Chip stocks rebounded for a day, while the S&P and Nasdaq fell back. Tesla dropped more than 4%. Chinese concept stocks outperformed the market, and Bitcoin surged past $73,000, hitting a new all-time high.

The rebound of tech giants lasted only one day, and the US stock market was once again under pressure due to the decline of tech stocks. Winners of the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, such as chip stocks, experienced a general pullback. Oracle, benefiting from strong demand for AI servers, surged after announcing its earnings report but fell the next day. NVIDIA dropped nearly 4% intraday. Tesla, due to concerns that price cuts may impact deliveries and profits, was downgraded to underweight by JPMorgan Chase, with a target price cut of nearly 30%, causing Tesla to drop nearly 5% at one point, hitting a nearly ten-month low.

With Tesla's decline, Chinese new energy vehicle companies listed in the US, such as NIO Inc. and XPeng, failed to sustain their gains. However, most Chinese concept stocks continued to rise, with related indices outperforming the market for four consecutive trading days, reaching a high not seen in almost three and a half months. Biotechnology company BEIGENE surged over 10% after announcing the use of its first leukemia treatment drug for patients. After being initiated with a buy rating by Jefferies, Pinduoduo rose more than 10% over three days.

While the US stock market faltered, high-risk cryptocurrencies regained momentum. Bitcoin, which fell on Tuesday, rose by about $3,000 intraday, breaking through $73,000 for the first time and hitting a new intraday high for the fourth time in the past six days, marking three consecutive days of highs this week. The price surge was attributed to record inflows of funds into US-listed Bitcoin spot ETFs. Statistics show that on Tuesday, the total net inflow of funds into such ETFs exceeded $1 billion for the first time, with BlackRock's IBIT alone attracting a record $849 million.

Following the announcement of the US core CPI exceeding expectations in February, US Treasury prices continued to fall, pushing yields further away from the lows set more than a month ago last Friday. The $22 billion 30-year US Treasury bond auction completed on Wednesday saw strong demand, but did not halt the decline in Treasury prices. The yield on the benchmark 10-year US Treasury rose above 4.20% for the first time in a week, while the yield on the two-year US Treasury, sensitive to interest rates, hit a near two-week high. The US dollar index failed to sustain its rebound from the CPI announcement day and resumed its decline on Thursday ahead of the PPI inflation data release, heading back towards the lows set more than a month ago on the day when the strengthening of rate cut expectations in June was reinforced by the non-farm payroll report.

In the commodity market, gold rebounded, with gold futures closing in on the record high set on Monday. Most base metals rose, with London copper surging over 3%, closing near $9,000 for the first time since April last year. Media reports indicated that the price of copper was influenced by considerations of major copper smelters in China possibly cutting production. Executives from at least 15 copper smelters gathered in Beijing on Wednesday to discuss measures, including potential production cuts, to address the situation of declining copper processing fees.

Geopolitical tensions and a larger-than-expected drop in US crude oil inventories supported a strong rebound in international crude oil prices, marking the largest daily increase in a month. US crude, which had fallen for four consecutive days, rose by 3% at one point, while Brent crude hit a new high since March 1st, surpassing the level last seen in November last year. According to Xinhua News Agency, Ukrainian media reported that Ukrainian drones attacked three refineries in three Russian states on Wednesday, while Russian authorities stated that a refinery in Russia experienced a fire that day, possibly caused by a drone crash. The U.S. Department of Energy announced last week that the EIA crude oil inventories decreased compared to the previous week for the first time in seven weeks, with a reduction of over 1.5 million barrels, more than ten times the analysts' expectations. Gasoline inventories dropped by approximately 5.7 million barrels last week, more than twice the expected decrease.

Dow Jones Industrial Average Rises for Three Consecutive Days, Energy Sector Up Over 1%, Tesla Hits Near Ten-Month Low, Chip Stocks Down Over 2%, Chinese Concept Stocks Win for Four Consecutive Days

The three major U.S. stock indexes opened with mixed performances. The S&P 500 index, which opened lower, briefly turned slightly positive at midday, but widened its decline towards the end of the day, falling over 0.4% during the day. The Nasdaq Composite Index, which opened lower, failed to turn positive throughout the day, falling over 0.7% at the end of the morning session, approaching the daily low at the end of the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which opened higher, maintained its upward trend throughout the day, rising nearly 200 points, or 0.5%, at midday, before gradually giving back most of the gains.

In the end, only the Dow closed higher, while the S&P and Nasdaq fell back after halting their two-day decline on Tuesday. The Dow rose by 37.83 points, or about 0.1%, to 39,043.32 points, rising for three consecutive days and hitting a high close for the second consecutive day since March 1. The S&P fell by 0.19% to 5,165.31 points, failing to surpass the record high set last Thursday after approaching it on Tuesday. The Nasdaq fell by 0.54% to 16,177.77 points, falling back after a rebound of over 1.5% on Tuesday, failing to approach the closing high set on March 1, and closing lower for the third day in the last four trading days.

