The U.S. stocks closed higher on Friday. Yet, all three major indices recorded declines for the week, putting an end to the nine-week winning streak.  

Apple faced two downgrades in three days and encountered antitrust litigation, resulting in a five-day consecutive drop in its stock price.  

The December non-farm payroll data in the U.S. surpassed expectations with accelerated wage growth, significantly reducing the possibility of an interest rate cut by the Federal Reserve as early as March. 

The overall decline in prominent tech stocks like Apple exerted pressure on the market. Apple’s stock price notably dropped for five consecutive trading days.  

Reports on Friday indicated that the antitrust investigation against Apple had entered its final stage, with the U.S. Department of Justice preparing to file a lawsuit.  

Additionally, in the first week of the new year, Apple faced stock rating downgrades from two securities research institutions. 

Wolf von Rotberg, a stock strategist at Bank J.Safra Sarasin, mentioned, “Stock valuations largely reflect a very benign macro outcome, making it challenging for the market to advance from its current levels. Consequently, with downside risks prevailing, the first half of 2024 might be a challenging period for the stock market.” 

U.S. Stocks

Fundamental Analysis: 

Large tech stocks experienced mixed movements, with Nvidia surging by over 2%. AMD and Meta climbed over 1%, while Micron Technology and TSMC followed suit. Apple, Google, Microsoft, and ARM saw marginal declines.  

Banks and shipping companies showed overall gains, with Bank of America, US Bancorp, Wells Fargo, Morgan Stanley, and Citigroup surging by over 1%.  

Southwest Airlines surged by over 4%, while American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines saw over 3% increases.  

Carnival Cruise Line rose by over 2%. Most blockchain-related stocks witnessed declines, with Marathon Digital Holdings dropping by over 8%, Bit Digital and Riot Blockchain falling by over 6%, Ninth City dropping by over 4%, Bit Mining and Canaan Inc. following suit. 

Most popular Chinese concept stocks experienced declines, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index dropping by 1.80%.  

BeiGene and XPeng Inc. fell by over 5%, Bilibili and NetEase dropped by nearly 5%, Alibaba, Li Auto, and NIO dropped by over 2%, JD.com, Ke Holdings, and Tencent Music dropped by over 1%. 

Technical Analysis:   

(S&P 500 Index, 1-day chart) 

Market Trends: 

• Dow Jones rose by 25.77 points, a 0.07% increase, closing at 37,466.11 points. 
• Nasdaq rose by 13.77 points, a 0.09% increase, closing at 14,524.07 points. 
• S&P 500 Index rose by 8.56 points, a 0.18% increase, closing at 4,697.24 points. 

Hong Kong Stocks

Fundamental Analysis: 

The three major indices in the Hong Kong stock market showed mixed movements.  

Core technology stocks mostly declined, with NetEase leading the decline by over 2%.  

Alibaba, Baidu, and JD.com saw minimal declines, while Kuaishou surged by over 1%. Tencent opened high at 0.75%.  

Some automobile stocks experienced declines, with XPeng opening low at 1.6%.  

Property stocks collectively opened high, with China Evergrande and Sunac China surging by over 2%. 

The beginning of 2024 saw a loss in momentum, with the Hang Seng Index declining by 3%.  

Among the constituents, only 11 stocks recorded gains, with East Money Information Co. (00316) performing the best, rising by nearly 8%, and Ctrip rising by 6.34%.  

Noteworthy were resource stocks, with PetroChina (00857), China Shenhua Energy (01088), and CNOOC (00883) displaying strong performances, with increases ranging from 4.5% to 5.4%. 

Technical Analysis:  

(Hang Seng Index, 1-day chart) 

Market Trends: 

• Hang Seng Index (HSI) rose by 0.28%, closing at 16,581.86 points. 
• Hang Seng Tech Index (HSTECH) fell by 0.08%, closing at 3,589.35 points. 
• Hang Seng China Enterprises Index (HSCEI.) rose by 0.16%, closing at 5,615.81 points. 

FTSE China A50 Index

Fundamental Analysis: 

A-shares in the three major indices opened low, and the market weakened after the opening, with the Shanghai Composite Index dropping by over 1%, falling below 2900 points.  

The Shenzhen Component Index and the ChiNext Index also both fell by over 1%, reaching new adjustment lows.  

A-shares slightly rebounded from their morning lows, with the ChiNext Index showing relatively smaller declines.  

Additionally, the Science and Technology Innovation 50 Index dropped by over 2%, falling below 800 points, while the Shanghai 50 Index also fell by over 2%. 

In terms of sector performance, only a few sectors such as engineering consulting services, photovoltaic equipment, tourism and hotels, department stores, education, and cultural media saw increases.  

Semiconductor, electronic chemicals, consumer electronics, software development, electronic components, agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, and other sectors experienced larger declines. 

Technical Analysis: 

(SSE Composite Index, 1-day chart) 

Market Trends: 

• Shanghai Composite Index (SHCOMP) fell by 0.91%, closing at 2,902.4 points. 
• Shenzhen Component Index (SZCOMP) fell by 1.17%, closing at 9,009.88 points. 
• ChiNext Index (CHINEXT) fell by 0.99%, closing at 1,758.01 points. 
• SSE STAR Market 50 Index (SSE50) fell by 2.23%, closing at 789.75 points. 

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