S&P Nasdaq narrowly rose for the third consecutive day, with Nvidia plunging nearly 6% intraday. Tesla soared 12% after its financial report, while Meta plummeted more than 10% after hours. The Japanese yen fell below a key level

In the first two days of this week, many tech giants that supported the rise of US stocks fell back. Even the leading tech giant "Seven Sisters", Nvidia, opened high and fell low, with a midday plunge of nearly 6% from the high at the beginning of the session. Meta, which will release its financial report after the market on Tuesday, also turned downward during the session. The three major stock indexes all turned downward during the session, and the highly anticipated blue-chip earnings reports failed to support the overall market rally.

The performance of leading stocks that announced their financial reports varied: Old Dominion Freight Line, a car transport giant facing economic softness pressure with revenue in the first quarter lower than expected, saw a double-digit drop, dragging down the S&P industrial sector. Despite lackluster performance in the first quarter, Tesla jumped over 10% with a gap-up opening after Musk hinted at starting production of more affordable models a year earlier than planned, marking its best single-day performance in over two years. Meta, with second-quarter revenue guidance lower than expected, fell after hours. Although Nvidia turned downward, the chip stock index maintained its upward momentum, with Texas Instruments leading the gains as its second-quarter revenue guidance exceeded expectations. Some analysts believe that its guidance signals a turning point in the demand recovery for industrial chips. Boeing, with first-quarter revenue decline and losses lower than expected, initially surged 5% before turning downward. After Moody's downgraded its credit rating to just one level above junk, the decline widened to over 3%.

In the currency market, the USD/JPY exchange rate hit a new low since 1990 this week, and on Wednesday it even fell below 155.00, a level considered by Bank of America to trigger Japanese government intervention. With the weakening of the yen, the US dollar index, which had fallen to near two-week lows during the session, turned higher. As the US dollar rebounded, Bitcoin accelerated its decline, falling below $64,000 during the session, down more than $3,000 from the daily high, far from the high of over $67,000 reached over a week ago.

However, Japan may not take action in the near future. Takao Ochi, an official from Japan's ruling party, the Liberal Democratic Party, said on Tuesday that there is currently no consensus on what level of exchange rate constitutes a red line, but if it falls to 160 or 170, it may prompt government action. Some strategists believe that the successful intervention of the yen in 2022 was because Japan could act when US bond yields peaked. This time, Japan is less confident before the US non-farm payrolls report next Friday and the subsequent CPI release. The Bank of Japan, which will announce its monetary policy decision on Friday, has not yet made an appearance, and the key level now becomes 160.

The yen has fallen significantly below the level before the Japanese government intervention in 2022

In the bond market, the US Treasury conducted a record $70 billion five-year Treasury bond sale on Wednesday, the highest amount ever for this maturity. Compared to the $69 billion two-year US Treasury bonds sold on Tuesday, demand for the five-year Treasury bonds was weak, with the bid-to-cover ratio lower than the recent six-time average, and the awarded interest rate higher than the pre-issued rate at the tail end In the secondary market, the prices of US Treasury bonds are under pressure, with most of them falling. After the release of the PMI on Tuesday, the price rebound only lasted for one day, and the yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury bond began to approach the high point set last week over the past five months.

In the commodity market, the decline in industrial metals on Tuesday eased, with London copper and London zinc rebounding, while London tin continued to decline but the decline was far less than the over 7% drop on Tuesday. Gold continued to fall this week, with New York gold falling to a near three-week closing low, but both the intraday volatility and the daily fluctuations of spot gold were less than on Tuesday, with fluctuations of less than 1%. Due to easing Middle East risks, disappointing preliminary April PMI data in the US on Tuesday, and the impact of the US dollar rebound, international crude oil prices fell. However, in early trading, US stocks rebounded briefly as the US Energy Information Administration announced the first decline in US crude oil inventories in five weeks, with a sharp decrease of nearly 6.4 million barrels, far exceeding expectations, causing a short-term rally in crude oil prices. Some analysts mentioned that oil prices were also affected by EIA data showing that US gasoline supplies fell to their lowest level since mid-February last week, reflecting the impact of weak demand.

