Market Highlights 💡 - 24 January 2025

The S&P 500 Index hits a new all-time high, surpassing the 6,100-point mark.

🇺🇸 S&P 500 Index: 0.53% 📈

🇺🇸 Nasdaq: 0.22% 📈

🇪🇺 Stoxx 600 Index: 0.44% 📈

🇯🇵 Nikkei 225 Index: 0.79% 📈

🇭🇰 Hang Seng Index: -0.40% 📉

🇨🇳 Shanghai Shenzhen 300 Index: 0.18% 📈

🇸🇬 Straits Times Index: 0.67% 📈

Wall Street rises, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gaining 0.5% and 0.2%, respectively, after President Trump called for lower interest rates and oil prices fell.

The EU Consumer Confidence Index, as expected, increased from -14.5 to -14.2 in January, but remains in negative territory, indicating ongoing pessimism.

For the week ending January 18, initial jobless claims in the U.S. rose slightly by 6K to 223K (forecast: 220K, prior: 242K), suggesting no deterioration in the labor market and strengthening expectations that the Fed won't cut rates next week.

In December, Japan's exports grew 2.8% YoY (market expected 2.3%), but the growth slowed from November's 3.8%, mainly due to weaker demand for semiconductor manufacturing equipment and a weaker yen.

Asian stock markets closed mixed. The Hong Kong Hang Seng Index fell -0.4%, while the Shanghai Shenzhen 300 Index rose 0.2%, as China's long-term investment action plan to boost the market failed to convince investors.

💡 Upcoming Events 💡

At the end of this week, on Friday, we will see the release of the U.S. S&P Global Manufacturing and Services PMI flash, Michigan Consumer Sentiment Index final, Eurozone HCOB Manufacturing and Services PMI flash, Japan's annual inflation rate, Japan's Jibun Bank Manufacturing and Services PMI flash, and the Bank of Japan's interest rate decision.

💡 Things to Know Today 💡

1. "The message I am delivering to every company around the world is simple: Come to America and make your products here. We offer the lowest tax rate of any country on Earth," said President Trump in his virtual speech at the World Economic Forum.

Donald Trump

2. In his virtual speech at the World Economic Forum, President Donald Trump promised to press Saudi Arabia and OPEC to lower oil prices and called for an immediate interest rate cut to address economic challenges.

OPEC

3. Oracle Corp $Oracle(ORCL)$  aims to boost its cloud business, with a market share of less than 5%, compared to Amazon's 40%. Cloud revenue is expected to increase from $10 billion per year to $30-40 billion annually.

Oracle

4. China's financial regulators announced that 30% of new insurance premiums will be invested in A-shares to stabilize the stock market, and pension allocations will increase by 10% annually over the next three years.

5. SK Hynix's Q4 2024 operating profit exceeded that of Samsung, thanks to strong demand for HBM chips in AI applications. However, its stock price fell -4.7% due to investor disappointment over a more conservative capital expenditure plan for 2025 and weak first-quarter shipment expectations.

SK Hynix

✅ Key Takeaways: 

Since President Trump's inauguration on Monday, investors are shifting their attention from Washington to Tokyo and the Bank of Japan, with expectations that the Bank of Japan will raise interest rates to their highest level in 17 years at 0.5%.

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