News from the Financial Associated Press on January 21 (edited by Xia Junxiong)On Friday, Eastern Time, the U.S. stock market opened higher and moved higher. The three major indexes rebounded strongly. Large-scale technology stocks led the market. The Nasdaq rose more than 2.5%.
(The trend of the three major indexes this week, source: FactSet) As of the close, the Dow Jones index rose 1.00% to 33,375.49 points; the S&P 500 index rose 1.89% to 3,971.00 points; the Nasdaq index rose 2.66% to 11,140.43 points.
Friday’s gains were led by two tech companies, Google and Netflix. Thanks to the fact that new users in Q4 far exceeded market expectations, Netflix soared by more than 8%. Google rose more than 5%. The company announced on Friday that it will lay off 12,000 employees worldwide, accounting for 6% of the total number of employees.
Seema Shah, chief global strategist at Principal Asset Management, said: “This week is likely to be critical as the market narrative appears to be shifting from the tail end of the Fed’s rate hike cycle to slower growth.”
Investors are broadly divided on how quickly the Fed will ease monetary policy. Analysts warn that this divergence could add to market volatility this year.
Some investors are even betting the Fed will start cutting rates later this year, though Fed officials have recently dismissed that notion, emphasizing keeping rates high for a while until inflation falls back to its 2% target.
Performance of popular stocks
Large technology stocks led the market, with Apple up 1.92%, Amazon up 3.81%, Meta up 2.37%, Google up 5.34%, Microsoft up 3.57%, and Netflix up 8.46%.
New energy vehicle stocks rose across the board, with Tesla up 4.91%, Weilai Automobile up 2.79%, Xiaopeng Motors up 5.03%, Li Auto up 3.47%, Nikola up 5.44%, Faraday Future up 5.04%, Workhorse up 8.16%, Lordstown up 11.11%, Rivian up 2.79%, Lucid up 4.97%
Popular Chinese concept stocks generally rose, Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose 2.48%, Alibaba rose 2.81%, JD.com rose 1.70%, Pinduoduo rose 2.90%, Bilibili rose 3.00%, Baidu rose 5.91%, New Oriental fell 0.12%, NetEase fell 0.18%, and Tencent Music rose 1.70%.
company news
[The Fed is said to be investigating Goldman Sachs’ consumer business]
According to media reports citing sources, the Federal Reserve is investigating Goldman Sachs Group’s consumer business to determine whether the bank has taken appropriate safeguards when issuing additional consumer loans.
The Fed, which oversees the banking industry, is concerned that Goldman does not have proper monitoring systems in place within its consumer business, especially as it grows, people familiar with the matter said.
The Fed launched a standard review of Goldman Sachs’ consumer business in 2021, which was upgraded to an investigation last year, the people familiar with the matter also said.
Goldman Sachs shares fell 2.54% on Friday.
[Amazon to invest $35 billion in Virginia data centers by 2040]
Amazon’s cloud computing unit will spend $35 billion building new data centers in Virginia by 2040, underscoring the company’s determination to stay ahead of rivals Microsoft Corp and Alphabet. The VA said in a release Friday that Amazon’s investments in multiple locations will create approximately 1,000 jobs in Virginia. Virginia is the most important center for Amazon Web Services. The state government said a number of sites were under consideration and would be selected at a later date.
[GM plans to invest $579 million in new V-8 engine production]
General Motors announced on January 20 local time that it plans to invest $918 million in four factories in the United States to support the production of electric vehicle components and next-generation V-8 engines. Of that, $579 million will go to GM’s Flint, Michigan, engine plant to assemble the sixth-generation Small Block V-8 fuel engine. The remainder of the investment will go to other components operations in Michigan, Ohio and New York for fuel-powered components such as camshafts and manifolds, as well as castings to support future electric vehicles.
Apple appeals investigation by UK antitrust watchdog
Tech giant Apple is appealing an investigation by Britain’s antitrust watchdog over the dominance of its mobile browser in the cloud gaming market. In November, Britain’s antitrust watchdog and Markets Authority (CMA) launched a sweeping investigation into Apple and Google’s cloud gaming and mobile browsers amid concerns over Apple and Google.
[Tesla delays delivery of Model 3 in German market]
Tesla Germany’s official website shows that the company has postponed the delivery time of Model 3 from February to April from the previous January to March. Earlier, Tesla cut the prices of its cars by between 4% and 12%. Tesla’s delivery times in the German market are still well ahead of rivals, according to car comparison portal carwow.