Market Highlights 💡 - 10 October 2024

CPI report release leads to S&P 500 index reaching a historic high; Chinese stock market experiences its largest drop since 2020 due to muted stimulus measures.

🇺🇸 S&P 500 Index: 0.71% 📈

🇺🇸 Nasdaq: 0.60% 📈

🇪🇺 Stoxx 600 Index: 0.66% 📈

🇯🇵 Nikkei 225 Index: 0.87% 📈

🇭🇰 Hang Seng Index: -1.38% 📉

🇨🇳 CSI 300 Index: -7.05% 📉

🇸🇬 STI: 0.56% 📈

Wall Street rose on Wednesday, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite increasing by 0.7% and 0.6% respectively, as tech stocks gained after the release of the Federal Reserve's meeting minutes and before the September inflation data and earnings season.

Asia-Pacific markets fell, with the Hang Seng Index $HSI(HSI)$  and Shanghai CSI 300 Index dropping -1.4% and -7.1% respectively, as traders locked in profits following a rally but were constrained by a lack of strong stimulus measures to boost the economy.

Future Events:

On Thursday, US unemployment claims, year-on-year CPI will be closely watched by investors.

By the end of the week, we will see the US preliminary University of Michigan consumer confidence index and year-on-year retail sales released on Friday, along with China's year-on-year inflation rate and year-on-year exports released on Sunday.

💡 Things to Know Today: 💡

1. Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell emphasized the Fed's cautious approach, driven by data rather than urgency, as revealed in the September FOMC minutes. Some officials supported significant rate cuts due to easing inflation, while others favored a more gradual 25 basis points increase, citing economic resilience.

Jerome Powell

2. Apple's $Apple(AAPL)$   global PC shipments declined by 17.5% in Q3 2024, with Lenovo leading the market with 16.49 million units shipped. Despite overall growth of only 1.3%, the PC market is expected to expand, driven by new AI processors from Intel $Intel(INTC)$  , AMD $Advanced Micro Devices(AMD)$  , and Qualcomm $Qualcomm(QCOM)$  , along with increased business purchases before the Windows 10 end-of-life deadline in 2025.

Apple PC

3. China's Ministry of Finance plans to announce fiscal measures on Saturday, with a stimulus package estimated to be worth up to 3 trillion yuan ($283 billion), including support for local governments, infrastructure investment, and bank capital restructuring.

4. Guotai Junan Securities and Haitong Securities disclosed the terms of their proposed merger, valuing the deal at 1.6 trillion yuan, which would create China's largest brokerage firm with assets reaching $22.6 billion, aiming to challenge Wall Street's dominance.

Guotai x Haitong

5. MMC Port Holdings is considering Malaysia's largest initial public offering in over a decade, potentially raising 7 billion ringgit in 2025. The port operator, owned by tycoon Syed Mokhtar Al-Bukhary, is valued between 24 billion and 27 billion ringgit and operates seven major ports and a cruise terminal.

MMC Port

✅ Key Points:

The sustainability of China's economic rebound depends on specific fiscal actions. The upcoming policy announcement will determine whether investors should take tactical adjustments as valuations change or adopt long-term strategic measures.

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