This week's heavy schedule: "Super Central Bank Week" led by China, the US, and Japan, China's February economic data, State Council Information Office's consumption promotion press conference, NVIDIA and Huawei press conference, Tencent, Pinduoduo, and Xiaomi financial reports

Highlights of Major Financial Events from March 17 to March 23, all in Beijing Time:

In terms of major events, "Super Central Bank Week" begins, with a focus on the Federal Reserve, the Bank of Japan, and the Bank of England's decisions. The People's Bank of China will also announce the latest 1/5-year LPR quotes; the State Council Information Office will hold a press conference on boosting consumption; the German Bundestag will conduct the second and third readings of a constitutional amendment draft for a large-scale fiscal expansion plan; NVIDIA will hold its Global Developer Conference (GTC), where Jensen Huang will deliver a keynote speech; Huawei will host the Pura Pioneer Ceremony and the HarmonyOS Smart Mobility product launch.

In terms of data, China will release economic data including industrial value added above designated size, retail sales, and housing price data for 70 cities; in terms of earnings reports, attention will be on Tencent Holdings, Pinduoduo, Xiaomi Group, Kingsoft, XPeng, Nio, and Miniso.

China, the U.S., and Japan Lead "Super Central Bank Week," with "Caution" as the Main Tone

Next week, global markets will welcome the highly anticipated "Super Central Bank Week," during which up to 25 central banks will announce their latest policy rates. The U.S., Japan, and the U.K. central banks will take center stage, and China will also announce the latest LPR quotes. Under the shadow of Trump's tariff policy, "caution" has become the main tone of this round of "Super Central Bank Week," with "wait-and-see" as the keyword.

Among them, the Federal Reserve will announce its March interest rate decision early Thursday morning. A Bloomberg survey shows that the Federal Reserve is expected to keep the federal funds rate unchanged at 4.25%-4.5%, and Chairman Jerome Powell may continue the "patience" stance of "no need to rush to act" since the January meeting.

Morgan Stanley believes that the future direction of monetary policy will depend on policy choices yet to be made and their cumulative effects, so the Federal Reserve will not rush to act.

The Bank of Japan will announce its interest rate decision on Wednesday morning. The market generally expects the Bank of Japan to keep rates unchanged to assess the impact of its January rate hike, with the focus on whether the continued weakness of the yen, high inflation, and strong wage growth will open the door for a rate hike in May.

In addition, several central banks, including the Bank of England, the Swiss National Bank, the Swedish Riksbank, the South African Reserve Bank, and the Central Bank of Russia, are expected to remain on hold and maintain current interest rate levels.

Domestically, at 9 a.m. on Thursday, the People's Bank of China will authorize the National Interbank Funding Center to announce the 1/5-year Loan Market Quote Rate (LPR). The February quotes were: 1-year LPR at 3.1%, and 5-year LPR at 3.6%. The LPR has remained unchanged for four consecutive months.

NVIDIA GTC Conference, Focus on Blackwell, Rubin, CPO, Robotics...

From March 17 to 21, NVIDIA will hold the 2025 Global AI Conference GTC for developers. According to JP Morgan's latest forward-looking report, highlights include:

• NVIDIA will launch the Blackwell Ultra chip (GB300) at the conference, which is expected to be 50% higher in FP4 computing performance compared to the B200;
• More details about the next-generation AI chip platform Rubin have been revealed, with mass production potentially advancing to the end of 2025 or early 2026;
• A comprehensive upgrade of AI hardware, including higher-performance GPUs, HBM memory, stronger cooling and power management, as well as a roadmap for CPO (Co-Packaged Optics) technology;
• There is a significant increase in attention towards humanoid robots and physical AI.

Germany's "Fiscal Rocket Launcher," Just a Step Away

The leader of the German conservative camp, Merz, has reached a preliminary agreement with the Green Party on a debt financing plan for defense and infrastructure spending, with parliament set to vote on the new agreement on Tuesday.

