6 Dec 2022

Last night, the three major U.S. stock indexes opened lower and moved lower, with the energy and financial sectors leading the decline. As of the close, the Dow fell 1.4%, the Nasdaq fell 1.93%, and the S&P fell 1.79%. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose 2.98% to close at 3.594%. Compared with the two-year Treasury bond yield, the difference was -81 basis points, the largest inversion since 1981. The panic index VIX rose 8.87%. Brent crude oil closed down 3.44%. Spot gold closed down 1.63% at $1,768.37 an ounce. The U.S. dollar index remained high, closing at 105.3.

The U.S. ISM non-manufacturing PMI rose to 56.5 in November (consensus was 53.5), and the business activity index rose to 64.7 from 55.7, all of which are reminders that the Fed's work is not done, especially as marginal inflationary pressures may come from services (or more precisely, the sector where inflationary pressures have receded the slowest right now is the services sector). In a risk-on world, this would naturally lead to an increase in hawkish bets on the Fed after the recent price swings, but it's unclear whether investors will have much incentive to sell assets after the initial price gap .

The U.S. November Markit services PMI final value was 46.2, expected 46.1, and the previous value was 46.1. The survey data provided a timely signal that the health of the U.S. economy is deteriorating markedly, with the downturn spreading across the economy, including manufacturing and services, in November. The survey data are broadly in line with the U.S. economy’s contraction in the fourth quarter of last year, at an annualized rate of about 1 percent, a decline that has intensified as the end of the year approaches. While some segments have rebounded, notably technology and healthcare, output in other sectors is falling amid rising costs of living, rising interest rates, weakening global demand and falling confidence. Hardest hit is the financial services industry, though demand for providers of in-person services to consumers has also plummeted as households tighten budgets. In an astonishing development, more and more companies are reporting that they are turning to discounting to help stimulate sales, pointing to a continued decline in inflation, possibly quite significantly, in the months ahead.

Saudi Arabia lowered the price of most oil sold to Asia in January to a premium of $3.25 per barrel, while cutting the price of most oil sold to Europe in January and leaving the price of oil sold to the United States unchanged in January. The Bank for International Settlements said: Off-balance-sheet reporting, foreign exchange swap positions reveal hidden dollar liabilities of more than $80 trillion. The British Railway Workers' Union has announced plans to hold a new round of strikes from December 24 to 27.

Apple fell 0.8%, and the delivery time of the iPhone 14 Pro series was shortened to 4-5 weeks at the earliest by two weeks; it is expected that the launch of the Apple XR headset will be delayed until 23H2, and the annual shipment will be less than 500,000 units.

Microsoft rose 1.89%. Microsoft President Smith said that he had issued a 10-year contract to Sony to allow the "Call of Duty" series of games to be updated simultaneously on PlayStation and Xbox.

Google fell 0.95%. New Zealand proposed legislation requiring Google, Meta, etc. to pay for local news.

Amazon fell 3.31%. According to Captify, American consumers searched more than 1 billion times for Wal-Mart’s Black Friday discount products, a year-on-year increase of 386%, surpassing Amazon. Amazon’s ranking fell from first last year to fourth this year, ranking No. After Walmart, Target and Kohls.

Tesla rose 6.37%. Tesla China refuted rumors that the Shanghai factory took the initiative to cut production by 20%; Tesla Shanghai Gigafactory delivered more than 100,000 vehicles in November, setting a new monthly delivery record; Musk said Apple "fully recovered" on Twitter Ad serving on .

Intel fell 0.82%, continuing to implement Moore's Law, aiming to achieve a single-chip integration of 1 trillion transistors in 2030, and plans to launch the GAA ring gate technology RibbonFET in 2024; at the same time, it plans to provide Irish employees with 3 months of unpaid leave to reduce costs. Fight the shrinking chip industry.

Toyota Motor fell 2.28%, and China's auto sales in November fell 18.4% year-on-year. Honda Motor fell 1.57%. In November, China's terminal car sales were 78,126 units, a year-on-year decrease of 42.8%.

Uber fell 3.65%, and self-driving technology company Aurora Innovation (AUR.O) will expand its self-driving pilot program in Texas to meet peak holiday delivery demand.

Pfizer fell 0.35%, and BioNTech SE (BNTX.O) submitted an emergency use authorization application for the Omicron BA.4/BA.5 adaptive bivalent new crown vaccine to the US FDA, applying for vaccination of children under 5 years old.

Sources from: Investing.com; Reuters.com

Louis Yap

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