Breakfast | S&P 500 falls below the 50-day moving average. Dow Jones falls for the sixth consecutive day, Morgan Stanley is bearish on the US earnings season

Good morning! A great day starts with making money.

Overnight Morning Market

The U.S. March retail sales data released on Monday showed a month-on-month growth of 0.7%, slowing down from the revised 0.9% increase in February, but still significantly stronger than the expected 0.4% growth. The market believes that the data demonstrates the resilience of the economy, stimulating expectations that the Federal Reserve is not in a hurry to cut interest rates.

Tech giants weighed on the market, with the S&P 500 experiencing its largest two-day decline since the collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, closing below the 50-day moving average for the first time in five months. The Dow fell for the sixth consecutive day, while the Nasdaq dropped by 1.79%.

Tesla led the decline among the tech "Big Seven," falling by 5.6%. Meta and Netflix closed down by about 2.3% and 2.5% respectively, Microsoft and Amazon fell by nearly 2% and 1.4% respectively, and Apple dropped by 2.2%. Nvidia fell by nearly 2.5%, Intel rose by 1.7%, and AMD fell by 1.8%.

The U.S. and UK imposed trading bans on Russian metals, leading to a surge in several mining stocks in early trading. Century Aluminum (CENX) rose by 7.7%, Alcoa (AA) rose by 3.9%, and Freeport-McMoran (FCX) rose by 1.1%.

Chinese concept stocks were weak, with Nio falling by over 5%, XPeng falling by over 3%, Li Auto falling by over 2%, Baidu and Pinduoduo falling by over 1%, Alibaba dropping by nearly 1%, JD.com rising by 0.1%, and NetEase slightly rising.

China will release macroeconomic data for the first quarter today.

Blue Chips and Hot Stocks

Cybertruck pre-order customers informed of delivery delays

Industry insiders: Xiaomi's SU7 lock-in volume has exceeded 60,000

Nio's car manufacturing qualifications may have been approved

JD.com: Chief Procurement Officer Dongge Digital Man (Liu Qiangdong) will kick off his first live broadcast

Apple CEO Cook visits Vietnam for a two-day visit. IDC data shows that iPhone shipments fell by nearly 10% in the first quarter.

Media: Tesla's layoffs in some departments have reached 20%. Several personnel involved in Tesla's Texas Gigafactory project have been dismissed, including Infrastructure Director Amir Mirshahi. Tesla has fired Senior Manager of Cathode Materials and Manufacturing, Anthony Seeston. Senior Vice President Drew Baglino will leave the company.

Musk: Approximately every 5 years, we need to reorganize and streamline the company for the next phase of growth.

Japanese media: Japan is preparing to file an antitrust lawsuit against Google over search advertising

Times China: Hang Seng Bank has applied to the court for the liquidation of its subsidiary

Regarding market rumors that Vanke is preparing a total of approximately 130 billion yuan in asset packages as collateral for loans, a Vanke investor relations official stated, "We have not heard of this."

Morgan Stanley has added PetroChina H shares, Trip.com Group, and Pinduoduo to its list of key stocks to watch in the China-Hong Kong market, and removed CNOOC, NetEase, and Kweichow Moutai from the list.

JPMorgan CEO Dimon reported that on April 15, the company sold 178,222 shares of JPMorgan common stock on the open market at a price of $184.1783 per share.

Market news: Lockheed Martin secures a $17 billion U.S. missile defense contractPwC responds to allegations of audit failure at Evergrande: Information is seriously inaccurate and has been reported to the authorities.

Mainland celebrity fund manager Cai Songsong is suspected of "bribery of non-state functionaries" and "bribery of non-state functionaries" and has recently appeared in court. It may involve market manipulation.

Chips and Artificial Intelligence

Blackstone Group CEO: The "land grab" for artificial intelligence is underway.

Intel may launch a China-specific version of the Gaudi 3 AI accelerator chip.

OpenAI is seeking partners in the Japanese semiconductor industry to develop high-performance chips.

According to the Economic Times of India: Tesla has reached an agreement with Tata Electronics to purchase chips.

HSBC upgrades AMD rating to buy; target price $225.

Cantor Fitzgerald states that Apple's stock has underperformed this year, creating a good opportunity for investors to buy before positive factors related to artificial intelligence emerge.

Cryptocurrency

Jiashi, Boshi, and Huaxia Fund's spot Bitcoin ETF approved by the Hong Kong Securities and Futures Commission.

Bitcoin briefly fell below $63,000 last night.

IPO Opportunities

Nezha Auto receives a 5 billion yuan investment, with investors coordinating related resources to support achieving an IPO as soon as possible.

AI startup "Chumen Wenwen" is undergoing a hearing at the Hong Kong Stock Exchange and is expected to become the "first stock of AIGC".

Macro: Taking You Around the World

Fed's Williams: Does not believe recent inflation data is a turning point, personally believes rate cuts may start this year.

Probability of Fed maintaining interest rates in May at 95.4%.

Goldman Sachs states that if US stocks continue to fall, hedge funds may sell $20-42 billion of US stocks within the next month. If the S&P 500 falls below 5135 points, the short-term trend will shift from corrective to negative, triggering stock sales for trend-tracking hedge funds.

JPMorgan warns: They have lowered profit expectations for US corporate earnings in the first quarter, believing that profits for most US companies will decline across the board. Even if US corporate earnings perform well, it will be difficult to drive US stocks higher as most of the optimism has already been priced in.

Goldman Sachs' prime brokerage data shows that as of the week ending April 12, hedge funds have been net buyers of Chinese stocks for the third consecutive week, with the largest net buying volume in over two months.

Media: Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong will step down from office on May 15, 2024, and hand over to his successor, Heng Swee Keat.

German Chancellor Scholz: German market welcomes Chinese cars. A delegation of German economic representatives, including leaders from Siemens, Mercedes-Benz, BMW, visited, and met with the Mayor of Shanghai.

In 2023, Biden and his wife earned $620,000, paid nearly $150,000 in taxes, with a tax rate of 23.7%