Category: Flash News

On January 3rd, the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and local Louisiana police announced at a press conference on January 2nd that the New Orleans car crash was a premeditated terrorist attack. The FBI has confirmed that 42 year old American veteran Shamsud Din Jabbar is the suspect in this case, and there are no other suspects involved. Jabbar rented a car in Houston, Texas on December 30th and drove to New Orleans, Louisiana on the afternoon of December 31st. He also posted 5 videos on the same day, claiming that he joined the extremist organization “Islamic State” in the summer of 2024, and talked about divorce and plans to kill family and friends at family gatherings, but said he changed his plans.

On the evening of January 2nd local time, the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada (Parliament) of Ukraine, Stefan Chuk, announced that during the air raid on Kiev on January 1st, several committees and business departments of the Verkhovna Rada in Ukraine were affected by the explosion, and some rooms’ windows were shattered. (CCTV News)

On January 3rd, the Financial Times reported citing investor sources that Ken Griffin’s Citadel investment has a return rate of 15.1% in 2024. According to reports, Wellington, the flagship hedge fund of Castle, rose 1.7% in December. Castle Investment declined to comment on the Financial Times report.

On January 3rd, leading indicators such as the Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) for the manufacturing industry in December 2024, as well as high-frequency data, showed that China’s economic prosperity continued to rise and improve by the end of 2024, with both supply and demand expanding, laying the foundation for stable economic growth in January 2025. Based on recent high-frequency data, the production side may weaken in January 2025, while the demand side will continue to improve. The interviewed experts unanimously believe that although factors such as the Spring Festival holiday affect the production activities of enterprises, the pre holiday market demand is expected to be concentrated and released, driving the consumption of goods and services to strengthen. Considering the active construction of major projects in various regions at the beginning of the year, the “export rush” effect, and the effective implementation of early consumption promotion policies, it is expected that the economy will have a stable opening in January 2025. (Securities Times)

On January 2nd, according to a research report by CITIC Securities, the bottom of the A-share market has been continuously rising in the past few months. In the short term, based on seasonal patterns, some funds settle and take profits at the end of the year, and the mentality of settling for safety often leads to weak trading and a decrease in risk appetite in the end of the year market. After the beginning of the new year, it will gradually become active again, and liquidity will often further improve after the Lunar New Year. Under the current policy tone, the continuous decline in bond yields and incremental liquidity are expected to drive the A-share market to continue its performance across the year, and it is expected that the market will continue its central oscillation upward trend at the beginning of the year. It is recommended to continue to pay attention to potential policy directions for benefit, as AI+is the medium-term industry mainline.

On January 2nd, the first round of price adjustment window for domestic refined oil products in 2025 will open at 24:00 on January 2nd. From the perspective of comprehensive institutions, there is a possibility of both price adjustment and suspension in this round. In the view of Liu Bingjuan, an analyst at Longzhong Information, narrow fluctuations in international crude oil prices are the main focus during this round of price adjustment cycle. As of December 30, 2024, the average reference crude oil price for the cycle was $72.42 per barrel, an increase of 1.07% compared to the previous cycle. As of the 9th working day, the corresponding increase in refined oil for this cycle is 50 yuan/ton, which happens to be near the price adjustment red line of 50 yuan/ton. There is a possibility of a slight increase or grounding in this round of price adjustment.

① A new round of price adjustment window will be opened for domestic refined oil products to be determined; ② 09:45 China’s December Caixin Manufacturing PMI; ③ 15: 00 UK December Nationwide House Price Index Monthly Rate; ④ 16: Final value of France’s manufacturing PMI for December 50; ⑤ 16: 55 German manufacturing PMI final value for December; ⑥ 17: The final value of the manufacturing PMI for December in the 00 euro area; ⑦ 17: 30 UK manufacturing PMI final value for December; ⑧ Number of initial jobless claims in the United States for the week ending December 28th at 21:30; ⑨ 22:45 US December S&P Global Manufacturing PMI Final Value; ⑩ 23:00 Monthly rate of construction expenditure in November in the United States; ⑪ The next day at 00:00, the EIA crude oil inventory and EIA strategic petroleum reserve inventory for the week ending December 27th in the United States.

On January 2nd, at the beginning of the new year, Jinhua, Zhejiang Province accelerated the construction of the photovoltaic industry. Among them, the largest single new energy project is Runma Photovoltaic Phase II, with a total investment of 7.24 billion yuan. After the project is put into operation in the future, it is expected to have an annual output value of about 12.7 billion yuan and an annual tax revenue of over 300 million yuan. In addition to photovoltaic projects, the new energy vehicle full industry chain technology innovation industrial park with a total investment of 5.89 billion yuan and the new energy vehicle parts production base project with a total investment of 5 billion yuan also started construction on New Year’s Day. It is understood that the 40 projects that will be launched this time cover multiple fields such as advanced manufacturing, new energy, and strong technological innovation foundations.

On January 2nd, according to the reporter’s analysis, a total of 8 insurance companies raised their licenses 20 times throughout 2024. A total of 18 A-share and H-share listed companies have been listed, with both the number of listings and the number of listed companies reaching a new high in the past four years (2021-2024). Last year, the main businesses of the listed companies involved multiple fields such as energy, infrastructure, environmental protection, and banking. Looking at the whole year of last year, insurance funds have sparked a new wave of “card raising”. From the perspective of the listed companies, the characteristics of dividend assets are very obvious. The typical target is undoubtedly the H-shares of Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, which have obvious characteristics of low valuation and high dividends. From the perspective of other listed companies, the latest median rolling price to earnings ratio of the 18 insurance stocks listed last year was around 9 times, and the median dividend yield was 3.7%. (Securities Daily)

On January 2, the People’s Bank of China and the China Securities Regulatory Commission respectively issued statements on December 31, 2024, regarding the second round of securities, fund, and insurance company swap facilitation operations, releasing a new signal to maintain the stability of the capital market. The recently held (expanded) meeting of the Party Committee of the China Securities Regulatory Commission (CSRC) clarified the need to accelerate the implementation of incremental policies, continue to make good use of stabilizing monetary policy tools, strengthen and improve market expectation management, focus on stabilizing funds, leverage, and expectations, and effectively maintain the stability of the capital market. Industry insiders expect that by focusing on the “three stabilizations”, the capital market reform will be further comprehensively deepened in 2025, including a series of reforms such as comprehensive investment and financing reform and improving regulatory efficiency, which are expected to accelerate. (China Securities Journal)