Dow Ends Four-Day Winning Streak, Tesla Sees Largest Gain in Two Years, Nvidia Falls, Chip Stocks Still Up for Three Days, Chinese Concept Stocks Outperform the Market for Three Days

The three major US stock indexes opened higher for three consecutive days, but fell towards the end of the morning session. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which opened slightly higher by nearly 50 points, quickly turned lower in early trading. By the end of the morning session, it had fallen by over 190 points, a 0.5% drop. It briefly turned higher during the midday session and then rallied again towards the end of the session. The S&P 500 Index, which had risen by nearly 0.4% in early trading, and the Nasdaq Composite Index, which had risen by about 0.9% in early trading, both turned lower. They fell by nearly 0.5% and 0.4% respectively during the midday session, then briefly turned higher before falling again, and rallied once more towards the end of the session.

In the end, only the Dow closed lower, down by 42.77 points, a 0.11% drop, at 38460.92 points, ending its four-day winning streak and falling from the closing high set on April 9th. The S&P and Nasdaq both rose for three consecutive days. The S&P closed up by 0.02% at 5071.63 points, setting a new closing high for the second consecutive day since April 12th. The Nasdaq closed up by 0.1% at 15712.75 points, still unable to erase the over 5% decline from last week, and closing below the level of the previous Tuesday.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index, dominated by value stocks, fell by 0.36%, underperforming the broader market, after three consecutive days of gains since the high on April 12th. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index rose by 0.32%, rebounding for three days after hitting a low not seen since January 18th last Friday. The Nasdaq Technology Market Cap Weighted Index (NDXTMC), which measures the performance of tech stocks in the Nasdaq 100 index, rose by 0.09%, continuing to recover from the low set on February 21st last Friday.

Major US stock indexes saw their gains diminish on Wednesday, with simultaneous declines during the session, and small-cap stock indexes falling behind the broader market Among the Dow components, Home Depot (HD) led the decline with a drop of nearly 1.8%, followed closely by Amazon. Boeing, which announced its earnings before the market opened, initially rose by 5%, but turned lower in the morning session. After Moody's downgraded its rating from Baa2 to Baa3 and assigned a negative outlook, Boeing fell more than 3% intra-day and closed down 2.9%. Visa, whose first-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded expectations, rose by over 3% at the opening and closed up 0.3%.

In the S&P 500 sectors, only four sectors closed lower on Wednesday, with the industrial sector leading the decline by nearly 0.8%. This was mainly due to the 11% drop in Old Dominion Freight Line (ODFL), a leading company in the transportation sector, and General Dynamics (GD), a defense company whose first-quarter earnings fell below expectations, dropping by 4%. The financial and healthcare sectors fell between 0.1% and 0.3%, while the communication services sector fell by less than 0.1%. Among the seven sectors that rose, consumer staples rose by over 0.9%, and the IT sector, which includes chip stocks like Nvidia, saw a slight increase.

Due to the decline in transportation stocks, the S&P industrial sector ETF had the largest decline on Wednesday.

Including Microsoft, Apple, Nvidia, Google's parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Meta (Facebook's parent company), and Tesla, most of the tech giants known as the "Big Seven" were trading lower towards the end of the morning session, with mixed performance at the close, with Tesla performing the best. Despite announcing a 9% decline in first-quarter revenue, the largest in over a decade, Tesla's stock surged by around 12.6% at the opening, reaching a high of around 16.1% in the morning session. The midday gains narrowed to within 10%, closing up nearly 12.1%, marking the largest closing gain since January 3, 2022, and a two-day consecutive increase to a high close since April 12.

Following Tesla's earnings report, the stock surged, marking the largest closing gain since early January 2022.

Among the FAANMG six major tech stocks, Meta, which will announce its earnings after the market close on Wednesday, rose by 2.8% at the opening, but turned lower in the morning session, dropping by over 1% and closing down 0.5%. It failed to break away from the low closing level set since February 21. After the earnings report was released after hours, the decline quickly expanded to over 10%. Netflix, which rebounded by over 4% on Tuesday, opened lower and closed down by 3.9%, approaching the low closing level set since February 13. Amazon turned lower at the opening and closed down by 1.6%, nearing the low closing level set since March 18. Apple, which quickly turned higher at the opening, closed up by nearly 1.3%, rebounding for three days after a five-day decline to the low closing level set since April 26, 2023 Alphabet rose after the midday session and closed up more than 0.7%, marking a three-day consecutive increase, refreshing the closing historical high set on April 11th; while it had risen over 1% at the beginning of the midday session; Microsoft, which had slightly turned down at the end of the morning session, closed up nearly 0.4%, marking a three-day consecutive increase to a high in a week.

