20 Dec 2022

• Last night, the three major U.S. stock indexes collectively closed lower, and most sectors such as cruise stocks and airline stocks performed weakly. As of the close, the Dow fell 0.49%, the Nasdaq fell 1.49%, and the S&P fell 0.9%. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury bond rose 2.751% to close at 3.586%, a difference of -68 basis points compared to the yield on the two-year Treasury bond. The panic index VIX fell 0.88%, Brent crude oil closed up 1.24%, and spot gold closed down 0.3% to $1,793.16 per ounce. The U.S. dollar index remained high, closing at 104.67.
• The EU gas price cap agreement was reached, capping gas prices at €180 per megawatt-hour. Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) said in response that the EU gas price ceiling endangers financial stability. The details of the EU gas price cap and its feasibility will be examined. Rostec has increased the supply of certain types of weapons to special military operations zones dozens of times.
• Global crude oil production fell by 228,000 bpd in October due to production cuts by Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States, the International Energy Forum (IEF) said. Citigroup said: OPEC + production cuts and the US replenishment of the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) may provide oil prices with a "soft floor price" of US$70/barrel. According to the Russian Federal Customs Service: Russia's energy export revenues increased by 24% in 11 months to $36 billion. Qatar expects oil prices to be $65 a barrel in 2023, up from $55 a barrel this year.
• The NAHB housing market index in the United States recorded 31 in December, the lowest since April 2020. According to agency analysis: The confidence of home builders is about to fall below the lows during the new crown epidemic. The 30-year fixed mortgage rate has fallen to 6.31% from a peak of 7.08%, according to Freddie Mac, so that may start to attract some buyers, although they will crave sub-3% rates starting in 2021. On a larger scale, there has been some impasse between buyers and sellers as transaction volumes have fallen sharply. The longer interest rates stay high, the more pressure will be on the sellers.
• Apple fell 1.59%. It is reported that Apple plans to release new 14-inch and 16-inch MacBook Pro models equipped with M2 Pro and M2 Max chips in early 2023.
• Microsoft fell 1.73%, planning to challenge the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawsuit blocking its $75 billion acquisition of Activision Blizzard.
• Google fell 1.88%. Apple withdrew from the NFL "Sunday Ticket" broadcast rights competition, leaving Amazon and Google to continue to fight.
• Amazon fell 3.35%, German unions will organize Amazon logistics warehouse workers to strike before Christmas.
• Tesla fell 0.24%. Musk won 57.5% of votes on "whether he should step down as CEO of Twitter". Musk may step down as CEO of Twitter; plans to build an electric vehicle assembly plant in an industrial area in northeastern Mexico are being finalized. Plans for the plant could be announced as early as this week.
• Meta fell 4.14%, because the market service was subject to EU antitrust complaints. The EU said that Meta distorted the competition rules of classified ads and unfairly tied its market service with Facebook, and said that Meta could be fined 10% of the global annual turnover. % penalty.
• Toyota Motor fell 0.58%. On the 18th, it revealed that it will mass-produce pure electric vehicles (EVs) for pickup trucks as soon as next year. Thailand is a major export base for pickups and may also be produced locally.
• Intel fell 0.48%, abandoning its original goal of opening a chip factory in the eastern German city of Magdeburg in the first half of 2023, hoping to receive more public subsidies.

Sources from: Investing.com; Reuters.com

Louis Yap

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