News from the Associated Press, February 25 (Editor Zhao Hao)On Friday (February 24), U.S. stocks opened lower and closed lower. The three major indexes collectively closed down and recorded their worst weekly performance since 2023.
As of the close, the Dow Jones Index fell 1.02% to 32,816.92 points; the S&P 500 Index fell 1.05% to 3,970.04 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.69% to 11,394.94 points.
On a weekly basis, the Dow fell 2.99% this week, the largest weekly drop since late September last year, and recorded four consecutive negative weeks; the S&P 500 fell 2.64%, the lowest since December 9. A bad week; the Nasdaq fell 3.33%, and the weekly chart received its second negative line this year.
Before the market on Friday, the latest data released by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis showed that the Fed’s favorite inflation indicator, the PCE price index, rose 5.4% year-on-year in January, and the core PCE price index excluding food and energy rose 4.7% year-on-year. %, not only significantly higher than the bank’s 2% inflation target, but also picked up from the previous month.
The annual rate of the core PCE price index in the United States has exacerbated concerns that the Federal Reserve may eventually raise interest rates to a higher level than expected, and that the bank may keep interest rates at high levels for a longer period of time. Quincy Krosby, chief global strategist at LPL Financial, said that the market is readjusting, and participants realize that the road to stable prices is not as smooth as imagined.
Krosby also noted that in order to beat inflation, the Fed may need to sacrifice parts of the economy to do so. Within days, five Wall Street economists and scholars wrote in an academic paper presented at a conference in New York on Friday that computer models show that in the second half of 2023, interest rates will peak at either 5.6%, 6%, or 6.5%.
During the trading hours of the US stock market, several Fed officials spoke successively, reiterating their support for “continuing to raise interest rates”. Federal Reserve Governor Jefferson said that inflation may only come down slowly; Cleveland Fed President Mester believes that strong inflationary pressures are “still around us”; Boston Fed President Collins emphasized that interest rates may remain unchanged for a long time.
CME Group’s “Fed Watch” tool shows that the current most mainstream forecast in the market is that the bank will raise interest rates by 25 basis points each in March, May and June. In addition, the market also expects the Fed to maintain interest rates at a level of 5.25%-5.50% for the whole year, erasing yesterday’s expectation of a 25 basis point rate cut in December.
David Donabedian, chief investment officer at CIBC Private Wealth US, said that people’s predictions about monetary policy and its direction have changed dramatically. The current pricing is very different from that of the Fed before February 1, but it may be closer to reality.
Performance of popular stocks
Most of the 11 sectors in the S&P 500 closed lower. The real estate sector closed down 1.81%, the information technology/technology sector closed down 1.77%, the optional consumer sector fell 1.56%, the telecom services sector fell 1.43%, the health care sector fell 1.27%, the energy sector fell 0.01%, and only the financial services sector (0.11 %) and materials sector (0.65%) closed up.
Most of the large technology stocks fell. (Arranged by market value) Apple fell 1.80%, Microsoft fell 2.18%, Google-C fell 1.89%, Amazon fell 2.42%, Tesla fell 2.57%, and Meta fell 0.96%.
In terms of Chinese concept stocks, the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index fell 3.86% to 6953.72 points.
Most popular Chinese concept stocks closed down, Xiaopeng Motors fell 7.18%, New Oriental fell 5.90%, Alibaba fell 5.48%, Weilai fell 5.01%, JD.com fell 3.97%, Baidu fell 3.94%, Ideal Auto fell 3.89%, Pinduoduo It fell 2.78%, Good Future fell 2.48%, and Tencent Music fell 2.19%.
company news
[Apple has hired Lauren Fry to build a video ad business for the Apple TV+ streaming service]
Apple has hired a TV and digital video advertising executive (Lauren Fry) to build a video ad business for its Apple TV+ streaming service, according to a person familiar with the matter. The move suggests Apple wants to provide streaming services with more revenue to pay for a wider range of programming. Unlike other major streaming services, Apple TV+ does not currently have an ad-supported tier. But there are signs the tech giant hopes to use its coverage of Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball games to build an ad sales business.
[Meta launched an AI large-scale language model called “LLaMA” to compete with Google and Microsoft]
Meta Platforms has launched a research tool for building artificial intelligence (AL) chatbots and other products, trying to build momentum for its technology in a field recently largely dominated by rivals Google and Microsoft. The tool, called LLaMA, is Meta’s latest effort in the field of large-scale language models. It is reported that LLaMA is not currently used in Meta’s products, including Facebook and Instagram. The company plans to make the technology available to artificial intelligence researchers.
[Goldman Sachs announced a $30 billion stock repurchase plan to accelerate the pace of repurchase]
Goldman Sachs Group Inc. approved a new share repurchase program, authorizing up to $30 billion in repurchases, but did not give a timetable. The filing showed that the pace of buybacks has picked up. Goldman Sachs announced that it had repurchased approximately $2.25 billion in stock during the quarter. That compares with a total of $3.5 billion in buybacks for all of last year.
[Ford says it will suspend F-150 Lightning production for another week]
Ford said on February 24 that its battery maker SK On had resumed production at its Georgia EV battery plant, but it would take time to “ensure they are back producing high-quality batteries and delivering them to the Lightning production line.” As a result, Ford is suspending production of the F-150 Lightning for another week. Ford previously suspended production of the F-150 Lightning after a fire broke out in an F-150 Lightning during Ford’s pre-delivery quality inspection on Feb. 5.
[EU drug regulatory agency refuses to recommend approval of Merck’s anti-new crown oral drug Ridroux]
Merck and biotechnology company Ridgeback issued a statement on February 24, local time, stating that the European Medicines Agency’s Human Medicines Committee (CHMP) held a negative opinion on the marketing authorization application for the anti-new coronavirus oral drug Lagevrio (Monoravir) . This opinion may prevent Lidrarui from being sold in the EU. The agency concluded that the submitted data were insufficient to demonstrate that Lidrorel could reduce the risk of hospitalization or death in adults with COVID-19, or shorten the duration of illness in adults at risk of severe disease. Merck and Ridgeback plan to appeal the decision and request another review of CHMP’s opinion.