The small-cap Russell 2000 index, dominated by value stocks, rose by 0.3% after falling for three consecutive days to a one-week low since March 5. The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 index fell by 0.83%, giving back more than half of the gains from halting its two-day decline on Tuesday. The Nasdaq Technology Market Cap Weighted Index (NDXTMC), which measures the performance of tech stocks in the Nasdaq 100, fell by 1.05% after rising over 2% on Tuesday, failing to approach the record high set last Thursday.

In the S&P 500's major sectors, only four closed lower on Wednesday, with the IT sector, including chip stocks, falling by nearly 1.1%, interest rate-sensitive real estate down by 0.6%, healthcare down by 0.4%, and non-essential consumer goods, including Tesla, down by 0.1%. Among the seven sectors that closed higher, cyclical sectors outperformed the market, with energy leading the way with a rise of over 1.5% driven by a significant rebound in crude oil prices, and materials up by 0.9%.

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• The performance of the three major U.S. stock indexes varied, with the Nasdaq and S&P falling, the Dow rising for three consecutive days, and small-cap indexes outperforming the broader market.
• Cyclical sector ETFs in energy and materials led the gains on Wednesday, while the IT sector ETF, which includes chip stocks, saw the largest decline. Including Microsoft, Apple, NVIDIA, Google's parent company Alphabet, Amazon, Meta, and Tesla, among the seven major tech stocks, only Alphabet and Amazon did not fall during the trading session.

Tesla, downgraded by Wells Fargo with a 37.5% target price cut to $12, saw a 2.5% drop at the opening, with a late drop of over 4.7% and a closing drop of 4.5%, marking the second consecutive day of decline after a slight pullback on Tuesday, hitting nearly a ten-month low since May 2023. Wells Fargo warned that the impact of Tesla's price cuts will gradually diminish, disappointing future delivery data and more price cuts may lead to negative EPS revisions.

Among the FAANMG six major tech stocks, Apple, which had risen for three consecutive days to a high since March 4th, fell by 1.2%; Meta fell by 0.8%, and Netflix, which had rebounded in the morning, fell by nearly 0.3%, all falling back after two consecutive declines on Tuesday; Microsoft, which rebounded to a high since March 1st on Tuesday, fell slightly, while Alphabet and Amazon maintained an upward trend throughout the day, with Alphabet rising by 0.8%, continuing its five-day rise to a high since February 23rd, and Amazon rising by nearly 0.7%, rising for two consecutive days.

In the seven major tech stocks including NVIDIA, only Google and Amazon did not underperform the broader market on Wednesday, with the overall decline narrowing after hitting a new daily low in the morning.

Chip stocks fell back on Tuesday after a rebound. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and the Semiconductor Industry ETF SOXX fell by nearly 3% in the morning, closing down by around 2.5% and over 2.4% respectively, marking the third day of decline in the last four trading days and hitting a low of over a week since February 29th. NVIDIA, which rose by over 7% on Tuesday, fell by nearly 3.8% in the morning, closing down by 1.1%, resuming its decline after halting two consecutive declines on Tuesday, failing to approach the closing historical high set last Thursday; TSMC, which rose by nearly 4% on Tuesday, fell by 1.6% in the US stock market, AMD, which rose by over 2% on Tuesday, fell by nearly 4%, Intel fell by over 4%, Qualcomm and Broadcom fell by over 2%, while Arm rose by over 1%.

Among the seven major tech stocks in the US, NVIDIA led the gains since early March with a cumulative increase of over 10%, while Tesla performed the worst with a cumulative decline of over 10%.

Most AI concept stocks continued to rise. At the close, Super Micro Computer (SMCI) rose by over 2%, SoundHound.ai (SOUN) rose by nearly 25%, BigBear.ai (BBAI) rose by over 5%, Palantir (PLTR) rose by over 1%, while C3.ai (AI) and Adobe (ADBE) fell by about 1%. In addition, the quarterly earnings report revealed that Oracle (ORCL), with its largest business revenue driven by AI server demand, surged by 12% year-on-year. The stock initially dropped over 2% during trading but closed down nearly 1.6%, falling from the record high set after the earnings report was released on Tuesday.

