9 Dec 2022

• Last night, the three major U.S. stock indexes continued to fluctuate, semiconductors led the market, and Chinese concept stocks performed strongly. As of the close, the Dow rose 0.55%, the Nasdaq rose 1.13%, and the S&P rose 0.75%. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond fell 1.96% to close at 3.486%, which is -83 basis points over the yield on the two-year Treasury bond. The panic index VIX fell 1.72%. Brent crude oil closed down 1.25%. During the session, the Keystone oil pipeline on the U.S.-Canada border was closed due to a leak, pushing the two oils to continue to rise. Spot gold closed up 0.19% at $1,789.48 an ounce. The U.S. dollar index remained high, closing at 104.81.
• Continuing claims for unemployment benefits in the U.S., which includes people who have been receiving unemployment benefits for a week or more, rose by 62,000 to 1.7 million in the week ended Nov. In tentative signs of cooling, unemployed Americans are having a harder time finding new jobs. This data can fluctuate from week to week, especially around holidays. The four-week average of initial jobless claims for the week that smoothed out the volatility rose to 230,000, compared with 230,000 expected and 225,000 previously. U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen said: I believe the U.S. can avoid a recession because we have not seen a wage-price spiral and supply chain bottlenecks have begun to ease. The Atlanta Fed's wage growth tracking model shows that hourly wages for all U.S. workers rose 6.4% year-on-year in November (the same as in October), but the growth rate of job-hopping workers rose from 7.6% to 8.1%.
• On the Russia-Ukraine conflict front, Russian oil loading in December was hampered by a storm, with two tankers arriving at the port of Novorossiysk ahead of the price cap being implemented without loading due to the storm. Six EU countries, including Germany and the Netherlands, have set a red line for EU natural gas price ceilings. EU member states have formally approved Croatia's entry into the Schengen area, while Romania and Bulgaria have yet to do so. The U.S. House of Representatives voted 350 to 80 to pass a record $858 billion defense spending bill for 2023, which will go to the Senate for a vote.
• Traders trimmed bets on the Bank of England's interest rate hike, predicting a cumulative increase of less than 100 basis points by next February. UK Chancellor of the Exchequer Hunt will meet North Sea oil and gas producers on Friday to discuss expanding a windfall tax for the industry. The meeting will include representatives from oil majors Shell, BP, Total Energy and independent companies including Harbor Energy and Neptune Energy Group Ltd. The United Kingdom approved the new crown vaccine for infants aged 6 months to 4 years, and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the updated (bivalent) new crown virus vaccine for children under 6 months old.
• Apple rose 1.21%, planning to adopt a new encryption system to resist hackers and protect iCloud data.
• Microsoft rose 1.24%. The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is said to be prosecuting Microsoft over the acquisition of Activision Blizzard as soon as today, and will hold a hearing on the acquisition in August 2023.
• Tesla fell 0.34%. It was rumored that Twitter would increase the price of the Blue V certification for Apple iPhone users. The wholesale sales of Chinese-made cars in November were 100,291, a month-on-month increase of 39.9%.
• Meta rose 1.23%. Meta VR headsets were approved to be sold in Germany, and Facebook account binding was canceled according to antitrust requirements; big-name advertisers such as Pfizer have withdrawn from Twitter, and Snap is expected to undertake advertising.
• ExxonMobil rose 0.74%, raised its 2023 capital expenditure guidance to 23 billion-25 billion US dollars to reduce carbon emissions, and announced that it will increase its share repurchase plan to 50 billion US dollars before 2024, including 15 billion US dollars in 2022, which is expected to be 2022 Approximately $30 billion will be distributed to shareholders this year through buybacks and dividends.
• Nvidia rose 6.51%, Deutsche Bank and Nvidia cooperated to embed artificial intelligence into financial services

Sources from: Investing.com; Reuters.com

Louis Yap

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