Tech giants such as Tesla and Nvidia, part of the "Seven Sisters," initially rose overall, then fell back in the morning session, and eventually closed roughly flat.

Chip stocks continued to rise overall, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the Semiconductor Industry ETF SOXX rising over 3% at the beginning of the session, with gains of less than 0.5% at midday, closing up about 1.1% and 1.3% respectively, rebounding for the third consecutive day after hitting a low since February 1st following three days of consecutive declines.

Among chip stocks, Nvidia rose about 2% at the beginning of the session, turned down in the morning, fell nearly 4% at midday, dropping over 5.8% from the high at the beginning of the session, and ultimately closed down 3.3%, starting to fall towards the low since the 10% plunge on February 21st created last Friday; AMD, which had risen over 3% at the beginning of the session, turned down at the end of the morning session, closing down nearly 0.4%; Micron Technology, which had fallen over 2% at the beginning of the session, closed down 0.6%; TSMC's US stock, which had risen over 2% at the beginning of the session, turned down in the morning and fell over 1% at one point, closing down 0.3%; while Texas Instruments (TXN), which announced first-quarter revenue and second-quarter guidance higher than expected after Tuesday's session, rose nearly 8.5% at the beginning of the session, closing up 5.6%; Intel, which rose over 2% at the beginning of the session, closed up 0.6%; Broadcom, which had risen nearly 3% at the beginning of the session, briefly turned down at midday, closing up 0.6%; Seagate Technology (STX), which reported third-quarter earnings higher than expected but revenue lower than expected, turned up at the end of the session, closing up nearly 0.7%.

Nvidia led the decline in blue-chip tech stocks on Wednesday.

AI concept stocks overall lost momentum. By the close, SoundHound.ai (SOUN), which turned down at midday, fell 3.8%; BigBear.ai (BBAI), which turned down in the morning, fell over 1%; known as "Little Nvidia," Astera Labs (ALAB), which sells data center interconnect chips, turned down in the morning and closed down 1%; Super Micro Computer (SMCI), which turned down in the morning, fell 0.9%; Palantir (PLTR), which turned down at the end of the morning session, fell 0.2%; while Adobe (ADBE) rose about 0.9%, Oracle (ORCL), which fell over 1% at midday, rose 0.2%, and C3.ai (AI), which turned down multiple times during the session, closed up less than 0.1%.

Popular Chinese concept stocks continued to rise overall. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) closed up nearly 1.1%, outperforming the market for three consecutive days, rising for three consecutive days to a high since April 11th Chinese concept ETFs KWEB and CQQQ rose by about 2.3% and 2.9% respectively. The new forces in the electric vehicle sector did not all rise together. By the closing bell, Nio and Xiaomi fans' orders rose by over 3%, while XPeng fell by over 1%, and Li Auto fell by 3.8%. Among other individual stocks, at the close, Bilibili rose by about 11%, Tencent fans' orders rose by over 3%, Alibaba rose by nearly 3%, JD.com rose by over 2%, Baidu and NetEase rose by about 1%, while Pinduoduo fell by nearly 0.4%.

Among the stocks that released their financial reports, Hasbro (HAS), the toy giant whose first-quarter earnings and revenue exceeded expectations, narrowed by 11.9%, while its peer Mattel (MAT), whose first-quarter loss narrowed more than expected, rose by 2.4%; Biogen (BIIB), a biotechnology company whose first-quarter earnings and sales of Alzheimer's drug Leqembi exceeded expectations, rose by nearly 4.6%; Hilton Global Holdings (HLT), which reported first-quarter earnings above expectations and raised its full-year guidance, rose by 3.9%; while Enphase (ENPH), a solar stock whose first-quarter revenue and second-quarter guidance were below expectations, fell by nearly 5.6%; Align Technology (ALGN), a dental technology company that reported first-quarter earnings and revenue above expectations after hours, rose by nearly 4% after hours; Ford (F), which reported first-quarter earnings above expectations and raised this year's free cash flow guidance, rose by over 3% after hours; IBM, whose first-quarter revenue was below expectations, fell by over 8% after hours.

In Europe, after a strong rally on Tuesday, the pan-European stock index stopped at two consecutive gains. The STOXX 600 index fell by 0.43% to 505.61 points, falling from the high of 508.93 points on April 8th after rising nearly 1.1% on Tuesday, the largest daily gain since January 26th, and may still rise for the week. Major European stock indices fell together, with the UK stock market, which had risen for five consecutive days, temporarily leaving the historical highs set for two consecutive days, and the German-French stock market, which had risen for two consecutive days, and the rebounded Italian stock index all fell.

