On the evening of May 13, the three major U.S. stock indices showed divergent trends. As of 22:00 Beijing time, the Nasdaq Composite Index posted a slight gain, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average and the S&P 500 Index turned lower.
The U.S. semiconductor sector broadly advanced. Marvell Technology surged over 10%, ON Semiconductor gained nearly 7%, and Navitas Semiconductor rose more than 4%. Chip stocks, initially strong, retreated from earlier highs. Micron Technology's gains narrowed to 4%, while Qualcomm, Intel, and Western Digital turned negative after initial rises. NVIDIA briefly climbed nearly 3%, once again reaching a record high with its total market capitalization touching $5.5 trillion; as of the latest update, its gain has moderated to 1%. The U.S. optical communications sector saw widespread gains. Applied Optoelectronics rose nearly 7%, Lumentum gained close to 3%, and Coherent briefly surged almost 9% to a record high before paring gains to 2.8%. Other individual stocks included cloud computing service provider Nebius, which jumped over 10%. The company reported first-quarter revenue of $399 million, a staggering year-over-year increase of 684%. Chinese assets experienced a significant rally, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index expanding its gain to 4%. VNET Group skyrocketed over 31%, Kingsoft Cloud Holdings surged more than 17%, JD.com advanced over 8%, Alibaba climbed more than 7%, Baidu and NIO both rose over 6%, while Li Auto and Bilibili gained more than 4%. The FTSE China A50 Index futures saw a sharp upward move, rising 0.22%.
International precious metals showed mixed performance. New York gold futures fell below $4,680 per ounce, while spot gold declined 0.75%. New York silver futures rose over 2%, and spot silver gained nearly 0.6%. WTI crude oil futures expanded their gain to 1%, while Brent crude edged up nearly 0.2%. Following the release of the latest U.S. CPI data, hopes for a Federal Reserve rate cut have nearly evaporated. The market now even assigns a probability exceeding one-third for a potential rate hike before the end of this year. The incoming Fed Chair, Wash, may find it difficult to maintain a stance favoring rate cuts. Analysis suggests that the policy direction under the incoming Chair will be influenced by several factors. First is the inflation data itself; if core inflation continues to exceed expectations and service-sector inflation broadens in the coming months, the rationale for cutting rates will become more tenuous. Second is the evolution of the Middle East situation; if oil prices remain elevated or climb further, the policy space for rate cuts will be constrained. Third is the internal political dynamics within the Fed. The central bank is expected to maintain its current high-interest-rate stance in the near term. The focus of monetary policy is shifting from "when to cut rates" to "whether a renewed rate hike is necessary."
Comments