Lufax Holdings’ U.S. stocks rose nearly 47% before the market opened, and the company planned to distribute special dividends totaling approximately 10 billion yuan.
Site B fell 6% before the market opened.
Data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on the 7th showed that the number of people applying for unemployment benefits for the first time in the week ending March 16 was 210,000, slightly exceeding expectations of 215,000, and the same as the previous value. The number of people continuing to apply for unemployment benefits in the week ended March 9 was 1.807 million, lower than the expected 1.82 million and the previous value of 1.811 million, indicating that the U.S. labor market remains stable.
The Bank of England announced its latest interest rate decision, stating that it would keep the benchmark interest rate unchanged at a 16-year high of 5.25% for the fifth consecutive time, in line with market expectations. This is the first time since September 2021 that no Bank of England member voted in favor of raising interest rates.
Among them, Haskel and Mann no longer voted to raise interest rates, and Dhingra voted for a second time to cut interest rates to 5%. He was the only member to support the lending monetary policy.
After the announcement of the interest rate decision, the pound fell by more than 10 points against the US dollar in the short term and then rebounded quickly, then fell back and is now at 1.2733.
On Thursday, March 21, U.S. stock futures and European stocks both rose. AI demand boosted the U.S. stock market, which rose by more than 18%. Gold surged higher, oil prices fluctuated at high levels, and Bitcoin rose by 7%.
Dovish sentiment spread across the global market, the Federal Reserve's "dove announcement" boosted risk sentiment, and the Swiss National Bank fired the first shot of cutting interest rates, becoming the first major central bank to start cutting interest rates.
The Bank of England interest rate decision will be the focus tonight. Before the announcement of the Bank of England's interest rate decision, traders increased their bets on a rate cut by the Bank of England, which is expected to reach 75 basis points in 2024.
The Federal Reserve's March interest rate meeting overnight was more dovish than expected. The dot plot, which is the focus of the market, still maintains the expectation of three interest rate cuts this year. It has not reduced as feared, giving the market "reassurance".
Tony Sycamore, an Australian strategist at IG, said that with the Fed's "dove release", U.S. bond yields currently seem to be stable, people generally feel relieved and have returned to the technology field, and the hot discussion around artificial intelligence has returned to dominance. .
Li Auto's U.S. stocks fell nearly 7% before the market opened. After the company said that due to lower-than-expected sales orders, the company now expects its vehicle delivery volume in the first quarter of 2024 to be 76,000 to 78,000 vehicles, compared with the previous forecast of 100,000 to 103,000 vehicles.
Swiss franc falls after Swiss National Bank unexpectedly cuts interest rates
EUR/CHF reversed its decline after the Swiss National Bank's decision, rising 0.69% to 0.9748. On the news, the Swiss National Bank lowered its policy interest rate by 25 basis points to 1.5%, estimated at 1.75%. This is the first interest rate cut by a G10 central bank since the epidemic subsided.
U.S. stock futures rise; U.S. optical fiber futures rise more than 18% before market open
U.S. stock futures rose collectively, with Nasdaq 100 futures rising to 1%, S&P 500 futures rising nearly 0.5%, and Dow futures rising 0.35%.
Micron Technology's U.S. stocks rose more than 18% before the market opened. The company's second-quarter revenue exceeded expectations and was boosted by AI opportunities. Its performance guidance also exceeded expectations.
Tesla rose 1.5%, Nvidia, Microsoft, Amazon, etc. rose slightly, and Apple fell 1%.
In terms of Chinese concept stocks, Xpeng Motors and Pinduoduo rose more than 1% before the market opened.
European stocks higher
The European Stoxx 50 index rose by more than 1%, the German DAX index rose by more than 0.84%, the British FTSE 100 index rose by 1.10%, and the French CAC40 index rose by 0.55%.
Gold surges higher, oil prices rise, and Bitcoin surges 7%
After the Fed's comments, spot gold broke through $2,200 per ounce, setting a new all-time high and currently trading at $2,205.21 per ounce.
Analysts have revised their price expectations upwards. Citigroup's latest forecast is that gold prices may rise to US$2,300 per ounce in the second half of 2024; Goldman Sachs also believes that gold prices will reach US$2,300 before the end of the year.
International oil prices continued to fluctuate at high levels, with Brent crude oil futures rising to US$85.68/barrel and WTI crude oil futures rising slightly to US$81.58/barrel.
Bitcoin also rose sharply, rising more than 7% during the day to US$67,434 per coin.
The U.S. dollar retreats and the yen rebounds
U.S. Treasury yields remained steady, the U.S. dollar index retreated and the Japanese yen rebounded for the first time in eight days as expectations grew that the Federal Reserve would cut interest rates as early as June.