To The Moon

Last Week's Recap

The US Market - The Nasdaq reached a record high

• The Nasdaq rose to an all-time high on March 1, surpassing its 2021 record, as investors bet that megacap technology stocks were the way to artificial intelligence boom.

• On a weekly basis, the Nasdaq added 1.74%, while the S&P 500, which also popped to a record high, advanced 0.95%. The small-cap Russell 2000 rebounded, but the 30-stock Dow is the laggard,for the week.

• It was an unseasonably warm February for the US market, with the S&P 500 marking its strongest beginning two months of the year since 2019, according to The Wall Street Journal.

• With all three major stock indexes notching their fourth straight month of gains, it’s fair to ask if the equity rally has run too hot, too fast. However, Citi said that the market likely has further room to run, considering expectations of strong earnings growth.

• The Fed's primary inflation gauge, the core PCE index, came in hot, the core index rose 2.8% for the 12 months ended in January, in line with expectations, the report appeared to calm concerns about inflation.

• Bitcoin spiked about 20% this week and vaulted more than 40% in February, driven by an influx of institutional participation and the upcoming halving event in April. Bitcoin soared as high as $64,037 on Wednesday to its highest level since November 2021 before easing back below $62,000 on Friday.

The US Sectors & Stocks - NVDA surged 66.15% year-to-date

• The S&P 500 finished February more than 5% the broad index, some stocks ran circles around that, not only NVDA, as well as others that are lesser known as follows:

• For the YTD performance, NVDA was up 66.15% to gain the top performance in the S&P 500, followed by CEG、META、AMD、LLY and UBER.

(Source: slickcharts)

• On a weekly basis, The technology sector rose around 2.66% last week as the S&P 500′s top-performing sector. Consumer cyclical was the following best sector, rising 2.17%.

• The semiconductor was headed for another winning week, led to the upside by MRVL、AMD and MU.

• Nvidia's (NVDA) stock market value closed above $2 trillion for the first time on Friday after an upbeat report from Dell Technologies (DELL) reignited Wall Street's AI-fueled rally. DELL soared 38% over the week.

• Apple（AAPL）fell as Goldman Sachs removed the tech gaint from its “Conviction List”. However, the investment firm reiterated its Buy rating and its target price of $232. Apple cancelled its car project places focus on areas like generative AI.

• Cryptocurrency related stocks rallied. BlackRock's iShares Bitcoin ETF (IBIT) has been the clear leader in inflows since its launch at $7.76 billion as of Feb. 29, according to BitMEX Research. High-fee GBTC has seen $8.4 billion in outflows, but still leads spot ETFs in terms of total assets at $26.6 billion. Marathon Digital (MARA) surged more than 9% on the week despite Thursday's 16.5% tumble following earnings.

• Viking Therapeutics (VKTX) rocketed 128% on weight-loss drug news. On Tuesday, Viking said patients given its weekly shot for 13 weeks lost up to 14.7% of their body weight. The results were 13.1% better than the placebo group and topped Eli Lilly (LLY) drug Zepbound.

• Super Micro (SMCI) surged 13.5% to over $1000 in extended trade on Friday after it was announced the seller of AI-optimized servier will join the S&P 500.

• New York Community Bank (NYCB) lost nearly 30% after the bank disclosed issues with its internal controls and announced a change in leadership.

• Okta (OKTA) surged 30%, as its Q4 adjusted profit jumped 110% with revenue up 19% to $605 million, both beating. It also gave solid fiscal 2025 revenue guidance.

• Snowflake (SNOW) plunged 18.6% after the data analytics firm guided lower on fiscal 2025 product revenue and said Frank Slootman would step down as CEO.

• Data storage rivals Pure Storage (PSTG) and NetApp (NTAP) both surged more than 20% on earnings beats.

Hong Kong Market - HSI rose 6.63% in February

• Hong Kong stocks set for its best month in February since January 2023 on property tonic, China market intervention. The Hang Seng Index rose 6.63% last month after it tumbled over 9% in January.

• HSI dropped 0.82% last week, as China’s manufacturing activity contracted for a fifth straight month in February.

• Hong Kong's monetary authority has relaxed the city's decade-old lending curbs, granting more mortgage borrowing to homebuyers, rental property and offices, after high interest rates turned the city's real estate bull run into a slump.

• Li Auto (2015.HK) jump nearly 30% to HK$179.20, their highest since Nov 21, and on course for a sixth consecutive session of gains. The EV maker reported a better-than-viewed quarterly earnings. Citi maintains "buy" on the stock and raises TP of the U.S. shares to $57.30 and Hong Kong shares to HK$220.30.

Singapore Market - STI lost 0.35% in February

• Singapore stocks ended the week lower, as macroeconomic data from both the United States and China caused investors to tread cautiously amid risks of a delay in interest-rate cuts by the US Federal Reserve. STI fell 1.54% last week and the benchmark lost 0.35% in February.

• Singapore’s industrial production (IP) grew 1.1 per cent on year in January, in a turnaround from December 2023’s 2.4 per cent decline. This came even as output in the key electronics sector fell, Economic Development Board (EDB) data showed on Monday (Feb 26).

Australian Market - ASX hit a record high

• Australian shares hit a record high on Friday, the ASX 200 finished at a record 7745.6 points for a weekly gain of 1.3% by inflation prints in Australia that sandbagged expectations the global interest rate cycle has peaked. The benchmark set for a gain of 0.23% in February.

• David Bassanese the chief economist at Betashares said that the S&P/ASX 200 could reach 8000 points by the end of 2024. “Equity valuations in Australia aren’t that stretched,” he added, “We’ve gone through a slow patch on earnings and now the RBA might take its foot off the economic brake.”

The Week Ahead

Macro Factors - Powell Testimony、Super Tuesday and Jobs Report

• The macroeconomic concerns will take center stage for investors in the week ahead.

• Super Tuesday, traditionally one of the most important dates on the U.S. political calendar, is fast approaching: 15 states and one territory will vote on March 5. Both President Biden and former President Donald J. Trump doing their best to skip ahead to the general election.

• Fed Chair Jerome Powell is set to give his semiannual monetary policy update to the House of Representatives on Wednesday, and the Senate on Thursday, testimonies that will be dissected by traders for any insight into when lower rates are coming.

• President Joe Biden will deliver his third State of the Union address on March 7, 2024.

• The Federal Reserve’s second Beige Book of 2024 on Wednesday as well.

• On Friday, the Bureau of Labor Statistics will report February employment figures. Economists’ average estimate is for a gain of 200,000 nonfarm payrolls and a steady unemployment rate at 3.7%.

Earnings

• With 97% of the S&P 500 finished reporting earnings for the fourth quarter, the S&P 500 is projected to have earnings growth of 4% in the fourth quarter compared to the same period a year prior, per new FactSet data. This marks the second consecutive quarter of earnings growth for the benchmark index.

• With most of the S&P 500 done reporting earnings, Target (TGT), Costco (COST), and Kroger (KR) are three of the largest consumer-facing brands reporting corporate results in the week.Semiconductor company Broadcom（AVGO）and Marvell（MRVL）are reporting results on Thursday.