Market Insights: Mar 22, 2024

Currency Market:

1. U.S. Dollar Strengthens: On Friday, the U.S. dollar continued to show strength, leading to a decline in Asian currencies across the board. The Korean won led the losses, falling by 1.3% against the dollar at one point, the largest drop since early February. The Thai baht fell by 1.2% against the dollar at one point, reaching a five-month low. The offshore yuan fell below 7.25 against the dollar, with a daily loss of about 300 points, now at 7.2510.
2. Swiss National Bank Cuts Rates: The day before, the Swiss National Bank unexpectedly announced a cut in interest rates by 25 basis points, becoming the first developed economy in the G10 to lower rates after a prolonged period of high inflation.

Stock Market:

1. AH Shares Open Low and Move Lower: On Friday, both A shares and H shares opened low and moved lower. The three major A-share indexes all fell by more than 1%, with the Shanghai Composite Index widening its losses to 1.11%, the Shenzhen Component Index falling 1.28%, and the ChiNext Price Index dropping 1.35%. The Science and Technology Innovation Board 50 Index fell 1.05%. Most sectors declined, with precious metals leading the losses. Low-altitude flight, Sora concept, and other sectors fell, but the high-speed connection concept for copper cables surged, the Kimi concept continued to soar, and storage chip shares also performed relatively well.
2. Reddit's First Day of Trading: Reddit's stock price soared by up to 70% on its first day. Overnight on Thursday, "America's Tieba" Reddit was listed on the New York Stock Exchange with the ticker "RDDT", making its initial public offering. The opening price was $47, up 38.2%. The stock price hit a high of $57.8 during the session, valuing the company at $10.9 billion at its peak. Ultimately, Reddit closed up 48%, with a closing price of $50.44, valuing the company at approximately $9.5 billion.
3. Apple’s Stock Price Falls: The U.S. Department of Justice sued Apple for using its monopoly position in the mobile market to harm consumers, developers, and competitor companies, causing Apple’s stock price to plummet. Additionally, the EU is also considering taking antitrust actions against Apple.
4. Performance of U.S. Stocks: The three major U.S. stock indexes all performed well, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising by 270 points. The market's confidence in the Federal Reserve's potential rate cut in June has rebounded, which is positive for market sentiment. However, Apple's stock price fell sharply by 4% due to the antitrust accusations from the U.S. Department of Justice. Additionally, the listing of the Reddit discussion platform led to a nearly 50% surge in its stock price.

Commodity Market:

1. Oil Prices Fall: Oil prices have fallen for two consecutive days, with a mid-session loss of 1%.
2. Gold Price Fluctuates: Gold prices once rose above $2200, setting a new high, but later fell.

Macroeconomic Data:

1. U.S. Data: The U.S. manufacturing PMI reached a new high of nearly two years in March, but service sector activity remained sluggish, and inflationary pressures rapidly climbed. Additionally, February's existing home sales reached a new high for the year, but inventories surged, and the median house price set a new record high for the period.
2. Eurozone Data: Eurozone business activity improved in March, mainly driven by the service sector, but Germany's manufacturing sector shrank.

Bond Market:

Dovish Guidance from the Bank of England: Dovish guidance from the Bank of England led to a decline in yields on European bonds and the British pound, with the pound falling by 1%.

Steel Market:

Rebar Prices Rebound: The main contract for rebar has rebounded in the past two days, and spot prices have also started to rise. The rebar absolute index bottomed out on March 18th and began to rebound, rising to 3715.4 yuan/ton on March 20th.

Monetary Policy:

China's Monetary Policy: The People's Bank of China conducted a 20 billion yuan reverse repurchase operation to maintain reasonably ample liquidity in the banking system. Additionally, there is still room for a reduction in the required reserve ratio.

Stock Market Overview:

Performance of Individual Stocks: Across the board, stocks generally fell, with more than 4600 stocks declining. However, stocks related to high-speed connections for copper cables bucked the trend and surged, AI applications continued to be active, storage chip concept stocks also performed strongly, while non-ferrous metal concept stocks underwent adjustments.