On the day after a sharp decline, the US stock market rebounded. NVIDIA reached a new all-time high and surpassed Alphabet-C in market value. Chinese concept stocks outperformed the market for the second time this week, and Bitcoin surged to $52,000.

The unexpected rise in US CPI announced on Tuesday has dampened market expectations for interest rate cuts. The current market pricing fully reflects the expected three interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve this year, which is consistent with the number of expected rate cuts announced by the Fed in December last year. Traders also expect a 70% probability of a fourth rate cut this year, but the overall expected rate cut is much lower than a month ago. At that time, swap contract prices indicated that investors expected as many as seven rate cuts this year.

After the adjustment of market expectations for interest rate cuts, the major US stock indexes, which suffered a sharp decline on the day of the CPI release, rebounded slightly. Some commentators believe that the rebound in US stocks and bonds on Wednesday was due to bargain hunters entering the market after the sharp decline on Wednesday. Once again, technology stocks played a leading role in boosting the market, with chip stocks rebounding strongly. NVIDIA approached its intraday historical high and set a new closing high for the second time this week. Super Micro Computer, an AI concept stock that rose against the trend on Tuesday, continued to set new historical highs. Chinese concept stocks followed the "Hong Kong stock market's auspicious start to the Year of the Dragon" and outperformed the market for the second day this week after Monday.

The "fear index" VIX, which reflects the volatility of the US stock market, rose nearly 14% on Tuesday, but fell more than 9% on Wednesday.

In the bond market, UK CPI in January did not accelerate year-on-year as analysts expected, but stabilized at a growth rate of 4% in December. European bond prices, led by UK government bonds, rebounded and yields fell. The yield on the two-year UK government bond, which is sensitive to interest rates, fell by more than 10 basis points. The US bond yields that surged after the CPI release also fell, with the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond falling below 4.30%, moving away from the two-month low. The yield on the two-year US Treasury bond also fell more than 10 basis points from the high point since the Federal Reserve meeting in December last year.

Currently, the market expects the Federal Reserve to start cutting interest rates in June, with a total of less than four rate cuts for the year.

In the foreign exchange market, the US dollar index, which jumped after the CPI release on Tuesday, entered a consolidation phase and fell after reaching a three-month high for several consecutive days. Some analysts believe that given the resilience of the US economy, future statements by Federal Reserve officials may boost the US dollar, and the US dollar may still have some room to rise until the end of the first quarter of this year. The Japanese yen, which fell below 150.00 against the US dollar on Tuesday, rebounded slightly but failed to recover 150. Currency strategists believe that the key level that may trigger intervention by the Japanese government in the foreign exchange market is 152.

Cryptocurrencies have regained momentum amidst the rebound of risk assets such as US stocks. Bitcoin surged more than $3,000 during the day and made a dash towards the $52,000 mark after breaking through the $50,000 mark for the first time in over two years on Monday. According to CoinMarketCap data, the market value of Bitcoin exceeded $1 trillion for the first time since the end of 2021 on Wednesday. In the commodity market, the decline in the US dollar and US bond yields failed to support a rebound in gold. On Tuesday, spot gold fell below $2,000 after the release of CPI data, continuing to hover below this key level and hitting a two-month low. Gold futures also hit a two-month low, further testing the $2,000 level. Commentators believe that it will be difficult for gold to rebound after breaking through $2,000, as part of the catalyst for the previous breakthrough was the expectation of faster interest rate cuts by the Federal Reserve. If it becomes more certain that the Federal Reserve is unlikely to cut interest rates quickly, it could be a catalyst for further downward pressure on gold prices.

The US Energy Department announced that US EIA crude oil inventories increased by more than 12 million barrels last week, far exceeding expectations. International crude oil prices stopped rising and fell back, and US oil failed to maintain its upward momentum of the past week, falling nearly 2% after rising more than 1% at one point, dropping from its highest level in over two weeks. Some commentators believe that the increase in crude oil inventories is due to a decline in refining, with US refinery crude oil production and capacity utilization both hitting new lows since December 2022. In addition, the chairman of the US House Intelligence Committee issued a statement stating that information about a serious national security threat has been provided to Congress, without revealing details. The media reported that the threat is related to Russia. This is seen as a blow to some oil market investors.

The Nasdaq rose more than 1%, Nvidia reached a new all-time high, Lyft soared after its earnings report, Bitcoin-related stocks surged, and Chinese concept stocks rose more than 3%.

