Next week's heavy schedule: NVIDIA welcomes the "big test" of financial report! China's August PMI, PBOC continues MLF, Fed's favorite inflation indicator

August 26th - August 31st Weekly Highlights of Major Financial Events, all in Beijing time:

Highlights of the week: NVIDIA, Pinduoduo, Meituan, BYD financial reports, PBOC continues MLF, China's August PMI data, US July core PCE price index, Q2 GDP revision, Eurozone, Japan Tokyo August CPI data, India Q2 GDP. NVIDIA appears at Hot Chips conference, showcasing the latest progress of Blackwell. Israel says it is ready to face an "important week".

PBOC Continues MLF

On August 15th, the People's Bank of China announced the extension of the Medium-term Lending Facility (MLF) to August 26th.

In response, Wen Bin, Chief Economist of Minsheng Bank, stated that by delaying the MLF extension to after the LPR quotation time, it further weakens the policy rate attribute of the MLF rate, strengthens the 7-day reverse repo operation rate as the main policy rate, gradually smooths the interest rate transmission relationship from short to long, and continues to promote financial institutions to enhance their independent pricing capabilities.

Wen Bin believes that with the 7-day reverse repo rate unchanged, it is expected that the MLF rate for August 26th will also remain stable.

China's August Official PMI Data

On Saturday, August 31st, the National Bureau of Statistics released the August PMI data.

According to the data released last month, affected by "off-season, insufficient demand, and extreme weather", China's official manufacturing PMI for July slightly decreased to 49.4, with the manufacturing industry's business climate remaining stable. The non-manufacturing sector maintained expansion. Overall economic output continued to expand, while the production and operation activities of construction companies slowed down.

Analysis points out that the current economy is in a passive destocking phase, and the main problem facing the fundamentals is still insufficient domestic demand, dragging down production; however, the impact of external unfavorable factors such as weather conditions objectively exists, and the fact that the manufacturing PMI did not show a seasonal decline itself contains some positive signals.

NVIDIA Faces Major Financial Report Examination

NVIDIA is set to announce its second-quarter earnings after the US market closes on August 28th (Beijing time on the 29th). Wedbush stated that this event may be the "most important" event in the technology industry in years.

Analysts generally expect the company's revenue for the new quarter to be $28.67 billion, a year-on-year increase of 112.2%, although it has slowed down compared to the over 250% growth in the same period last year, the growth is still strong, with an expected earnings per share of $0.64.

Despite the recent cooling of AI investment enthusiasm, Wedbush remains bullish on NVIDIA. Analyst Matt Bryson of the firm stated that the "wave" of $1 trillion AI spending he previously predicted is underway, and tech companies are still in the early stages of investing in AI hardwareHSBC is also bullish on NVIDIA. On August 21st, HSBC analyst Frank Lee raised NVIDIA's target price from $135 to $145 and maintained a buy rating. Lee believes that due to the continued strong demand for AI GPUs, NVIDIA will continue to grow, with limited impact on earnings from delays in the product roadmap.

HSBC expects NVIDIA's sales in the second quarter to reach $30 billion, exceeding the company's guidance and the market's general expectations of $28 billion and $28.6 billion.

Pinduoduo, Meituan, BYD Financial Reports

Pinduoduo is set to announce its performance before the US stock market opens on Monday, August 26th.

According to market expectations, Pinduoduo is expected to achieve revenue of 100.99 billion yuan in Q2, a year-on-year increase of 91.46%; expected earnings per share of 19.01 yuan, a year-on-year increase of 111.27%. The growth rates of Pinduoduo's online marketing services and transaction services in Q2 are expected to slightly slow down, with GMV growth momentum easing.

BYD and Meituan will release their financial reports on August 28th.

CITIC Securities expects Meituan's overall revenue in Q2 to be 80.6 billion yuan, an 18.6% year-on-year increase, with operating profit of 10.1 billion yuan, a 115.0% year-on-year increase. It is expected that the overall stability of Meituan's takeaway order volume in Q2, with a slight decrease in AOV; steady growth in in-store GTV, and the OPM margin is expected to rebound under a relaxed external competitive environment; new businesses are expected to further reduce losses on a month-on-month basis.

In the second quarter of this year, BYD's total sales exceeded 980,000 vehicles, and Morgan Stanley expects a net profit of 8-8.4 billion yuan for the quarter.

Li Yunfei, General Manager of BYD's Public Relations Department, has publicly disclosed that the Qin L and Dolphin 06, which were listed at the end of May, have received a large number of orders. Due to the upcoming new models in the second half of the year using a platform similar to the above two products, Morgan Stanley has raised its sales expectations for BYD's 2024 fiscal year to 4 million vehicles.

