Overnight US Stocks | Three major indices plummet, with Dow Jones falling by about 500 points and NVIDIA dropping by 6.67%

According to the Wise Finance APP, on Thursday, the three major indexes plummeted, with the Nasdaq falling by 2.3% and the Dow Jones dropping by about 500 points. A series of weak economic data in the United States once again sparked concerns about the possibility of the U.S. economy entering a recession. The U.S. ISM manufacturing data contracted for the fourth consecutive month, and initial jobless claims surged last week.

[U.S. Stocks] At the close, the Dow Jones fell by 494.82 points, a decrease of 1.21%, to 40,347.97 points; the Nasdaq dropped by 405.25 points, a decrease of 2.3%, to 17,194.15 points; the S&P 500 index fell by 75.62 points, a decrease of 1.37%, to 5,446.68 points. AMD (AMD.US) fell by over 8%, NVIDIA (NVDA.US) fell by 6.67%, Tesla (TSLA.US) fell by 6.55%.

[European Stocks] Major European indexes rose, with the Germany DAX30 index falling by 2.3%, the France CAC40 index falling by 2.14%, the Euro Stoxx 50 index falling by 2.2%, and the UK FTSE 100 index rising by 1.01%.

[Asia-Pacific Stock Markets] The Nikkei 225 index fell by 2.49%, the Indonesia Jakarta Composite Index fell by 0.85%, and the Vietnam VN30 index fell by 2.09%.

[Gold] COMEX December gold futures rose by 0.39% to $2,482.7 per ounce at the close, while COMEX September silver futures fell by 1.77% to $28.425 per ounce.

[Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin rose by 0.39% to $64,864.6 per coin; Ethereum fell by 1.81% to $3,173.36 per coin.

[Crude Oil] WTI September crude oil futures closed down $1.6, a decrease of nearly 2.06%, at $76.31 per barrel; Brent October crude oil futures closed down $1.20, a decrease of nearly 1.49%, at $79.52 per barrel.

[Metals] Most London metals fell, with LME copper falling by 2.35%, LME nickel falling by 2.22%, and LME aluminum falling by 0.76%; LME zinc rose by 0.36%.

[Macro News]

U.S. Initial Jobless Claims Rise to Nearly One-Year High. U.S. initial jobless claims rose to nearly a one-year high, further proving that the labor market is slowing down. Data released by the U.S. Department of Labor on Thursday showed that for the week ending July 27, initial jobless claims increased by 14,000 to 249,000, compared to market expectations of 236,000. Continued jobless claims also rose to 1.88 million for the week ending July 20, the highest level since November 2021.

U.S. Labor Productivity Rebounds, Inflation Risks Diminish. U.S. labor productivity in the second quarter exceeded expectations, helping to mitigate the growth of labor costs and further proving that inflation pressures are easing. Nonfarm business sector labor productivity in the second quarter recorded a 2.3% increase, slightly higher than the first quarter of this year. Unit labor costs in the second quarter recorded a 0.9% increase, compared to a 3.8% growth in the first quarter. Productivity data often fluctuates significantly on a quarterly basis, but the overall improvement over the past year indicates that businesses are making efforts to mitigate the impact of rising operating costs Despite the high cost of borrowing, corporate investment remains strong, supporting long-term economic growth. This report provides further evidence to the Federal Reserve that the risk of accelerating inflation is diminishing.

US manufacturing orders fell in July, with producer price inflation significantly slowing down. Chris Williamson, Chief Business Economist at S&P Global Intelligence, stated that there was a reversal in manufacturing recovery in July, with dimmer growth prospects and a noticeable cooling of inflation in the goods production sector. The business environment deteriorated in July, with new orders falling for the first time since April, leading to almost stagnant production. Due to concerns that sales were below expectations, procurement activities are declining, and recruitment activities are slowing down. In July, sales price inflation slowed significantly to its lowest level in a year, indicating only a slight increase in prices in July. This near-stagnant producer price inflation is expected to transmit to consumer price inflation in the coming months.