Popular Chinese concept stocks continued to rise overall. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index (HXC) rose by 2.3% in early trading, closing up by about 1%, marking a four-day winning streak outperforming the broader market and potentially reaching a closing high not seen since November 28, 2023. Chinese concept ETFs KWEB and CQQQ rose by approximately 1.2% and 0.8% respectively. By the closing bell, BEIGENE, which had surged nearly 13% in early trading, closed up by almost 8%, while Pinduoduo rose by over 3% at midday, marking an accumulated increase of nearly 11% over the past three trading days. Baidu, JD.com, Netease, Alibaba, and Tencent all saw gains of over 2%, with Bilibili dropping by more than 1%. NIO Inc. USD OV fell by over 4%, while Li Auto and XPeng both dropped by over 3%.

The rise in Bitcoin prices drove up most cryptocurrency-related stocks. Microstrategy (MSTR), the company with the largest Bitcoin holdings, closed up by nearly 11%. CleanSpark (CLSK), a Bitcoin mining company, initially rose by about 7% during trading and closed up by almost 3.8%. Riot Platforms Inc (RIOT) closed up by nearly 1%, while Coinbase (COIN), the largest cryptocurrency exchange in the United States, which had surged over 5% in early trading, closed down by 1.7%.

Mining stocks saw an overall increase due to the rise in copper prices. By the closing bell, Southern Copper (SCCO) rose by approximately 10%, Lundin (LUNMF) by over 9%, Freeport-McMoRan (FCX) by more than 7%, Ero Copper (ERO) by around 7%, Hudbay Minerals (HBM) by nearly 7%, Glencore (GLNCY) by over 4%, and copper mining ETFs COPX and CPER by 6% and over 3% respectively.

Among the volatile stocks, Dollar Tree (DLTR), a discount retailer, fell by 14.2% after announcing fourth-quarter revenue and earnings below expectations and the potential closure of 970 Family Dollar stores. Its counterpart, Dollar General (DG), also fell by 1.9%. Petco Health & Wellness (WOOF), a pet retailer, initially dropped by 6% during trading after announcing fourth-quarter revenue above expectations but the search for a new CEO, closing down by nearly 1.6%.

In European stocks, the pan-European index rose for two consecutive days. The STOXX 600 index hit a closing high for the second day in a row. Most major European country indices continued to rise, with the French and Italian indices hitting consecutive closing highs for two days, the Spanish index rising by over 1% for three consecutive days of record highs, and both the UK and German indices rising for three consecutive days, with the UK index reaching a ten-month high, while the German index saw a slight decline after hitting record highs for two consecutive days. In various sectors, the retail sector led the gains with a nearly 3.3% increase, hitting a two-year high. This was driven by the announcement of a stock buyback of up to 100 million euros and the expectation of a return to growth in performance this year. As a result, Zalando, a fashion e-commerce company listed in Germany, surged by 18.9%. Additionally, after reporting an 11% sales growth from February 1 to March 11, Inditex, the parent company of Zara, the world's largest fashion retailer listed in Spain, rose by 7.7%, reaching a historical high. On the other hand, the automotive sector declined by 1.2% due to the forecast of a 3% increase in car sales this year, significantly slower than last year. Volkswagen fell by 5.9%, dragging down the German stock index from continuing its upward trend. The technology sector also dropped by over 0.6%, with ASML, the Dutch-listed chip stock with the highest market value in Europe, falling by 1.5%, erasing the gains from Tuesday's rebound.

The U.S. 10-year benchmark Treasury yield broke below 4.13% in pre-European stock trading, hitting a daily low before rebounding. During midday trading, the U.S. stock market briefly rose above 4.19% and tested 4.20%, reaching a high since March 5, last Tuesday, and rising by 16 basis points from the low of 4.04% set on February 2. By the end of the bond market session, it was around 4.19%, up by about 4 basis points during the day.

The 2-year U.S. Treasury yield, which is more sensitive to interest rate prospects, fell below 4.58% in pre-European stock trading, then rose above 4.60% during European trading and surpassed 4.63% during midday trading in the U.S., hitting a high since March 1. By the end of the bond market session, it was around 4.63%, rising by over 4 basis points during the day, along with other maturity Treasury yields, which had fallen for four consecutive days before rising for two days.

The ICE U.S. Dollar Index (DXY), which tracks the dollar against a basket of six major currencies including the euro, fluctuated several times before rising in pre-European stock trading. European stocks rose above 103.00 in early trading, with an increase of less than 0.1% during the day. However, the gains turned into losses, with U.S. stocks falling below 102.70 to hit a daily low, dropping by nearly 0.3% during the day, approaching the low set on January 15 after falling below 102.40 last Friday.

