14 Nov 2022

Last night, the three major U.S. stock indexes fluctuated higher, with WSB concept stocks, cruise stocks, and semiconductor stocks among the top gainers, while a few sectors such as education stocks and vaccine stocks fell. As of the close, the Dow rose 0.1%, the Nasdaq rose 1.88%, and the S&P rose 0.92%. The bond market was closed, and the VIX, the fear index, fell 4.29%. Brent crude closed up 2.8%. Spot gold closed up 0.89% at $1,771.3 an ounce. The dollar index remained high, closing at 106.41.

The U.S. University of Michigan consumer confidence index recorded 54.7 in November, 59.5 was expected, and the previous value was 59.9. Consumer confidence fell about 9% from October, erasing about half of the gains since an all-time low hit in June. All segments of the index were down from the previous month, but purchases of durable goods fell the most sharply in November, down 21% on the back of high interest rates and persistently high prices. Overall, people of different ages, education levels, incomes, geographies and political affiliations saw different levels of confidence declines, suggesting that the recent improvement in confidence was temporary. Unstable market sentiment is likely to persist, reflecting global influences and uncertainty about the final outcome of the midterm elections.

FTX has begun bankruptcy proceedings in the U.S. and Bankman has resigned as CEO. Ray, the new CEO of FTX, said that the company will be restructured with the assistance of ALVAREZ, SULLIVAN and CROMWELL. According to Coindesk: FTX US stopped processing withdrawals at noon local time on Friday.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen said that the Fed has made it clear that it will continue to raise interest rates, and the future path of monetary policy depends on the Fed. Fed Collins also expects the Fed to raise interest rates further, and it is too early to call a peak. The European Commission expects euro zone GDP to grow by 3.2% in 2022, slowing to 0.3% in 2023 and accelerating to 1.5% in 2024. According to the National Institute for Economic and Social Research (NISER), interest rates need to rise to 4.75% to bring inflation back to the Bank of England's target within three years.

Bank of England Governor Bailey said more rate hikes are likely in the coming months. Bank of England member Haskell also voted for a sharp rate hike to address upside risks. ECB Governing Council member Hernandez de Cos said a recession was more likely than in September. The fact that the ECB raised rates by 75 basis points at its last meeting does not mean that the ECB will take a similar rate hike at its next meeting. A start date for quantitative tightening is likely to be announced at the December meeting, where targeted longer-term refinancing operations (TLTROs) will be adjusted to begin shrinking the balance sheet.

According to TASS: The withdrawal of troops from the West Bank of Dnipro has been completed, the Russian Defense Ministry said. The Kherson Antonovsky Bridge has been blown up. It is reported that the Antonovsky Bridge is one of the most important passages controlled by the Russian army connecting the two banks of the Dnieper River, and it is also the fastest route from Kherson to the Russian army-controlled area on the left bank of the Dnieper River. The Kremlin said the goals of the "special military operation" could be achieved through peace talks. According to Interfax: Russia will impose a 23.5% export tax on fertilizers and will set a price limit of $450 per ton for fertilizer exports. The London Metal Exchange (LME) has decided to lift the ban on Russian metals.

Apple rose 1.93% as Apple supplier Foxconn plans to increase the number of employees at its factories in southern India to 70,000 by adding 53,000 workers over the next two years.

Google rose 2.72%, making a major concession: allowing Spotify and Bumble to charge US users within the app.

Amazon rose 4.31% as it plans to cut off its nonprofit unit and is closely evaluating its Alexa business for smart speakers.

Tesla rose 2.75%, canceled solar projects on a large scale, and reduced department personnel; Twitter has suspended the release of Twitter Blue, Musk said that he is not sure how Twitter is operating, and said "bankruptcy is not impossible. ”, while warning that Twitter could lose billions of dollars next year.

Meta rose 1.03% after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he did not plan to significantly increase the number of employees in the Reality Labs division in the future.

Sony rose 3.22%, and will build a chip factory in Thailand.

TSMC rose 4.22%. President Wei Zhejia said that the 7-nanometer plant in Kaohsiung will only be temporarily delayed and will not change the process. After 28 nanometers, production will be expanded. Qualcomm rose 0.62%, and the 5G millimeter wave independent networking performance was verified, which can meet the needs of commercial deployment in China.

Boeing fell 0.05%, with Southeast Asia flights up more than 50% in 2022 compared to 2019.

Sources from: Investing.com; Reuters.com

Louis Yap

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