Overnight U.S. Stocks | Nasdaq breaks 20,000 points, setting a new historical high; Musk becomes the world's richest person with a net worth exceeding $400 billion

According to Zhitong Finance, on Wednesday, the three major indices had mixed results, with the Nasdaq reaching a historic high and closing above the 20,000-point mark for the first time.

[U.S. Stocks] As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 99.27 points, a decrease of 0.22%, to 44,148.56 points; the Nasdaq rose 347.65 points, an increase of 1.77%, to 20,034.89 points; the S&P 500 index rose 49.28 points, an increase of 0.82%, to 6,084.19 points. Tesla (TSLA.US) and Google (GOOG.US) both rose over 5.5% and reached new highs. Nvidia (NVDA.US) rose 3%. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index closed down 0.74%, with Alibaba (BABA.US) falling nearly 1%.

[European Stocks] The German DAX 30 index rose 82.79 points, an increase of 0.41%, to 20,432.05 points; the UK FTSE 100 index rose 21.10 points, an increase of 0.25%, to 8,300.96 points; the French CAC 40 index rose 28.62 points, an increase of 0.39%, to 7,423.40 points; the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 8.01 points, an increase of 0.16%, to 4,959.75 points; the Spanish IBEX 35 index fell 173.11 points, a decrease of 1.45%, to 11,792.39 points; the Italian FTSE MIB index rose 194.30 points, an increase of 0.56%, to 34,719.00 points.

[Asia-Pacific Stock Markets] The Nikkei 225 index rose slightly, the Jakarta Composite Index in Indonesia rose 0.15%, and the KOSPI index in South Korea rose over 1%.

[Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin rose nearly 5%, trading at $101,511.8. The mayor of Vancouver, Canada, will propose in the city council today to use Bitcoin as a reserve asset for the city.

[Gold] Spot gold rose 0.89%, trading at $2,718.31 per ounce; COMEX gold futures rose 1.29%, trading at $2,753.60 per ounce.

[Crude Oil] Light crude oil futures for January 2025 delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose $1.70, closing at $70.29 per barrel, an increase of 2.48%; Brent crude oil futures for February 2025 delivery rose $1.33, closing at $73.52 per barrel, an increase of 1.84%.

[Macroeconomic News]

U.S. November CPI sees largest increase in seven months, but unlikely to prevent the Fed from cutting rates next week. The U.S. Consumer Price Index (CPI) for November recorded the largest increase in seven months, but this is unlikely to prevent the Federal Reserve from cutting rates for the third time next week amid a cooling job market. Data shows that last month, the CPI rose 0.3% month-on-month, the largest increase since April, following four consecutive months of 0.2% increases. The year-on-year CPI growth rate rose to 2.7% after a 2.6% increase in October. Compared to the peak of 9.1% in June 2022, the year-on-year inflation growth rate has significantly slowed. Nevertheless, the process of bringing inflation down to the Fed's 2% target has effectively stalled in recent months. However, the Fed is now more focused on the labor market. Despite job growth accelerating in November after being severely disrupted by strikes and hurricanes in October, the unemployment rate accelerated to 4.2% after remaining at 4.1% for two consecutive months OPEC further lowers oil demand forecast after delaying production increase. OPEC has cut its oil demand growth expectations for the fifth consecutive month. Previously, due to soft oil prices and concerns about weak global consumption, OPEC further delayed its production increase plans. OPEC now expects demand to grow by 1.61 million barrels per day and 1.45 million barrels per day this year and next year, respectively, down from previous estimates of 1.82 million barrels per day and 1.54 million barrels per day. The downgrade mainly reflects pessimistic data from the third quarter, but the organization's overall forecast remains optimistic, as demand growth is still above the historical average of 1.4 million barrels per day before the pandemic. During this period, global total demand is estimated to reach around 103.8 million barrels per day and 105.3 million barrels per day.

Bank of America CEO expects record high sales and trading business in Q4, investment banking revenue surges. Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan stated that the bank's investment banking revenue is expected to grow by at least 25% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, while sales and trading business is expected to reach a new high. Moynihan said at the Goldman Sachs Financial Services Conference on Wednesday that as trading "continues to grow," investment banking revenue in the fourth quarter could exceed $1.4 billion. Analysts had previously expected the second-largest U.S. bank's investment banking revenue to approach $1.5 billion, representing a growth of about 27%. Meanwhile, Moynihan indicated that sales and trading business should again record year-on-year growth, achieving mid to high single-digit growth in the last quarter of this year. Analysts predict market revenue will grow by 8.2% to $4.06 billion. "The business led by Jim DeMare has already taken a step up, but we will set a record in the fourth quarter, so we feel good," Moynihan said.

[Individual Stock News]

Apple (AAPL.US) launches Siri integrated with ChatGPT. Apple released updates for iPhone, iPad, and Mac software on Wednesday, including the long-awaited Siri integrated with ChatGPT. The ChatGPT integration is triggered when users ask Siri complex questions. When Siri is asked a question that it deems more suitable for ChatGPT, it will request the user's permission to access OpenAI services. Apple stated that the feature is built with privacy protections, and OpenAI will not store user requests. The integration uses OpenAI's GPT-4o model. It is reported that Apple users do not need an OpenAI account to use the ChatGPT integration, but users can purchase an upgraded version of ChatGPT through Apple. Additionally, users can access ChatGPT through some text menus.

Musk becomes the world's first person with a net worth exceeding $400 billion. According to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index, Tesla (TSLA.US) CEO Elon Musk's net worth surged by about $50 billion to $439.2 billion. Musk's wealth had dropped by over $200 billion by the end of 2022, but after Trump won the election last month, Musk, as his largest backer, saw his fortune skyrocket. On Wednesday, SpaceX and its investors agreed to buy $1.25 billion worth of stock from employees and other insiders The transaction values the private space exploration company at approximately $350 billion, making SpaceX the most valuable private startup in the world.

Competitors criticize Google (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) for changing search results and demand the EU to file antitrust charges. More than 20 European comparison websites criticized Google's proposed changes to its search results on Wednesday, stating that these proposals still do not comply with the EU's technical rules and urging regulators to charge Google. For over a year, Google has been discussing with comparison websites, hotels, airlines, restaurants, and retailers how to comply with the Digital Markets Act, which prohibits Google from favoring its own products and services on its platform. Last month, the company announced its latest proposal, which includes expanding equal format units that allow users to choose between comparison sites and supplier sites. If an agreement cannot be reached with competitors, it may also revert to the "ten blue links" format from years ago as an alternative. This format is currently being tested in Germany, Belgium, and Estonia