News from the Financial Associated Press on March 6 (Editor Zhao Hao)Before the U.S. stock market opened on Monday (March 6), the three major stock index futures rose slightly.
As of press time, Dow futures rose 0.16%, S&P 500 futures rose 0.27%, and Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.46%.
The market will usher in two blockbuster events this week, namely the two hearings of Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell in Congress and Friday’s employment situation report.
The Fed wrote in its semi-annual report to Congress on Friday that it was “acutely aware” of the challenges posed to the economy by high inflation and was “strongly committed” to achieving its 2 percent inflation goal.
The report emphasizes that the case for the FOMC to continue raising the target for the federal funds rate within the target range is sound and, if necessary, will adjust the pace of balance sheet reduction. That is expected to be a major issue in Powell’s discussions with members of Congress.
As for Friday’s employment data, investors will pay close attention to whether the increase in non-agricultural employment in February will be as “explosive” as in January. The market is currently expecting an increase of 225,000 jobs.
Market Dynamics
Last Friday, thanks to the collective decline in U.S. bond yields, the three major U.S. stock indexes collectively rose. The Dow Jones index closed up 1.17%, up 1.75% last week; the S&P 500 rose 1.61%, up 1.90% last week; the Nasdaq Composite rose 1.97%, up 2.58% last week.
The European markets that are trading are mixed. As of press time, the German DAX30 index rose 0.55%, the British FTSE 100 index fell 0.45%, and the French CAC40 index rose 0.38%.
company news
[Microsoft launched an all-round artificial intelligence model Kosmos-1 that can process text, audio, images, and videos]
Recently, Microsoft launched the all-round artificial intelligence model – Kosmos-1. Compared with ChatGPT (LLM), which is limited to text content, Kosmos-1 belongs to the multi-mode large-scale language model (MLLM), which can process text, audio, image and video like human thinking.
[Apple’s cloud business executive Abbott is reported to be leaving next month]
Michael Abbott, Apple’s cloud executive, will step down in April, becoming the second top lieutenant to the company’s services chief Eddie Cue to lose this year, people familiar with the matter said. As Apple’s vice president of cloud engineering, Abbott is responsible for new features such as iCloud.com services, iCloud Mail and iCloud data encryption. He also oversees Apple’s platform that powers iCloud, critical communications services, the Find My feature and Emergency SOS on the iPhone, among other things.
[Tesla reduces the starting price of Model S/X in the United States by 5,000-10,000 US dollars]
According to Tesla’s US official website, Tesla has lowered the starting price of Model S/X in the United States. The current price of Model S is $89,990 (original price $94,990); the current price of Model S Plaid is $109,990 (original price $114,990); the current price of Model X is $99,990. (Originally $109,990); Model X Plaid is now $109,990 (Originally $119,990).
[Korean media: Google and Meta were fined 100 billion won for illegally collecting user information and filed a lawsuit against the ruling]
According to South Korean media, Google and Meta have filed a lawsuit against South Korea’s data protection regulator’s ruling that fined them. In September 2022, South Korea’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) fined Google and Meta a total of 100 billion won (about 77 million U.S. dollars) for collecting personal information without users’ consent and using it for personalization. for online advertising and other purposes.
【Samsung SDI is reported to be joining forces with General Motors for the first time to jointly build a battery factory in the United States】
South Korean media reported on March 5 that South Korean battery manufacturer Samsung SDI and General Motors will build a joint electric vehicle battery manufacturing plant in the United States with an investment of up to 5 trillion won (about 3.8 billion US dollars). The two companies are expected to sign a memorandum of understanding next Wednesday in the U.S. state of Michigan, marking the first collaboration between the two. According to industry insiders, the two sides are in the final negotiations on the details of the agreement, such as factory output, investment methods and specific location. The plant is expected to start construction by the end of this year and start production in 2026, with an annual production capacity of 30 to 50 GWh.
[Broadcom CEO: Benefiting from the boom in AI chatbots, the company’s sales of Ethernet equipment may exceed $800 million this year]
Broadcom Chief Executive Chen Fuyang said the company expects to benefit from the boom in increasingly convincing artificial intelligence chatbots. Chen said the company’s sales of Ethernet gear for artificial intelligence applications could rise to more than $800 million this year from $200 million last year, as big cloud computing companies need them amid growing adoption of text-generating tools such as ChatGPT equipment. He said on Thursday’s after-hours earnings call that he has seen cloud computing customers rush to buy from the company.
[Boeing cancels CEO Calhoun’s $7 million bonus due to repeated delays in 777X delivery]
Boeing’s board of directors recently canceled CEO Calhoun’s $7 million bonus due to delays in delivery of the 777X wide-body aircraft. Boeing said last year that first deliveries of its 777X would be delayed by at least a year to early 2025 because certification takes longer. Boeing originally planned to deliver the model in 2020.
[Xiaopeng responded that face recognition needs to kneel in front of the car: the third-party application has been removed]
Recently, users of Xiaopeng Motors made complaints about updating the APP, and for face authentication, they have to get out of the car and half kneel on the ground to look at the camera. On March 6, Xiaopeng Motors responded that the risk control strategy was triggered. Considering the poor experience, the app has been removed from the shelves.
Noteworthy events in the US stock market time period (Beijing time)
March 6
23:00 U.S. January Factory Orders Monthly Rate, U.S. February New York Fed Global Supply Chain Pressure Index