing to Collaborate with China, This is Important

On February 11, at the AI Action Summit in Paris, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman stated in response to a reporter's question, "I am willing to collaborate with China in the field of artificial intelligence and will do my utmost for this, as it is important." Altman stated that OpenAI is not for sale, and Musk's acquisition proposal is more of a strategic move to slow down competitors. He does not believe Musk's acquisition proposal is worth taking particularly seriously.

Vance's remarks boost sentiment as new processor benchmarks top the charts, Intel briefly surges nearly 11%

U.S. Vice President Vance stated that the Trump administration will ensure that the most advanced artificial intelligence hardware is manufactured in the United States. Additionally, the computer hardware benchmarking software PassMark recently updated its leaderboard, with Intel's Core Ultra 9 275HX successfully taking the top spot, surpassing AMD's Ryzen 9 7945HX3D, becoming the strongest laptop processor in terms of overall performance.

Apple launches its first headphones with heart rate monitoring feature, new Beats sports headphones equipped with H2 chip and support active noise cancellation

Analysts believe this is the first time heart rate monitoring has appeared in Apple-designed headphone products, marking Apple's further expansion into the health sector. Apple Vice President Oliver Schusser stated that the new Powerbeats are "the most amazing product in the history of the Beats brand."

Coca-Cola closes up nearly 5%

Coca-Cola saw both volume and price increase, with Q4 net revenue up 6% year-on-year, and comparable earnings per share up 12%, both exceeding expectations. Q4 net revenue reached $11.5 billion, higher than the expected $10.8 billion; comparable earnings per share were $0.55, above the estimated $0.52. Coca-Cola expects comparable earnings per share to grow by 2% to 3% in 2025.

BP briefly drops nearly 1%

Refining margins weighed down profits, with BP's Q4 profits plummeting, and annual profits falling below $9 billion. BP's Q4 profits fell 61% year-on-year, marking the lowest since Q4 2020, with annual profits dropping below $9 billion, below analysts' general expectations, primarily due to declining refining margins. The company expects refining margins to remain low in Q1 2025.

SMIC's revenue for the full year 2024 surpasses $8 billion for the first time

SMIC's Q4 revenue grew by 31%, but capacity utilization dropped to 85.5% due to expansion; Q4 net profit fell 13.5% year-on-year, mainly due to a decline in financial returns. Due to new capacity and the time required for corresponding capacity validation, the company's capacity utilization and shipment volume were both affected during the quarter.

BYD's H-shares hit a record high, beating Tesla's stock price this year

So far this year, BYD's stock price has risen over 20%, with a market capitalization of $132 billion, surpassing the combined total of Ford, GM, and Stellantis. In contrast, Tesla's stock price has fallen 13% during the same period, and BYD's valuation remains significantly lower than Tesla's.

Domestic capital supports Hong Kong stocks, buying frenzy of HKD 150 billion at the start of the year

On Monday, the trading volume through the Hong Kong Stock Connect accounted for nearly half of the total trading volume of Hong Kong stocks, with a net buying amount reaching HKD 16.5 billion, the highest level since early December. In just the first few weeks of this year, net inflows from southbound funds have approached HKD 150 billion (approximately $19.3 billion), more than seven times that of the same period in 2024

MSCI: Eight Stocks Including Jitu Express Added to MSCI China Index

MSCI: Eight stocks including Hengxuan Technology, Gongxiao Daji, Aotesi, and Jitu Express have been newly added to the MSCI China Index. Twenty stocks including Anjielin Food, Antu Biology, Huaxi Biology, Kailaiying, and Huayang Co., Ltd. have been removed.

Gucci Sales Plummet, Kering Group Performance Continues to Decline, Last Year's Profit Dropped 46%

Gucci's comparable sales in the fourth quarter of last year fell 24% year-on-year, exceeding analysts' expectations of a 22% decline. This result led to a significant drop of 46% in Kering Group's recurring operating profit for 2024 to €2.55 billion, the lowest since 2016.

US "High Inflation Whistleblower" Warns Again After Four Years: Inflation May Erupt, Fed's Current Rate Cut Cycle May End

Former US Treasury Secretary Summers warned that there is a risk of renewed price pressures in the US. The Fed's next move may be to raise interest rates rather than cut them, and there is a very real possibility of this happening. This is an especially dangerous time for any form of cost shock, any rhetoric that undermines inflation confidence, and any fiscally irresponsible measures