Breakfast | Get ready to welcome the stormy week of US stocks: Tech giants like Magic 7 will release earnings, non-farm payroll report

Good morning! A great day starts with making money.

Last week, the S&P 500 index fell by about 0.96%, the Nasdaq rose by 0.16%, and the Dow Jones fell by 2.68%.

Important Events This Week: Earnings reports from tech giants such as Google, Meta, Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, and the non-farm payroll report

(All times are local)

Monday: Earnings reports from China Southern Airlines, CNOOC, Sinopec. The Global Low Altitude Economy Forum 2024 Annual Meeting will be held in Beijing from October 27th to 29th. Apple's Apple Intelligence feature is expected to be launched on the 28th along with iOS 18.1. The Hengqin Port Cooperation Express Channel expands the range of passersby.

Tuesday: Earnings reports from McDonald's, PetroChina, China Merchants Bank, Pfizer, Google's parent company Alphabet, AMD, Ford. Xiaomi 15 series and Xiaomi Surging OS 2 new product launch event.

Wednesday: US October ADP employment figures and preliminary third-quarter GDP. Earnings reports from Vanke, BYD, China's four major state-owned banks, CICC, Meta, Microsoft. Saudi Arabia's first Hong Kong-listed ETF debuts.

Thursday: China's official manufacturing PMI for October, US September PCE. Earnings reports from Li Auto, Merck, Amazon, Apple, Intel. The Bank of Japan announces its interest rate decision and outlook report.

Friday: China's Caixin manufacturing PMI for October, US October seasonally adjusted non-farm payrolls and unemployment rate. Earnings reports from Exxon Mobil, Chevron. Mainland China further improves the pricing mechanism for commercial individual housing loans, and foreign access restrictions in the manufacturing sector are fully lifted.

Sunday: Daylight saving time begins in North America, with US financial market trading hours delayed by one hour from daylight saving time. Several European countries begin daylight saving time on October 27th, with financial market trading hours delayed by 1 hour.

Election and Non-Farm Payrolls Lead to November Decision, Fed Enters Silent Period Again, Will There Be Any Leaks This Time?

Analysts expect that key data such as the September PCE inflation report and October employment report will not change the Fed's decision-making path. Economist Matthew Luzzetti said, "In other circumstances, the data might influence their decisions, but this year, officials may not waver... The presidential election will not change the Fed's plan to cut interest rates by 25 basis points on November 7th."

NYSE: Extending Stock Market Trading Hours

The New York Stock Exchange announced plans to extend the trading hours of its all-electronic exchange NYSE Arca for US stocks to 22 hours every weekday, pending regulatory approval, covering all stocks, ETFs, and closed-end funds listed in the US. The extended trading hours will start at 1:30 a.m. Eastern Time on weekdays and continue until 11:30 p.m. late at night

Alibaba agrees to pay $400 million to settle U.S. shareholder collective lawsuit, but denies any allegations

Alibaba has agreed to pay $4.335 billion to settle a shareholder collective lawsuit previously disclosed in public filings. All defendants will be fully released from all claims made in the lawsuit. Alibaba stated that the company denies any allegations of wrongdoing, liability, misconduct, or harm, "We have reached this settlement agreement to avoid the cost and disruption of further litigation."

NVIDIA's new generation AI chip GB200 orders surge, while H100 chip faces cold reception

In the mainland market, servers equipped with the H100 chip are generally sold or rented in an 8-card form. Last year, the selling price of an 8-card machine was generally above 3 million RMB, but now the price has dropped to around 2.3-2.4 million RMB, with prices changing weekly. The price of an 8-card machine with the H20 chip, specially supplied by NVIDIA to China, has also dropped from around 1.4 million RMB to below 1.1 million RMB. The initial rental price of the H100 chip was $4.7 per hour, and during peak demand, it was once speculated to be over $8 per hour. Now, the rental price for one H100NVL is between $2-3 per hour.

Indonesia tightens control on the sale of iPhone 16 in the country due to Apple's failure to meet Indonesia's investment targets

The Indonesian Ministry of Industry stated that travelers to Indonesia can bring in iPhone 16, but selling the phones is not allowed. iPhone 16 cannot be sold in Indonesia because the company has not met the local investment targets. If individual phones brought in are sold in Indonesia, it will be considered illegal.

iOS 18.2 reportedly set to be released in December

Renowned tech journalist Mark Gurman stated that Apple has confirmed the release of iOS 18.2 in December, which includes support for non-English speaking regions. Apple's website in these regions currently displays "Apple Intelligence will be released in December."

Market news: Apple is developing a non-invasive blood glucose sensor and exploring products to combat the prevalence of diabetes.

