European stocks open higher and rise, today's Microsoft, Alphabet-C, AMD earnings report

On January 30th, GDP data from multiple European countries will be released, marking the peak of the US earnings season. Most European stocks rose, while US stock index futures saw a slight decline.

France kicked off the Eurozone GDP reports, with zero growth in France's fourth-quarter Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on a quarter-on-quarter basis. This barely avoids a recession in the second half of 2023, bringing hope for the Eurozone to avoid a recession.

However, Germany's preliminary GDP for the fourth quarter contracted by 0.3% on a quarterly basis, following a 0.1% contraction in the third quarter. Germany is entering a recession in the second half of 2023.

Market expectations are that the Eurozone's preliminary GDP for the fourth quarter will contract by 0.1% on a quarterly basis, while remaining stable on a year-on-year basis. Analysts will use this to assess whether the Eurozone economy will experience its first recession since the pandemic, and the extent of the recession will determine the prospects of interest rate cuts by the European Central Bank.

In the United States, the US Chamber of Commerce will release the JOLTS job openings and consumer confidence index. Global investors are eagerly awaiting the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on Wednesday.

Slight decline in US stock index futures

Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) futures, which are mainly composed of blue-chip stocks, fell by 0.11%; S&P 500 index futures fell by 0.04%; Nasdaq 100 index futures, which are mainly composed of technology stocks, rose by 0.69%.

Some Chinese concept stocks in the US stock market fell in pre-market trading, with Beike down nearly 4%, Pinduoduo down over 3%, and JD.com down over 2%.

Tonight, US tech giants including Microsoft, Google, and AMD will announce their earnings reports.

It is widely expected that Microsoft's Q4 revenue will reach CNY 61.11 billion, a year-on-year increase of 16%, and adjusted net profit will be CNY 20.76 billion, a year-on-year increase of 26%. Media analysis points out that to judge Microsoft's profit trend, attention needs to be paid to the revenue of Microsoft Copilot and cloud computing service Azure, which will serve as an early indicator of whether AI can be monetized successfully.

Alphabet, the parent company of Google, is expected to see a 13% year-on-year increase in revenue to CNY 710.4 billion this quarter, the fastest growth rate since mid-2022. It is widely expected that Google's fourth-quarter advertising revenue will grow by 11.8% to reach USD 66 billion.

AMD will announce its fourth-quarter performance, with analysts expecting revenue to reach USD 6.11 billion, a 9.2% increase from the same period last year. Earnings per share are expected to be USD 0.77, a year-on-year increase of 11.6%.

Barclays analyst Tom O'Malley raised AMD's target stock price from USD 120 to USD 200, writing, "We certainly do not underestimate Nvidia's leading position, but we believe that the software ecosystem needs to have a second source of supply to overcome the current challenges."

Most European stocks rise

The pan-European stock index has risen for 5 consecutive trading days. After hitting a new high since January 17, 2022, the European Stoxx 600 continues to rise, with an increase of over 0.36% as of the time of writing. Most major European country stock indices have risen, with the French stock market leading the gains last week, rising slightly for 5 consecutive days, and the German stock market rising after a correction yesterday.

As of the time of writing, the Euro Stoxx 50 index has expanded its gains to 0.3%, the German DAX index has narrowed its gains to 0.19%, and the French CAC 40 index has narrowed its gains to 0.09%.

LVMH, which had the highest increase last week, rose slightly by 0.22% today, and ASML rose nearly 1%.

(Continuously updated)