Powell testimony; SOTU, Japan household spending

According to a Weibo post on Friday, Li Auto announced plans to launch more than 2,000 super charging stations this year.

Early this month, the company said It plans to install more than 5,000 stations and invest more than 6 billion yuan ($834.41 million) in charging infrastructure.

Last week, Chinese President Xi Jinping specifically called for more support for new energy vehicle development. Building charging infrastructure.

At China’s long-awaited “two-session” conference held on Tuesday, the Chinese government said efforts to revitalize the new energy sector through various measures contributed to “a 37.9% increase in new energy vehicle sales in 2023.” said.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

China’s passenger car sales rose 16.3% in the January-February period from a year earlier, according to data from the China Passenger Car Association on Friday, Reuters reported.

Sales volume in January was 3.16 million units, an increase of 57.1% from the previous year, but in February it was down 21.6% from the previous year.

EV sales in the past two months rose 18.2% year-on-year, but slower than the 20.8% growth rate for all of 2023.

— Reuters

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index rose 1.45%, led by healthcare and financial stocks, after the city announced a new security bill that would impose up to life sentences for crimes such as sedition and treason.

Other crimes punishable by up to life in prison include inciting rebellion among Chinese military personnel and colluding with outside forces to damage or weaken public infrastructure and endanger national security. included.

The draft Article 23 also proposes 20 years in prison for espionage and 10 years for crimes related to state secrets.

— Lim Huijie, Li Yingshan

A day after hitting a one-month high, the Japanese yen continued to rise against the US dollar.

On Friday, the yen stood at 147.57 yen, its highest level since February 1. On Thursday, Japan’s largest industry union group, UA Zensen, reportedly announced that employers have agreed to raise wages for full-time workers by 6.7% as part of spring wages. negotiation.

Rising wages are a prerequisite for the Bank of Japan to begin easing its ultra-easy monetary policy, which could lead to interest rate hikes and a stronger yen.

Spending by households with two or more people in Japan fell 6.3% in January compared to the same month last year. Official data showed Friday.

This was the 11th consecutive month of decline. This was significantly lower than the 4.3% decline expected in a Reuters poll.

Household spending unexpectedly fell by 2.1% from the previous month, compared to the 0.4% increase expected in a Reuters poll.

— Shreyashi Sanyal

Nvidia’s stock has risen 280% over the past year, thanks to soaring sales of chips that power artificial intelligence applications.

But Silicon Valley companies aren’t the only ones participating in AI-powered gatherings. Investors are also pouring money into companies buying these chips amid hopes that AI will help improve productivity and profits.

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— Ganesh Rao

Stocks are set to perform well in 2023, and the market remains hot so far this year.

The S&P 500 surged about 24% in 2023, recovering from the 2022 bear market. Stocks around the world also rose, with the FTSE All World Ex US index up his 16.2% in 2023.

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— Tan Weizhen

Oil prices fell slightly on Thursday, giving up some of the gains from the previous session.

The April contract for West Texas Intermediate fell 20 cents, or 0.25%, to settle at $78.93 per barrel. May Brent futures fell 21 cents, or 0.25%, to $82.77 per barrel.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell told Congress that interest rates have likely peaked and are expected to fall this year, although the central bank is taking a cautious approach given the uncertain economic outlook. U.S. crude oil and global indexes rose more than 1% on Wednesday.

In his second day of testimony, Powell told the Senate Banking Committee on Thursday that the Fed is “not far” from cutting rates as long as inflation remains at 2%.

Powell’s Congressional testimony sent an adrenaline rush to oil markets, but his cautious approach to interest rates ultimately dampened traders’ enthusiasm, said Tamas Varga, an analyst at brokerage PVM. I wrote it on Thursday.

— Spencer Kimball

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said inflation is nearing a level where officials feel comfortable cutting interest rates.

“We’re waiting for more confidence that inflation is sustained at 2%, and when we have that confidence and we’re not far from it, we’ll begin to reduce the level of limits,” Powell said. That would be appropriate.” he said Thursday during his testimony before the Senate Banking Committee.

He noted that cuts would be needed “to keep the economy from going into recession, rather than to normalize policy as the economy returns to normal.”

—Jeff Cox

Federal Reserve Bank President Cleveland is more concerned about cutting rates too quickly than keeping them high for a long time.

In a speech on Thursday, central bank officials said cutting too quickly would be a “bigger mistake” than waiting too long to track the path of inflation. The Fed is aiming for 2% inflation, and Mester and other officials have said that while progress is being made, they aren’t confident enough to start easing yet.

“That would undo all the good work we’ve put into getting inflation to this point,” he said in prepared remarks. “We cannot avoid a situation where we start easing too soon, undo some of the inflationary progress we have made, potentially destabilize inflation expectations, and then have to reverse course. We don’t want to fall into that trap, and we don’t need to take that risk because both the labor market and the economic growth are so solid.”

Mr. Mester is a voting member of the Federal Open Market Committee, which sets interest rates this year.

—Jeff Cox