Fed's Preference for Inflation Indicators May Send Negative Signals

At the globally anticipated annual central bank meeting, Federal Reserve Chairman Powell sent the strongest rate cut signal to date.

Next, attention will be on the US Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) Price Index to be released on Friday, which is the inflation indicator most favored by the Federal Reserve. Although a rate cut in September seems certain, PCE inflation may affect the magnitude of the rate cut by the Federal Reserve and its subsequent policy path.

Wall Street expects that the US July PCE price index will show a slight acceleration in year-on-year and month-on-month growth rates, with the core PCE index rebounding slightly to 2.6% year-on-year and remaining unchanged at 0.2% month-on-month. At the same time, personal spending in July is expected to increase by 0.5% month-on-month, a slight recovery from June.

While this may further alleviate concerns about economic recession, it may also weaken expectations for a significant rate cut.

Other Important Data, Events, and Meetings

NVIDIA Showcases Blackwell's Latest Developments at Hot Chips

From August 25th to August 27th, the annual top chip event Hot Chips will be held at the Memorial Hall of Stanford University in the United States. NVIDIA will share the latest developments of the super chip Blackwell on the 26th

2024 China Internet Civilization Conference

The 2024 China Internet Civilization Conference will be held in Chengdu, Sichuan Province on August 28-29, with the theme "Promoting the Spirit of the Times and Building Internet Civilization Together".

2024 China International Big Data Industry Expo

The 2024 Big Data Expo will be held at the Guiyang International Conference and Exhibition Center from August 28 to 30, focusing on the annual theme of "Digital Intelligence Coexistence: Creating a New Future for High-Quality Development of the Digital Economy". The exhibition will feature six major sections including digital industrialization, industrial digitalization, data valorization, digital governance, digital new infrastructure, and data security, showcasing new technologies, products, solutions, and applications in the field of big data from all aspects and angles, providing a professional and authoritative platform for industry elites to communicate and cooperate.

2024 China Bio-Manufacturing Conference

The 2024 China Bio-Manufacturing Conference will be held in Hefei on August 28-29, officially establishing the first "Bio-Manufacturing Industry Development Formation" in China.

2024 World Power Battery Conference

The 2024 World Power Battery Conference will be held in Yibin, Sichuan on September 1-2, with the theme "New Quality Power, Creating a Green Future". The conference will include an opening ceremony, 6 special sessions, 2 online live interviews, and achievement exhibitions.

Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange to Launch Bottle Cap Futures Trading Next Friday

According to the announcement from the Zhengzhou Commodity Exchange, bottle cap futures will start trading from August 30 (Friday). There will be a call auction from 8:55 to 9:00 on that day, and trading hours will be from 9:00 to 11:30 and 13:30 to 15:00. Night trading will also be available starting from the evening of August 30, with trading hours from 21:00 to 23:00.

Yijing Virtual: Will Showcase Latest Products at AWE Asia

As the largest and most influential XR industry event globally, AWE Asia 2024 will be held at the Singapore Expo from August 26 to 28. Yijing Virtual will showcase XR/AI wearable products, including the latest AI Glasses, consumer tablet PA3062, spatial computing MR integrated machine VisionSE, and more at this exhibition.

2024 Penghui Energy Product Technology Conference to be Held on August 28

According to the official WeChat account of Penghui Energy, a major breakthrough in an all-solid-state battery has been made. The 2024 Penghui Energy Product Technology Conference will be held on August 28, where a series of new flagship products will be released.

Israel: Getting Ready for an "Important Week"

According to CCTV News, on the 24th local time, Israeli Defense Forces spokesperson Daniel Hagari stated at a press conference that with the ongoing Cairo negotiations and the battles in the Gaza Strip and the northern border of Israel, Israel is preparing for an "important week" and is fully prepared for both offensive and defensive actionsState Council Information Office Holds Press Conference on the 24th China International Fair for Investment and Trade

According to China Net, the State Council Information Office will hold a press conference at 10:00 am on Monday, August 26, 2024, where Vice Minister of Commerce and Deputy Representative for International Trade Negotiations Ling Ji, Vice Governor of Fujian Province Wang Jinfu, and relevant officials from Xiamen City, Fujian Province will introduce the relevant information of the 24th China International Fair for Investment and Trade and answer questions from reporters.

IPO Opportunities

From August 26 to August 31, there will be 1 new stock issued in the A-share market; no stocks will be listed in the Hong Kong stock market, while 4 stocks will be listed in the U.S. stock market.

A total of 9 new funds (combined A-class and C-class) will be issued during the week.