In terms of sectors, financial services led the decline, falling by over 1.9%, mainly due to media reports that after abandoning negotiations for a possible sale, the Dutch-listed fund distribution company Allfunds fell by 11%. In addition, UBS fell by 2.9% after executives expressed concerns about Switzerland's plans for stricter capital requirements. The banking sector fell by nearly 1.1%, with components such as Handelsbanken, a Swedish commercial bank whose first-quarter net profit fell short of expectations, plunging by 12.1%, and SEB, another Swedish bank whose first-quarter interest income was lower than expected, falling by 3.7%; while the technology sector rose by over 1.3%, benefiting from ASM International (ASMI), a Dutch-listed wafer processing equipment supplier, which surged by 11% after raising its second-quarter revenue guidance.

The US Dollar Index hit a near two-week low before rebounding, with the Japanese Yen falling below 155 to hit a new low since 1990, and Bitcoin briefly dropping below $64,000.

Tracking a basket of six major currencies including the Euro, the ICE US Dollar Index (DXY) fell below 105.60 in early Asian trading, hitting a low not seen since April 12 for two consecutive days. It rose less than 0.1% during the day, maintained its upward trend after a rebound in Asian trading, and approached 106.00 in early US stock trading, rising nearly 0.3% during the day, before giving back more than half of the gains by midday.

By the time US stocks closed on Wednesday, the US Dollar Index was above 105.80, up more than 0.1% during the day. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the US dollar against ten other currencies, rose more than 0.1% during the day, rebounding after falling to a low not seen since April 12 on Tuesday. US stocks rose more than 0.2% in early trading before giving back some of the gains.

Among non-US currencies, the Japanese Yen hit a new low since 1990 for the third consecutive day on Wednesday, with the US dollar against the Japanese Yen rising above 155.00 for the first time since June 1990 during European trading, further climbing to nearly 155.40 in midday US trading, hitting a high not seen since 1990 for the third consecutive day, up more than 0.3% during the day, and closing above 153.30 at the end of US stock trading. The Euro against the US dollar rose above 1.0710 in early Asian trading, hitting a high not seen since April 12 for two consecutive days, before turning lower in pre-European trading, falling below 1.0680 during European trading to hit a daily low, closing slightly below 1.0700 at the end of US stock trading, roughly unchanged from Tuesday. The British Pound against the US dollar turned higher during US stock trading, reaching up to 1.2470 in midday trading to hit a daily high, hovering around 1.2460 at the end of US stock trading, up 0.1% during the day, continuing to move away from the low seen in November 2023 below 1.2300 that was hit on Monday.

The offshore Chinese Yuan (CNH) against the US dollar hit a daily high of 7.2552 in early Asian trading, turned lower in pre-European trading and continued to decline. In midday US trading, it fell to 7.2738, hitting a low not seen since last Tuesday, falling below 7.27 for the first time since then, dropping 186 points from the high, and by 4:59 am Beijing time on April 25, the offshore Chinese Yuan against the US dollar was at 7.2731, down 126 points from the New York closing on Tuesday, falling for two consecutive days after halting a two-day decline on Monday Bitcoin (BTC) briefly rose in pre-European stock trading and rose above $67,000 to refresh the daily high. Since pre-US stock trading, it has accelerated its decline, with the early US stock market falling below $65,000. By the end of the US stock market, it had fallen below $64,000, with some platform trading prices falling below $63,900, dropping more than $3,000 from the daily high, a decrease of about 5%. It is far from the high of over $67,200 reached on April 13, and at the close of the US stock market, it was above $64,000, falling more than 3% in the last 24 hours.

The demand for 5-year US Treasury notes was weak, and the yield on 10-year US Treasury notes rose for the first time this week.

The yield on the 10-year benchmark US Treasury note fell below 4.60% in early Asian trading to refresh the daily low at 4.5963%, then continued to rise. In early US stock trading, it approached 4.67%, approaching the high of 4.70% set on November 13, 2023, since last Tuesday. After the completion of the 5-year US Treasury note sale, the yield rose back above 4.66% at midday, and by the end of the bond market, it was around 4.64%, up 4 basis points during the day, rebounding after three consecutive days of decline.