The three major US stock indices opened higher, with the intraday gains narrowing, and reaching new daily highs at the end of the session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose nearly 150 points in early trading, briefly turned slightly negative at midday, fell nearly 80 points at its lowest point of the day, and then rebounded in the afternoon, reaching a high of nearly 170 points at the end of the session. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite Index did not turn negative throughout the day, with the S&P rising by about 1% at the end of the session and the Nasdaq rising by more than 1.3%. In the end, all three indices closed higher, but failed to erase Tuesday's losses. The S&P and Nasdaq stopped their two-day decline and achieved their largest gains since the non-farm payroll report was released on February 2nd. The Dow, which fell on Tuesday, achieved its largest gain since February 1st.

The S&P fell nearly 1.4% on Tuesday, the largest decline since the release of the CPI on September 2022, and closed up 0.96% at 5,000.62 points. The Nasdaq fell 1.8% on Tuesday, the largest decline since January 31st, and closed up 1.3% at 15,859.15 points, both rebounding from their lows since February 6th and February 5th respectively. The Dow, which experienced its largest decline since March 9th last year on Tuesday, rose 151.52 points, or 0.4%, to 38,424.27 points, rebounding from its low since January 31st after falling nearly 1.4%.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 Index rose 1.18%, rebounding from its closing low since February 6th after two consecutive days of decline. The Nasdaq Technology Market Cap Weighted Index (NDXTMC), which measures the performance of technology stocks in the Nasdaq 100 Index, rose 1.47%, continuing to move away from the closing record high set last Friday. The small-cap Russell 2000, which is dominated by value stocks, rose 2.44%, outperforming the broader market and rebounding after a sharp decline of nearly 4% on Tuesday, the largest since June 2020. Major US stock indices rebounded on Wednesday, but still recorded a cumulative decline for the week. Small-cap stocks rose more than 2% on Wednesday, but the three-day cumulative decline still exceeded that of the three major indices.

Among the major sectors of the S&P 500, only energy and consumer staples fell by nearly 0.2% on Wednesday, while industrials rose by nearly 1.7%, communication services, where Meta is located, rose by over 1.4%, IT stocks, including chip stocks, rose by 1.1%, and financials rose by nearly 1%. Among the Dow Jones constituents, cloud computing giant Salesforce led the gains with an increase of nearly 2.9%, followed by Intel. Caterpillar, Cisco, and Nike all rose by more than 1%, while JPMorgan Chase rose by 1%.

Most of the leading technology stocks rebounded, including Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla, with only Apple closing lower. Tesla, which initially saw a short-term decline after raising the price of the US Model 3 Long Range to $47,490, rebounded and closed up nearly 2.6%, ending the two-day decline and leaving behind the closing low since February 5th, which fell more than 2%.

Among the FAANMG six major technology stocks, Netflix, which had fallen for two consecutive days and reached its closing low since January 24th, rose by nearly 4.5%, hitting a new high since December 2021. Meta, the parent company of Facebook, which had fallen for two consecutive days, rose by nearly 2.9%, approaching the closing historical high set on February 2nd. After founder Bezos sold $2.1 billion worth of shares for the second time in a week, Amazon rose by nearly 1.4%, breaking the two-day decline and the closing low since February 1st. Microsoft rose by nearly 1%. Alphabet, the parent company of Waymo, its autonomous driving subsidiary, announced its first recall of self-driving software, and rose by 0.5% along with Microsoft, rebounding from the two-day decline to the low since February 6th. Apple initially turned lower and closed down nearly 0.5%, falling for three consecutive days to the low since January 17th.

Chip stocks rebounded after two consecutive days of decline. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the Semiconductor Industry ETF SOXX rose by nearly 2.2% and 2.3% respectively, outperforming the broader market. The former approached the closing historical high set last Friday, while the latter refreshed the closing historical high set last Friday. After establishing the AI-RAN Alliance with SoftBank and standardizing the technology that utilizes mobile communication base stations for distributed AI processing, Nvidia rose by nearly 2.5% and its market value reached approximately $1.83 trillion at the close, surpassing the market value of approximately $1.82 trillion of Alphabet, setting a new closing high since Monday. Arm, which had fallen sharply by nearly 20% on Tuesday, initially rose by over 10% in early trading and closed up by nearly 5.4%, marking the fourth consecutive day of gains within five trading days after announcing its earnings report, with a cumulative gain of 64% over the five days. At the close, AMD rose by over 4%, ASML rose by nearly 4%, and Intel and Qualcomm rose by more than 2%. Nvidia, Apple, and other seven major technology stocks rebounded slightly on Wednesday.

