Market Highlights 💡 - 21 March 2025

Wall Street Uncertain; Chinese Stock Market Declines as PBoC Keeps Rates Unchanged

🇺🇸 S&P 500 Index: -0.21% 📉

🇺🇸 Nasdaq Index: -0.32% 📉

🇪🇺 Stoxx 600 Index: -0.43% 📉

🇯🇵 Nikkei 225 Index: Closed

🇭🇰 Hang Seng Index: -2.23% 📉

🇨🇳 CSI 300 Index: -0.88% 📉

🇸🇬 Straits Times Index: 0.57% 📈

US stock markets closed weaker, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq falling by -0.2% and -0.3%, respectively. Investors remained cautious about the Federal Reserve's latest economic forecasts.

US initial jobless claims rose by 2,000 to 223,000 for the week ending March 15 (expected: 224,000), remaining near historically low levels, indicating a resilient job market.

Asia-Pacific markets broadly declined, with the Hang Seng Index and CSI 300 Index down by -2.2% and -0.9%, respectively, as the People's Bank of China (PBoC) kept its loan prime rate (LPR) unchanged, leading to a lack of new stimulus to boost economic growth.

The PBoC maintained the 1-year and 5-year LPR at 3.1% and 3.6%, respectively, for the fifth consecutive month, in line with market expectations.

Upcoming Event

On Friday, Japan's annual inflation data will be released.

Key Things to Know Today

1. Nvidia $NVIDIA Corp(NVDA)$  plans to invest hundreds of billions of dollars over the next four years in US-made chips and electronics, shifting production to TSMC $Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing(TSM)$  and Foxconn $Foxconn Industrial Internet Co.,Ltd.(601138)$  factories in the US.

Nvidia CEO

2. Oracle $Oracle(ORCL)$   has launched AI Agent Studio, offering no-code tools and pre-built agents for automating HR, finance, and supply chain workflows, responding to growing enterprise demand for AI agents.

Oracle AI Agent Studio

3. Micron Technology $Micron Technology(MU)$  stock surged 4.5% as its Q2 earnings and guidance exceeded market expectations, driven by strong demand for high-bandwidth memory. Despite margin pressures, Micron still expects Q3 revenue to reach $8.8 billion.

Micron

4. The EU has delayed imposing €4.5 billion in retaliatory tariffs on US goods until mid-April to allow more negotiation time over Trump-era metal tariffs, as France and Italy express concerns over escalating trade tensions.

5. CK Hutchison remains silent on its proposed $23 billion sale of 43 ports across 23 countries to BlackRock, despite strong opposition from Beijing.

CK Hutchison

Key Takeaway

The US market faces a major test on Friday due to the "Triple Witching" event, where approximately $4.5 trillion in stock options, stock index futures, and stock index options expire, potentially triggering market volatility.

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