The more interest rate-sensitive 2-year US Treasury note yield fell below 4.91% in early Asian trading to refresh the daily low, dropping more than 2 basis points during the day. After European stock market opening, the decline was reversed, and the European stock market rose to nearly 4.95% to refresh the daily high. The yield rose by about 2 basis points during the day, with a slight retreat in the US stock market midday, failing to approach the high set on November 14, 2023, after rising above 5.0% on Monday. By the end of the bond market, it was around 4.93%, holding steady compared to the level at the same time on Tuesday, stopping the two-day decline.

Most of the US Treasury yields rebounded on Wednesday, with the 10-year and 30-year US Treasury yields surpassing the high before the release of the PMI on Tuesday, while the 2-year US Treasury yield still slightly declined.

Crude oil fell back, and US WTI crude oil rose briefly after the release of US EIA crude oil inventory data.

International crude oil futures fell during trading. When European stocks hit a daily high, US WTI crude oil rose above $83.70, rising more than 0.4% during the day. Brent crude oil approached $88.80, rising nearly 0.4% during the day. After a brief decline in early European stock trading, the US stock market rose briefly after the release of US EIA crude oil inventory data. At midday, US oil fell below $82.50, down 1.1% during the day, while Brent oil fell below $86.70, down nearly 2% during the day At the end, crude oil fell back on Tuesday's rebound. WTI June crude oil futures fell by $0.55, or 0.66%, to $82.81 per barrel; Brent June crude oil futures fell by $0.40, or 0.45%, to $88.02 per barrel, failing to continue to break away from the closing low since March 27 set on Monday.

Despite a much larger-than-expected drop in U.S. EIA crude oil inventories last week, U.S. WTI crude oil still fell.

U.S. gasoline and natural gas futures had mixed performances. NYMEX May gasoline futures rose by about 0.3% to $2.7343 per gallon, rising for two consecutive days and continuing to move away from the low set on March 27 after falling for four consecutive days on Monday; NYMEX May natural gas futures, which rose for two consecutive days, fell by 8.77% to $1.6530 per million British thermal units, dropping from the high set on April 10 since Tuesday. Comments suggest that the "shoulder season" between winter and summer, with mixed weather conditions, is expected to keep the natural gas market oversupplied, as recent weather data indicates lower natural gas demand.

London copper halts two-day decline, London tin hits a new weekly low, gold falls for three consecutive days, and gold futures hit a near three-week low

London base metal futures mostly rose on Wednesday. Copper and zinc in London rebounded after two days of decline, not continuing to fall from the highs set last Friday in April 2022 and April last year, while aluminum in London, which had risen for seven consecutive days on Tuesday, rebounded slightly, as it fell by over 3% on Tuesday and failed to approach the high set since June 2022 on Monday.

Nickel in London, which led the decline by over 7% on Tuesday, continued to decline, hitting a new weekly low but with a slowing downward trend, falling by about 0.3%; after rising for four consecutive days, nickel in London fell for two days, continuing to fall from the high set since September last year.

New York gold futures fluctuated several times during the session, with European stocks hitting a daily low of $2324.8 in early trading, falling by over 0.7% during the day, still far from the intraday low set below $2305 on April 5 refreshed on Tuesday, while U.S. stocks turned higher in early trading, hitting a daily high of $2350.9, rising by nearly 0.4% during the day, still far from the intraday historical high set near $2450 on April 12.

Gold futures fell for three consecutive days, with COMEX June gold futures falling by 0.16% to $2338.4 per ounce, hitting a closing low since April 4.

Spot gold fell below $2312 in early European stock trading, falling by over 0.4% during the day, not approaching the low set below $2292 on April 5 refreshed on Tuesday, while U.S. stocks turned higher in early trading, rising above $2337 to hit a daily high, rising by over 0.6% during the day, gradually giving back gains at midday, still far from the intraday historical high set above $2430 last Friday At the close of the US stock market, spot gold was slightly below $2320, down more than 0.1% intraday. The declines on Tuesday and Wednesday were significantly milder than the over 2% drop on Monday.

New York silver futures, which turned higher on Tuesday, saw a slight decline, with COMEX May silver futures closing down 0.06% at $27.346 per ounce. It failed to move further away from the low closing level set on April 3, following the over 5% drop on Monday.

Spot gold edged lower on Wednesday, easing off the sharp declines seen in the two days following the significant drop on Monday