Overall, AI concept stocks followed the market's upward trend. At the close, Super Micro Computer, which rose more than 2% on Tuesday, rose nearly 11.3%, marking its eighth consecutive trading day of gains and setting a new closing high for eight consecutive days. BigBear.ai (BBAI) rose more than 6%, Palantir (PLTR) rose nearly 5%, C3.ai (AI) rose 1.7%, Adobe (ADBE) rose nearly 0.5%, while SoundHound.ai (SOUN) fell nearly 0.9%.

Popular Chinese concept stocks rebounded in general. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC), which fell 2.7% on Tuesday, rose nearly 3.5%, outperforming the market for the second day this week and hitting a new closing high since January 12, when it rose more than 2%. The Chinese concept ETFs KWEB and CQQQ rose 3.6% and 1.9% respectively. The two bitcoin mining giants followed the surge in bitcoin, with Canaan Inc. rising 31.8% and Ebang International rising 25.3%. Among other individual stocks, Dada Group rose nearly 7% at the close, while XPeng and Nio rose more than 5%. JD.com and Bilibili rose more than 4%, New Oriental and iQiyi rose more than 3%, NetEase rose nearly 3%, Alibaba, Baidu, and Pinduoduo rose more than 2%, Tencent Music rose more than 1%, and Li Auto rose 1%.

Among regional banks, at the close, New York Community Bancorp (NYCB), which fell more than 6% on Tuesday, rose nearly 1.1%, Zions Bancorporation (ZION) rose 3.8%, Keycorp (KEY) rose more than 2%, and Western Alliance Bancorporation (WAL) rose 1.7%.

Among the stocks that announced their earnings reports, Lyft, the ride-hailing giant, rose 35.1% after announcing fourth-quarter results that exceeded expectations and clarified that the adjusted EBITDA profit margin would increase by 50 basis points in the fiscal year 2024, rather than the 500 basis points disclosed in the earnings report. Lyft's rival, Uber, rose 14.7% after announcing its first-ever stock buyback plan, with a plan to repurchase up to $7 billion. IQVIA Holdings, a medical technology stock, rose 13.1% after reporting fourth-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings that were higher than expected. Robinhood, the popular trading platform that unexpectedly recorded EPS profit in the fourth quarter, rose 13%. Charles River Laboratories, a pharmaceutical company that reported fourth-quarter EPS profit and provided full-year profit guidance higher than expected, rose 11.3%. However, MGM Resorts, a casino and entertainment stock, fell 6.3% due to better-than-expected performance in its Macau business in the fourth quarter but was impacted by the Detroit strike and labor costs in its U.S. business. Kraft Heinz, a food giant that reported lower-than-expected revenue in the fourth quarter, fell nearly 5.5%. After announcing that its fourth-quarter loss per share was lower than expected but warning that the growth in room night bookings in the first quarter is under pressure, Airbnb (ABNB) fell more than 5% in early trading and closed down 1.7%.

Among other stocks with significant fluctuations, several cryptocurrency-related stocks rebounded strongly driven by Bitcoin. Iris Energy (IREN) rose nearly 20%, while Coinbase (COIN), Marathon Digital (MARA), and Riot Platforms (RIOT) all rose more than 14%. MicroStrategy (MSTR) also rose more than 12%.

In European stocks, UK CPI growth did not rebound, and market expectations for a rate cut by the Bank of England have increased. Coupled with some companies reporting positive earnings, the pan-European stock index rebounded and closed higher for the second day of the week. The STOXX Europe 600 index erased about half of the losses from Tuesday's sharp drop of nearly 1%, which had hit the lowest closing level since January 25. Most major European country indexes rose, with the German, French, and UK indexes rebounding from Tuesday's decline and the Italian index ending its three-day rally. The UK index led the gains, while the Spanish index fell slightly for the second consecutive day.

In terms of sectors, the technology sector, which fell 2.7% on Tuesday, rose nearly 1%, marking its ninth day of gains in the past ten trading days. Among the constituents, ASML, the European chip stock with the highest market value, listed in the Netherlands, rose more than 0.3% after falling more than 3% on Tuesday, but it is still below the record closing high set on Monday. The healthcare sector rose more than 0.8%, with Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical company with the highest market value listed in Denmark, rising more than 1.7% and setting a new record closing high for the second consecutive day, supporting the Danish stock index to set a new record closing high again after two trading days. However, the food and beverage sector fell nearly 0.5%, dragged down by beer giant Heineken, which is expected to have profits significantly lower than analysts' expectations in 2024, causing its stock to fall 6.4%.

