Overnight U.S. Stocks | All three major indices recorded gains this week, "big short" Michael Burry builds position in PDD

According to Zhitong Finance, all three major U.S. stock indices recorded gains this week, with the Dow Jones up 0.55%, the Nasdaq up 2.58%, and the S&P 500 index up 1.47%. Next Monday (February 17, 2025) is Presidents' Day in the United States, and the U.S. stock market will be closed, resuming trading on Tuesday.

【U.S. Stocks】 As of the close, the Dow Jones fell 165.35 points, a decrease of 0.37%, closing at 44,546.08 points; the Nasdaq rose 81.13 points, an increase of 0.41%, closing at 20,026.77 points; the S&P 500 index fell 0.44 points, a decrease of 0.01%, closing at 6,114.63 points. Nvidia's holding concept stock NEBIUS (NBIS.US) rose 6.69%, and WenYuan ZhiXing (WRD.US) rose 83.46%.

【European Stocks】 The German DAX30 index fell 101.02 points, a decrease of 0.45%, closing at 22,510.27 points; the UK FTSE 100 index fell 35.01 points, a decrease of 0.40%, closing at 8,729.71 points; the French CAC40 index rose 14.43 points, an increase of 0.18%, closing at 8,178.54 points; the Euro Stoxx 50 index fell 9.75 points, a decrease of 0.18%, closing at 5,490.75 points; the Spanish IBEX35 index rose 23.13 points, an increase of 0.18%, closing at 12,958.33 points; the Italian FTSE MIB index rose 73.95 points, an increase of 0.20%, closing at 37,982.00 points.

【Asia-Pacific Stock Markets】 The Nikkei 225 index fell 0.79%, the South Korean KOSPI index rose 0.31%, and the Indonesian Composite Index rose 0.38%.

【Cryptocurrency】 Bitcoin fluctuated little, priced at $97,121.37 per coin. Ethereum rose over 1.5%, priced at $2,716.74 per coin.

【Gold】 COMEX gold futures fell 1.76%, priced at $2,893.7 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 0.21% this week; COMEX silver futures fell 0.22%, priced at $32.655 per ounce, with a cumulative increase of 0.65% this week.

【U.S. Dollar】 On Friday's New York close, the dollar fell 0.32% against the yen, priced at 152.31 yen, with a cumulative increase of 0.62% this week. It fluctuated upward from Monday to Wednesday, reaching 154.80 yen on Wednesday, before giving back more than half of the gains on Thursday and Friday. The euro fell 0.08% against the yen, priced at 159.80 yen, with a cumulative increase of 2.19% this week, continuing to rise from Tuesday to Thursday, and fluctuating at a high level on Friday; the pound fell 0.14% against the yen, priced at 191.698 yen, with a cumulative increase of 2.10%.

【Macroeconomic News】

U.S. auto tariffs approaching, Trump says the time is around April 2. U.S. President Donald Trump stated that he will announce new auto tariff measures. "We will come around April 2 or before," Trump said to reporters in the Oval Office on Friday. Earlier this week, Trump announced the so-called reciprocal tariffs that would take effect as early as early April. He also threatened to impose additional tariffs on industries such as energy, semiconductors, and pharmaceuticals U.S. Retail Sales in January Experience Largest Decline in a Year. According to the latest data released by the U.S. Department of Commerce, retail sales in January 2025 unexpectedly fell by 0.9% month-on-month, while the data for the previous month, December 2024, showed a revised growth of 0.7%. The January data was far below the market expectation of -0.1% and marked the largest single-month decline since January 2024, indicating a significant drop in consumer spending after several months of fervent consumption at the end of 2024. Excluding auto sales, retail sales also showed a downward trend, decreasing by 0.4%.

Federal Reserve Official Logan: A Decrease in Inflation Does Not Guarantee Further Rate Cuts. Lorie Logan, President of the Dallas Federal Reserve Bank, urged policymakers to remain cautious in the coming months, reiterating that a decrease in inflation does not necessarily lead to further rate cuts. "Even if we do get better data — it does seem to be approaching 2% — I think we should be cautious," Logan said during a discussion in California on Friday. "Because if the labor market and the overall economy are strong, even in that environment, it doesn't necessarily mean there is room for further rate cuts." "The extent of the current monetary policy constraints is indeed questionable, so I think we need to be cautious," she stated on Friday. Logan indicated that officials could monitor future data. She said if policymakers see more data similar to the robust labor market and slowing inflation shown at the end of 2024, the central bank could say they are approaching a so-called soft landing. Logan emphasized that her focus remains on price stability and achieving the central bank's 2% inflation target.

Federal Reserve Overnight Reverse Repo Usage Falls to Lowest Level Since April 2021. The usage of the Federal Reserve's overnight reverse repurchase (RRP) agreements further declined on Friday, reaching the lowest level in nearly four years. On Friday, about 22 counterparties deposited $58.8 billion in RRP, the lowest since April 2021, down from $67.8 billion the previous trading day. The number of counterparties also hit the lowest level since May 2020.

Options Traders Bet $10 Million that 10-Year U.S. Treasury Yield Will Reach 5% in Next Five Weeks. Options traders are making significant bets that the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds will surge to 5% within the next five weeks. This latest bet means that if the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds rises by about 0.5 percentage points before the options expire, the bettors could earn up to $10 million, nearly ten times the premium paid. Similar bets (set to expire in a week) were made before the CPI data showed a spike in U.S. inflation for January. Although the trading volume pales in comparison to last week's bets exceeding 100,000 contracts, the target yield for this options bet is significantly higher.

[Individual Stock News]

"Big Short" Michael Burry Reduces Stake in Alibaba (BABA.US) & Builds Position in PDD (PDD.US). Michael Burry, the Wall Street prototype from the movie "The Big Short" and a highly watched hedge fund mogul, significantly reduced his stake in Alibaba in the fourth quarter and established a new position in PDD An analysis of the 13F filing of Scion Asset Management LLC found that the hedge fund reduced its holdings of 50,000 Alibaba ADRs by 25% at the end of last year; it bought 75,000 PDD ADRs; and its position in Baidu remained unchanged. As of the end of the fourth quarter, Chinese concept stocks accounted for approximately 53% of Burry's disclosed total holdings, down from 65% in the previous quarter