Recently, the German government has been pushing for a constitutional amendment to remove the debt limit for defense and establish a €500 billion infrastructure fund. Merz and his coalition party, along with the Social Democratic Party, are racing against time to approve this debt financing plan in the current parliament before the new parliament convenes on March 25.

The preliminary agreement clearly states that the scale of the special infrastructure fund is €500 billion, which will be specifically used for new projects, with €100 billion allocated to the government's existing climate and transformation fund.

China's February Economic Report and Housing Price Data

On March 17, Monday, the National Bureau of Statistics of China will release economic data for January-February, including industrial added value above designated size, retail consumption, real estate development investment, urban fixed asset investment, and unemployment rate.

Huatai Securities expects that the cumulative year-on-year growth rate of industrial added value above designated size for the first two months may slightly decline from 6.2% in December last year to around 6%; it is expected that the year-on-year growth rate of total retail sales of consumer goods for the first two months may increase from 3.7% in December last year to 4%; the cumulative growth rate of fixed asset investment for the first two months may slightly slow down from 3.2% in December last year to 3%, with manufacturing investment showing a year-on-year increase, a slowdown in the decline of real estate investment, but a deceleration in infrastructure investment. A year-on-year rebound in exports may drive relatively strong manufacturing investment. In terms of real estate, the transaction area of commercial housing in 30 major and medium-sized cities in the first two months of this year has increased by about 3% year-on-year, indicating some stabilization in the real estate cycle.

At the same time, the National Bureau of Statistics will release the monthly report on the sales price index of commercial residential buildings in 70 major and medium-sized cities for February 2025. Previous data showed that in January 2025, the sales prices of commercial residential buildings in first-tier cities continued to rise month-on-month, while second- and third-tier cities saw a slight overall decline; the year-on-year decline in first, second, and third-tier cities continued to narrow.

Tencent, Pinduoduo, Xiaomi Financial Reports

Tencent will release its fourth-quarter financial report for 2024 on March 19. A Bloomberg survey shows that analysts expect Tencent's Q4 revenue to be ¥167.93 billion, a year-on-year increase of 9%, with adjusted net profit of ¥54.37 billion, a year-on-year increase of 21%. This financial report will focus on capital expenditures.

In terms of gaming, "Delta Force" continues to perform strongly, with overseas game business accounting for nearly half of domestic business, and Tencent's cash cow Supercell delivering its best annual performance. In social networking and marketing services, mini-game data is impressive, and video accounts and mini-programs may become new growth engines, with the WeChat mini-store merchant ecosystem gradually being established, and demand from advertisers in the broader e-commerce industry expected to increase. In terms of AI technology implementation, both B and C sides are advancing simultaneously, with 700 business and scenario integrations into the mixed Yuan model, and the release of the AI intelligent workstation ima.copilot, along with the open-source mixed Yuan model's text-to-video capabilitiesXiaomi Group will announce its fourth-quarter financial report on Wednesday, the 18th. CITIC Securities expects the company to achieve rapid growth in revenue and profit.

The company is expected to have a 13% smartphone market share in Q4 2024, maintaining its position as the third largest globally, with a significant increase in domestic share to 16%, driving rapid growth in revenue from smartphones and the internet. Based on the strong performance of major appliances, tablets, wearables, and the support from national subsidies, the company's IoT revenue and gross margin are also performing strongly. Additionally, the company's automotive deliveries in Q4 2024 are expected to see a substantial quarter-on-quarter increase, with anticipated good performance in both revenue and gross margin.

Pinduoduo is expected to release its Q4 and annual financial report before the US stock market opens on the 20th, focusing on the company's progress in the e-commerce AI large model layout.

Other Important Data, Meetings, and Events

The State Council Information Office will hold a press conference on boosting consumption

The State Council Information Office will hold a press conference at 3 PM on March 17, 2025 (Monday), where Li Chunlin, Deputy Director of the National Development and Reform Commission, along with relevant officials from the Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, Ministry of Commerce, People's Bank of China, and State Administration for Market Regulation, will introduce the situation regarding boosting consumption and answer reporters' questions.