By the end of Wednesday's U.S. stock market close, the U.S. Dollar Index was slightly above 102.80, down by over 0.1% during the day after two consecutive days of rebounding. This marked the seventh day of decline in the last nine trading days. The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index, which tracks the dollar against ten other currencies, also fell by over 0.1%, retracting after ending a seven-day decline on Tuesday, hitting a low since the same period on Monday, January 15. The overall decline of non-US currencies, the Euro against the US Dollar rose above 1.0960 during the midday of the US stock market, up nearly 0.4% intraday, returning to the level of March 8, not continuing to fall from last Friday's rise above 1.0980, refreshing the high since January 12; the British Pound against the US Dollar rose above 1.2810 during the midday of the US stock market, refreshing the daily high, up more than 0.1% intraday, yet not approaching the high since the end of July 2023 when it rose above 1.2890 last Friday; after rising for four consecutive days, the Japanese Yen fell for two consecutive days, the US Dollar against the Japanese Yen rose above 148.00 in the early European session, up more than 0.2% intraday, continuing to move away from the low since February 2, which fell below 146.50 last Friday.

Offshore Renminbi (CNH) against the US Dollar rose in the early Asian session and refreshed the daily high to 7.1848, then quickly fell and maintained a downward trend. In the pre-European stock market, it refreshed the daily low to 7.2025, down by 152 points intraday, falling from the intraday high since January 31 after rising above 7.1 on Tuesday and refreshing the high since January 31. The European stock market recovered to 7.20 during the session. At 4:59 on March 14, Beijing time, the offshore Renminbi against the US Dollar was reported at 7.1935 yuan, down 62 points from the New York closing on Tuesday, falling for two consecutive days after stopping a three-day decline on Monday.

Bitcoin (BTC) rose above $73,000 for the first time in history in the early European session. In the early European stock market, the trading price on some platforms rose above $73,600. It continued to hit a new all-time high during Wednesday, rising by at least $3,000 and more than 4% from the intraday low in the early Asian session. The gain narrowed later, falling below $73,000 before the US stock market opened, briefly dropping below $72,000 at the beginning of the US stock market, rising above $73,000 at midday, and closing above $73,000 in the US stock market, with a gain of over 2% in the last 24 hours.

Crude oil achieved the largest monthly gain in a month, Brent crude hit a four-month high, and US oil ended a four-day decline.

International crude oil futures maintained an upward trend throughout Wednesday. After the US EIA crude oil inventory was announced, the gains expanded. During the midday of the US stock market, US WTI crude oil rose to $79.90, up about 3% intraday, Brent crude oil rose above $84.20, up more than 2.8% intraday.

In the end, both crude oils rebounded, achieving the largest closing gain since February 8. WTI April crude oil futures, which hit a new low since February 23 on Tuesday, rose by $2.16, an increase of over 2.78%, to $79.72 per barrel, reaching the highest closing level since March 1 after falling for four consecutive days. Brent May crude oil futures, which fell to the low since February 29 on Tuesday, rose by $2.11, up more than 2.57%, to $84.03 per barrel, refreshing the highest closing level since November 6, 2023, created on March 1. On Wednesday, U.S. WTI crude oil rebounded, rising by 3% at one point during the day, returning to the high before last Friday's non-farm payroll report was released.

U.S. gasoline and natural gas futures continued to fluctuate. NYMEX April gasoline futures closed up by about 2.9%, at $2.6615 per gallon, rising for three consecutive days, hitting a high not seen since September 2023; NYMEX April natural gas futures fell by about 3.27%, at $1.658 per million British thermal units, falling for six consecutive days, hitting a low not seen since February 20.

London copper rose by over 3%, London tin hit a seven-month high, gold rebounded, and gold futures approached the closing record high

Most London base metal futures rose on Wednesday. Leading the gains, London copper rose by over 3%, closing above $8,900 for the first time since late April last year, approaching the $9,000 mark, and London lead, which rose by over 1%, also rose for three consecutive days. London lead hit a new high since the end of January. London tin, which had stopped rising for four consecutive days on Tuesday, rose by nearly 2%, closing above $28,000 for the first time in seven months. London zinc, which fell on Tuesday, also rebounded, hitting a high not seen in the past two weeks. London nickel fell from a high reached after rising for four consecutive days, the highest in over four months. London aluminum, which rose for two consecutive days, fell slightly, approaching the high since the end of January.

New York gold futures maintained an upward trend throughout Wednesday, hitting a daily high of $2,185.6 during midday trading, up by 0.9% for the day, but still below the intraday historical high of $2,203 reached last Friday.

Finally, COMEX April gold futures, which ended an eight-day winning streak on Tuesday, closed up by 0.68% at $2,180.80 per ounce on Wednesday, approaching the closing historical high set on the seventh consecutive trading day on Monday.

Spot gold also rebounded on Wednesday, hitting a daily high near $2,180 during midday trading, up by 1% for the day, still below the intraday historical high above $2,195 reached last Friday.