Breakfast | EU antitrust regulation drags down tech giants collectively, Apple reportedly to launch AI store

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Overnight Morning Market

The European Union has launched an antitrust investigation against Apple, Google, and Meta for the first time under the new digital law that took effect earlier this month. US tech giants saw a simultaneous decline during trading hours. The three major US stock indexes all closed lower. The Dow, S&P 500 both fell for two consecutive trading days, while the Nasdaq ended a five-day winning streak.

Alphabet dropped nearly 0.5%, Meta fell over 1.3%, Apple dropped over 0.8%, Microsoft fell nearly 1.4%, Amazon rose nearly 0.5%, NVIDIA rose nearly 0.8%, setting a new closing high record from last Friday.

Most AI concept stocks rose. Super Micro Computer (SMCI) rose 7.2%, Astera Labs rose 21.4%, BigBear.ai (BBAI) closed up 8.5%. Reddit's stock price rose nearly 30%.

DIGITAL WORLD ACQUISITION rose 35%, and Trump's Truth Social successfully went public by acquiring this blank check company. As a result, Trump's net worth will increase by over $4 billion. This means that Trump will enter Bloomberg's Billionaires Index for the first time with a wealth of $6.4 billion, ranking among the world's 500 richest people.

Most popular Chinese concept stocks fell. Pinduoduo fell over 2%, NetEase fell nearly 2%, Alibaba fell nearly 1% after, Baidu rose over 3%, JD.com rose over 1%. XPeng closed up 0.6%, Nio rose 0.4%, Li Auto closed flat.

European stock markets stabilized after achieving the longest nine-week consecutive rise in nearly 12 years. The STOXX 600 index in Europe closed flat in London. European stock markets have been on a record-breaking trend. Goldman Sachs raised its target for the STOXX 600 index in Europe for the next 12 months to 540 points, citing optimistic macroeconomic prospects and rate cuts.

Blue Chips and Hot Stocks

The EU launches an investigation into whether Apple, Google, and Meta comply with the Digital Markets Act.

Boeing undergoes major executive changes: CEO, Chairman, and others will step down.

International Brotherhood of Teamsters: Amazon union strike expands to Los Angeles County.

The Wall Street Journal: WeWork co-founder Adam Neumann submits a bid of over $500 million to acquire the bankrupt shared office company.

US electric vehicle company FISKER: Delisting will lead to a default event, triggering a request for the repurchase of 2.50% convertible bonds.

Dada Group's revenue in 2023 increased by 12% year-on-year, reaching 10.51 billion yuan. The board also approved a stock repurchase plan of up to approximately 300 million yuan.

Elon Musk sends an email to all employees: When delivering cars, customers must experience "autonomous driving" once.

Chips and Artificial Intelligence

According to AppleInsider: Apple may announce the launch of an artificial intelligence app store at the 2024 WWDC conference.

Sources say that Baidu will provide AI features for devices such as the iPhone 16 sold in mainland China by Apple this year.

Google, Intel, and Qualcomm plan to develop AI software through a foundation to compete with NVIDIA. This open-source project aims to enable computer code to run on any machine, regardless of the chip and hardware it uses Byte Speed AI: The Flow department has set up four major business lines and poached a large number of employees from Baidu and Alibaba.

Cryptocurrency

Coinshares: Last week, there was a significant outflow of funds from global cryptocurrency funds, with investors withdrawing $942 million, reaching a historical high.

10 Bitcoin ETF funds experienced their worst week since their establishment in January. The large-scale outflow of funds last week triggered more hedging by traders against price declines, as well as a significant closing of leveraged long positions in the cryptocurrency futures market.

Nathanaël Cohen, co-founder of the digital asset hedge fund INDIGO Fund, stated: "Despite the drag on ETF fund inflows, buying orders around $60,000 remain high, indicating a market eagerness to buy on dips."

The Global Banking Telecommunications Association SWIFT has outlined a roadmap to launch a global central bank digital currency "interconnect" platform in the next 12-24 months.

Ripple CEO: SEC Plans to Fine $2 Billion, Company Will Respond

Brad Garlinghouse, CEO of Ripple Labs, stated that the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is seeking a $2 billion fine in its legal battle with Ripple. The SEC sued Ripple in 2020, alleging that the company violated SEC rules by raising funds through the sale of digital tokens without registering XRP as securities.

Macro: Taking You Around the World

According to CME's "FedWatch": The probability of the Fed maintaining interest rates in May is 89.9%, with a cumulative 10.1% probability of a 25 basis point rate cut.

The Fed's Bullard reiterated expectations for only one rate cut this year; Fed official Gulsby stated that three rate cuts this year align with his thoughts; Fed official Cook mentioned that housing inflation will continue to decline, requiring caution in rate cuts.

A strategist at Bank of America: In April, the S&P 500 index will mark the 11th year of the current long-term bull market, which began with a surge in April 2013 surpassing the highs of 2000 and 2007.

BlackRock has upgraded Japanese stocks to overweight and adjusted Japanese government bonds to underweight.

Analyst Wes Goodman: Japanese stocks are expected to continue outperforming the S&P 500 index, but the pace of growth for both may slow down. The Nikkei 225 index is expected to rise by around 12% in the next year, while the S&P 500 index is expected to rise by about 7%.

Morgan Stanley and JP Morgan warned that if profit acceleration is not achieved, it will be difficult to prove that the current high valuations in the Japanese stock market are reasonable.

South Korea's "Daily Economic News": South Korea will consider tax cuts for companies that increase dividends.

PBOC Governor Pan Gongsheng: There is still sufficient policy space and a rich reserve of tools in the future. The real estate market has shown some positive signals and has a solid foundation for long-term healthy and stable development.

Second-hand housing transactions in Shenzhen have lifted the 5-day quiet period restriction. Industry insiders in China's real estate sector stated that the real estate financing coordination mechanism is being implemented, and purchase restrictions in non-core areas of first-tier cities may be lifted U.S. companies have filed a Section 337 investigation application against specific fiber optic connectors, adapters, patch cords, jumpers, as well as downstream products and components. Five Chinese companies are involved in the case