OPEC+ maintains its plan to resume oil production in the next quarter. OPEC+ stated at the meeting that there would be no change in oil supply and will adhere to the preliminary plan to gradually release production starting next quarter. In June this year, OPEC+ agreed to gradually restore production from October to support oil prices, which had been suspended until the end of 2022. Production will increase by approximately 540,000 barrels per day in the fourth quarter. Although recent oil price declines may relieve consumers and central banks, it may have an impact on OPEC+ countries. Data from the International Energy Agency indicates that if OPEC+ continues to increase supply in the fourth quarter, a new supply surplus may emerge. Citigroup expects the group to start restoring supply by mid-next year. Harry Tchilinguirian, Head of Oil Research at Onyx Commodities, stated that OPEC+ still needs to see the current policy work in reducing inventories before considering a shift.

[Stock News]

Amazon (AMZN.US) misses earnings guidance, stock price drops 6% after hours. Amazon's third-quarter net profit guidance fell short of analysts' expectations, indicating that the company's spending on meeting the demand for artificial intelligence services exceeded expectations, causing the company's stock price to drop more than 6% after hours. Amazon expects operating profit in the third quarter to reach $11.5 billion to $15 billion, with analysts' average expectations at $15.7 billion; sales are expected to reach $154 billion to $158.5 billion in the third quarter, with growth of 8% to 11%, compared to analysts' expectations of $158.4 billion. CEO Andy Jassy has been cutting costs, focusing on the profitability of Amazon's main online retail business, while investing heavily in AI services, which the company says is a "multi-billion dollar revenue operation." Sales in Amazon's cloud services division grew by 19% to $26.3 billion, exceeding expectations, achieving sequential growth for the second consecutive quarter. However, strong cloud computing performance was offset by weakness in Amazon's main e-commerce business. Amazon's second-quarter seller services and advertising revenue were below expectations.

Intel (INTC.US) suspends dividends for the first time in 32 years, stock price plunges 18% after hours. Intel announced on Thursday that third-quarter revenue would be significantly below analysts' expectations and announced layoffs of over 15,000 people, causing the stock price to plummet by over 18% after hours The company stated that sales for the current quarter are expected to reach $12.5 billion to $13.5 billion, while analysts' average forecast is $14.38 billion. Intel plans to lay off over 15% of its approximately 110,000 employees. The statement mentioned that the company will also suspend dividend payments to shareholders starting from the fourth quarter and will continue to do so until "cash flow improves to a sustainably higher level." The company has been paying dividends since 1992. These performance results highlight Intel's headwinds. The company has dominated the semiconductor industry for decades, but is now forced to announce cost-cutting measures and ensure funding for growth plans.

Apple (AAPL.US) requests U.S. judge to dismiss antitrust lawsuit. Apple stated that the antitrust lawsuit by the U.S. government alleging monopolistic practices in the smartphone market is "not grounded in reality" and should be dismissed by federal judges. The U.S. Department of Justice, 19 states, and the District of Columbia accused Apple of illegal monopolistic practices in the smartphone sector, imposing contract restrictions on developers, and preventing them from entering key areas. Apple argued that reasonable restrictions on third-party developers accessing its technology do not constitute anti-competitive behavior, and forcing it to share technology with competitors would hinder innovation. The lawsuit filed in March this year focuses on Apple's restrictions and fees on app developers, as well as technical barriers for third-party devices and services (such as smartwatches, digital wallets, and messaging services) that may compete with Apple's own products. The U.S. Department of Justice stated that by impeding interoperability between iPhones and third-party apps and devices, Apple locks users into its products, harming market competition. However, Apple argued that the lawsuit failed to provide any evidence that its practices harm competition or consumers.

IT failure disrupts U.S. Olympic delegation's schedule, Delta Air Lines refuses help from CrowdStrike. The U.S. Olympic delegation won over 30 medals in the past week. However, to ensure they arrived on time at the competition venues, they had to make extraordinary efforts. This was because Delta Air Lines (DAL.US), the official airline of the U.S. delegation, was paralyzed by a technical failure caused by CrowdStrike (CRWD.US) while transporting 1,800 athletes, coaches, staff, and equipment to Paris. Affected athletes had to switch to other flights, including partner airlines and even some competing airlines. Delta Air Lines also had to add a last-minute flight departing from New York to transport the groups before pre-competition events and the opening ceremony on July 26. A CrowdStrike spokesperson stated, "We regret and apologize to all customers for this incident and the disruption it caused." "While its main competitor quickly recovered from the failure, Delta Air Lines rejected our efforts to help them recover quickly."