Among other individual stocks, online food delivery platform Delivery Hero surged 19.6% after it was expected that the generated organic cash flow would be sufficient to address the convertible bonds and debt maturity issues in the next few years, marking its largest gain since December 2019 and leading the constituents of the STOXX 600. Thyssenkrupp, which lowered its annual sales and net profit guidance, fell 10.5%.

Two-year UK bond yields fall more than 10 basis points, two-year US bond yields briefly drop more than 10 basis points from two-month highs

European government bond prices rebounded across the board, led by a decline in UK bond yields. At the end of the bond market session, the yield on the UK 10-year benchmark government bond was about 4.04%, down about 10 basis points during the day, moving away from the high near 4.17% reached after the release of US CPI data on Tuesday, which was the highest level since December 4, 2023. The yield on the UK 2-year bond was about 4.53%, down about 12 basis points during the day, far from the high reached on November 27. The yield on the 10-year benchmark German government bond, which had approached 2.42% on Tuesday, the highest level since December 1, fell about 6 basis points to about 2.33% during the day. On Tuesday, the 2-year German bond yield, which had risen by more than 2.78% and reached a high not seen since December 1st, fell by about 3 basis points during the day.

In the Asian morning session, the yield on the 10-year US Treasury benchmark bond rose to 4.33%, an increase of nearly 2 basis points. It continued to reach a high not seen since December 1st, 2023 for two consecutive days. However, the overall trend turned downward after the Asian session, with the US stock market falling below 4.25% and hitting a daily low. By the end of the bond market session, the yield was around 4.26%, a decrease of more than 5 basis points during the day, after a sharp increase of more than 10 basis points on Tuesday's CPI release.

The 2-year US Treasury yield, which is more sensitive to interest rate prospects, rose to 4.67% in the Asian morning session. It reached a high not seen since the first day of the Federal Reserve's interest rate meeting on December 13th, which was set last Friday. However, it quickly fell and dropped below 4.60% during the US stock market session, reaching a daily low of 4.55%. It fell by nearly 12 basis points from the daily high and was around 4.58% at the end of the bond market session, a decrease of nearly 8 basis points during the day. After a rebound on Tuesday, it fell again on the second day of the week and the second day of the past six trading days.

After a collective surge on Tuesday, the yields of US bonds of various maturities fell across the board on Wednesday, with short-term US bonds experiencing the largest decrease.

After hitting a three-month high, the US dollar index fell, while Bitcoin rose by more than $3,000, with a market value exceeding $1 trillion for the first time in over two years.

The ICE US Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the exchange rate of the US dollar against six major currencies including the euro, mostly remained in a downward trend on Wednesday. It briefly turned higher before the European stock market session and the early European stock market session, approaching 105.00. It reached a high not seen since November 14th, 2023 for two consecutive days. During the European and American trading sessions, it generally fluctuated downward. The US stock market fell below 104.70 during the midday session, hitting a daily low and falling by nearly 0.4% during the day.

By the end of the US stock market on Wednesday, the US dollar index was slightly above 104.70, falling by more than 0.2% during the day. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the US dollar against ten other currencies, fell by nearly 0.2%, moving away from the high reached during the same period since November 16th last year. Both the US dollar index and the Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell after two consecutive days of gains.

Among non-US currencies, the Japanese yen, which fell below 150.00 for the first time since November last year on Tuesday, rebounded. In the Asian session, the USD/JPY pair rose above 150.80, approaching the high of 150.90 reached on Tuesday, November 2023. However, it quickly fell and continued to decline, falling to 150.35 before the European stock market session, a decrease of 0.3% during the day. The EUR/USD pair fell below 1.0700 during the European stock market session, hitting a low not seen since November 2023 for two consecutive days. However, it quickly rose back above 1.0700 and continued to rise after a turnaround before the US stock market session. At the close of the US stock market, it was above 1.0720, up nearly 0.3% for the day. The British pound against the US dollar fell below 1.2540 during the European stock market session, approaching the low of December 23rd when it fell below 1.2520, down over 0.4% for the day. At the close of the US stock market, it was above 1.2560, down over 0.2% for the day.