China Development Forum 2025 Annual Meeting

From March 23 to 24, the China Development Forum 2025 Annual Meeting will be held in Beijing, with the theme "Fully Releasing Development Momentum and Promoting Stable Global Economic Growth." The annual meeting will hold 12 thematic seminars focusing on macro policies and economic growth, reforms to stimulate new growth momentum, boosting consumption and expanding domestic demand, leading new quality productivity development through technological innovation, and inclusive development of artificial intelligence.

A new round of fuel price adjustment window will open

At 24:00 on March 19, the domestic new round of retail price adjustment window for refined oil will open. Since 2025, China has experienced five rounds of adjustments in refined oil prices, including two increases, two decreases, and one unchanged.

According to Jinlianchuang's calculations, as of March 14, the average price of the referenced crude oil varieties was $67.02 per barrel, with a change rate of -6.68%, corresponding to a domestic gasoline and diesel retail price reduction of 320 yuan per ton.

BYD will hold a Super e-Platform technology launch event, introducing 1000V ultra-high voltage fast charging

On March 17, BYD will hold a Super e-Platform technology launch event at its global headquarters in Shenzhen, where it will release the 1000V ultra-high voltage fast charging technology, which is planned to be equipped on models such as Han L and Tang L, and will gradually be promoted to other models. BYD also stated that the Super e-Platform will use disruptive technology to completely solve the biggest pain points of electric vehicle usage, creating an ultimate experience for users' electric travel and leading the future trend of electrification.

ZEEKR Intelligent Driving Launch Event

On March 18, the ZEEKR Intelligent Driving launch event will be held, expected to introduce the ZEEKR Vast Intelligent Driving 2.0 full-scenario intelligent driving navigation function from parking space to vehicle.

Huawei Pura Pioneer Ceremony and HarmonyOS Smart Travel New Product Launch Event

On March 20 at 14:30, Huawei will hold the Huawei Pura Pioneer Ceremony and HarmonyOS Smart Travel New Product Launch Event, introducing the first new form of device equipped with the native HarmonyOS official version. Richard Yu, Executive Director, Chairman of the Terminal BG, and Chairman of the Intelligent Automotive Solutions BU, revealed that multiple heavyweight products will be unveiled that dayHuawei China Partner Conference

From March 20 to 21, Huawei will hold the "Huawei China Partner Conference 2025" in Shenzhen, themed "Born from Gathering, Wisdom in Action."

Tencent Hunyuan 3D Open Source Day

Tencent Hunyuan's official public account announced that from March 18 to 19, it will be Tencent Hunyuan 3D Open Source Day.

2025 Shanghai Auto Culture Festival to Open

From March 21 to April 25, the 2025 Shanghai Auto Culture Festival will be held in Jiading District, Shanghai. The theme of this year's Auto Culture Festival is "Shanghai Jia Speed," with plans to launch opening ceremony activities, "World Speed," "Shanghai Window," "Jiading Gathering," four major sections, and 25 F1·JIA (F1 + Jiading) festival integration brand series activities.

2025 All-Solid-State Battery Technology Exchange Conference

The 2025 All-Solid-State Battery Technology Exchange Conference and the First Dry Electrode Technology Seminar will be held from March 18 to 19, 2025, in Bengbu, Anhui.

2025 High-Quality Development Conference on Mergers and Acquisitions and Restructuring

On March 21, the 2025 High-Quality Development Conference on Mergers and Acquisitions and Restructuring will be held in Zhengzhou, Henan Province. The conference aims to further implement Henan Province's "Four Highs and Four Priorities" strategic deployment, actively integrate into the national unified market, and promote the province's industrial transformation and upgrading and high-quality development of the capital market.

International Olympic Committee to Elect New President

On March 20, the International Olympic Committee will elect a new president in Costa Navarino, Greece, to succeed the current president Bach, who will resign in June this year.

Global Game Developers Conference

The 2025 Global Developers Conference (GDC) will be held from March 18 to 21 in San Francisco, where significant content related to AI games may be released