CNET survey: One-quarter of smartphone users are not interested in AI features

A survey by tech and consumer electronics media CNET shows that many consumers do not like artificial intelligence products on phones from companies like Apple, Google, and Samsung—especially if they have to pay to use them. 25% of smartphone users believe AI features are not helpful, 45% are unwilling to pay a monthly subscription fee for AI features, and 34% are concerned about privacy issues. The biggest motivation for U.S. adult smartphone users to upgrade their devices is longer battery life (61%), followed by more storage space (46%) and better camera functions (38%), with only 18% saying it is the addition of artificial intelligence.

Google is reportedly developing AI technology that can control browsers to perform tasks such as research and shopping.

OpenAI CEO responds to launching GPT-5 Orion by the end of the year: Fake news out of control

The Verge, an American technology media outlet, reported that OpenAI plans to launch another cutting-edge artificial intelligence model, codenamed Orion or possibly GPT-5, before December. Subsequently, Sam Altman, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, responded to the article on "X," stating that "fake news is out of control."

The Wall Street Journal: Boeing is exploring the sale of its aerospace business.

The world's first flying car smart manufacturing base launched in Guangzhou, with an annual production capacity of 10,000 units

On October 27th, Xiaopeng Huitian Flying Car Smart Manufacturing Base officially started construction. This is the world's first flying car factory that uses modern assembly lines for mass production, and it will be used to produce the flying body part of the modular flying car "Land Carrier."

ZEEKR MIX begins deliveries in Beijing, Hangzhou, and other cities

ZEEKR Intelligent Technology's family-oriented full-scenario five-seater ZEEKR MIX has officially launched. The new car includes the Intelligent Driving version and the Long-Range Intelligent Driving version, with official retail prices of 279,900 yuan and 299,900 yuan, respectively.

SF Express reportedly to list in Hong Kong on November 27th, planning to raise about $1 billion

According to Bloomberg, SF Express plans to conduct a secondary listing in Hong Kong, with a scheduled listing date of November 27th and an expected fundraising amount of about $1 billion. However, the timing and scale of the offering are still subject to change. If successfully listed, it will be the second largest new stock in Hong Kong this year after Meituan.

Hong Kong Financial Secretary to visit Saudi Arabia

Paul Chan will lead a business delegation composed of representatives from the financial and innovation sectors to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia for a three-day visit on the 28th. One of the key activities is to witness the listing of the first two exchange-traded funds (ETFs) on the Saudi Stock Exchange that track Hong Kong stocks. Another focus is to accelerate and deepen cooperation in innovation and technology between the two regions. The delegation includes over 110 members, including representatives from the Belt and Road Office, the Financial Services and the Treasury Bureau, the Securities and Futures Commission, the Insurance Authority, the Hong Kong Stock Exchange, the Hong Kong Investment Management Limited, the Hong Kong Financial Development Bureau, the Hong Kong Science Park Corporation, and Cyberport.

Chinese Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min: Confident in achieving around 5% economic growth target for the whole year

Liao Min stated that the recent package of incremental policies introduced by the Chinese government has received widespread international attention. In addition to monetary policy, China will increase the counter-cyclical adjustment intensity of fiscal policy. A series of strong measures will be implemented to resolve local government debt, stabilize the real estate market, increase income for key groups, ensure people's livelihoods, promote equipment upgrades, and encourage the replacement of old consumer goods with new ones. China is confident in achieving an economic growth target of around 5% for the whole year and will continue to inject momentum into global economic growth.

From January to September, profits of China's industrial enterprises above designated size decreased by 3.5%

From January to September, the total profits of industrial enterprises above designated size in the country reached 5.22816 trillion yuan. Among them, profits of state-owned holding enterprises decreased by 6.5% year-on-year; profits of shareholding enterprises decreased by 4.9%; profits of foreign, Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan-invested enterprises increased by 1.5%; profits of private enterprises decreased by 0.6%

Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the China Passenger Car Association: China's Imported Car Quantity Declined by 4% YoY from January to September

Cui Dongshu, Secretary-General of the Passenger Car Association, stated that the quantity of imported cars in China has been declining at an average annual rate of about 8% since 2017, dropping to only 800,000 units by 2023. From January to September 2024, 530,000 cars were imported, marking three consecutive years of negative growth. In September, 55,000 imported cars were recorded, a 20% YoY decrease and a 27% decrease from August, representing a significant decline in September.

Perplexity Reports Handling 1 Billion Search Queries Weekly

Aravind Srinivas, CEO of Perplexity, announced that the Perplexity AI search engine now processes 1 billion queries per week. This suggests approximately 4 billion queries per month, surpassing the 2.5 billion queries in July. It is reported that Perplexity is planning a new advertising model