The offshore renminbi (CNH) against the US dollar fell to 7.2337 in the early Asian market session, hitting a low not seen since November 17, 2023, for two consecutive days. It quickly rebounded and maintained its upward trend. The US stock market rose to 7.2224 in the early session, up 113 points from the low of the day. At 5:59 am Beijing time on February 16th, the offshore renminbi against the US dollar was reported at 7.2243 yuan, up 71 points from the New York closing on Tuesday, rising for the second day this week after falling on Tuesday.

Bitcoin (BTC), which briefly fell below $20,000 on Tuesday, rebounded strongly. The European stock market rose above $50,000 in the early session and quickly broke through $51,000. The US stock market briefly rose above $51,900, and the trading price on a few platforms broke through the $52,000 mark in the short term, reaching a high not seen since December 2021 before the big drop on Tuesday. It rose more than $3,000 and more than 7% from the intraday low below $49,000 in the early Asian session. At the close of the US stock market, it was above $51,600, up more than 4% in the past 24 hours.

Bitcoin broke through $52,000 for the first time since December 2021, but quickly fell below this level.

US oil ends seven-day rally, falling from a two-week high, US natural gas hits a three-year low for six consecutive days

International crude oil futures fell during the session. When the US stock market opened, US WTI crude oil approached $78.80, up nearly 1.2% for the day, and Brent crude oil touched $83.60, up about 1% for the day. However, the gains narrowed after the release of the US EIA crude oil inventory data in the early session, and prices quickly turned downward. At midday, US oil approached $76.50, down over 1.7% for the day, and Brent oil fell below $81.50, down over 1% for the day.

In the end, crude oil prices fell collectively. The WTI March crude oil futures, which had risen for seven consecutive days and reached a closing high since January 26th, fell nearly 1.58% to $76.64 per barrel. The Brent April crude oil futures fell $1.17, or 1.41%, to $81.60 per barrel, falling for two consecutive days and reaching a closing low since last Wednesday, February 7th.

US WTI crude oil rose over 1% during the session, but fell nearly 2% after the release of the US EIA crude oil inventory data last week, which showed a much larger-than-expected increase. Gasoline and natural gas futures in the United States fell together. NYMEX March gasoline futures fell by about 3.2%, closing at $2.3169 per gallon, after two consecutive days of gains on Tuesday, falling from the high since October 2 last year. NYMEX March natural gas futures fell by over 4.73%, closing at $1.609 per million British thermal units, marking the seventh consecutive trading day of decline, hitting the lowest closing level since June 2020, and continuing the longest consecutive decline since October 20 last year. It has hit at least a three-year low since September 2020 for six consecutive days, with the lowest point on Wednesday at $1.59, a drop of about 5.9% during the day.

LME Stops Six Consecutive Gains, Copper Falls, Nickel Rises for Three Consecutive Days, Gold Falls for Five Consecutive Days, Hitting a Two-Month Low

London base metal futures continued to fluctuate on Wednesday. LME tin, which had risen for six consecutive trading days, fell back, while LME copper, which had rebounded for two consecutive days from the high of the past six months since August last year, closed below $8,200 per ton, approaching the low of the past three months set last Friday. LME zinc fell for two consecutive days, approaching the low of the past five months set last Friday.

On the other hand, LME nickel rose for three consecutive days, hitting a high since the end of January for two consecutive days. LME lead, which had fallen for five consecutive days, temporarily bid farewell to the low since November 2022. LME aluminum, which fell on Tuesday, rebounded and did not continue to fall to the low of the past two weeks set last Monday.

New York gold futures overall remained in a downward trend on Wednesday, only briefly rebounding during the midday trading session of US stocks. The price of gold fell below $1,996.40 during the early trading session of US stocks, dropping more than 0.5% during the day.

In the end, gold futures fell for five consecutive trading days. COMEX April gold futures, which fell nearly 1.3% on Tuesday, closed down 0.14% at $2,004.3 per ounce, hitting the lowest closing level since December 13, 2023.

After falling below $2,000 for the first time since December 13, 2022, spot gold remained below $2,000 throughout Wednesday, with US stocks falling below $1,985 during the early trading session, hitting a low for two consecutive days since December 13, 2022, with a drop of over 0.4% during the day. It closed above $1,990 during the stock market closing, with a drop of over 0.1% during the day.

Spot gold hovering below the key level of $2,000 on Wednesday.