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Cailianshe News, August 20 (Editor: Niu Zhanlin)On Monday, Eastern Time, U.S. stocks continued to advance with amazing momentum. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq recorded eight consecutive gains. The S&P 500 rose sharply in late trading and was only one step away from its historical high. The market was betting that the Federal Reserve would soon begin to cut interest rates.

Although investors experienced some "bitterly cold" days in July and August, this did not reduce their enthusiasm for stocks. Goldman Sachs Group's trading department said that momentum traders and a surge in corporate buybacks are expected to continue to drive U.S. stocks higher in the next four weeks.

However, stock trading volume has been on a downward trend since the sell-off in early August, indicating that market concerns remain. On Monday, stock trading volume was 14% lower than the monthly average.

Recent data showing consumers remain resilient despite a softening economy has bolstered expectations the Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates at its September policy meeting, with the central bank widely expected to reduce rates by a quarter point.

"Behind this rally is the expectation that the Fed may cut rates in September, and money is looking for places to go, and it's moving into stocks," said Paul Nolte, senior wealth advisor and market strategist at Murphy & Sylvest.

Market participants expect the Fed chairman to set the tone for a September rate cut at the Jackson Hole annual meeting this Friday. But if Powell gives a different direction in his speech, it could threaten the recent rebound in U.S. stocks.

“I think Powell is going to reiterate some of the Fed’s talking points that they are more comfortable with the fact that inflation is coming down to target, they are happy with how the economy is doing, and that will be interpreted by the market as the beginning of a rate cut in September,” Nolte added.

butInteractive BrokersSteve Sosnick, chief strategist at Interactive Brokers, said he worries that investors may be expecting too much from Powell's speech. "What if Powell just says, we might want to lower rates a little bit, but we don't need to lower them a lot?" Sosnick believes that in any case, Powell's speech could threaten the rebound in stocks after the sell-off earlier this month.

In addition to Powell's speech at Jackson Hole, investors in the coming week will also focus on the minutes of the Federal Reserve's July meeting, which will be released on Wednesday Eastern Time, and the number of initial unemployment claims, which will be released on Thursday morning.

Market Dynamics

As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 236.77 points, or 0.58%, to 40,896.53; the Nasdaq rose 245.05 points, or 1.39%, to 17,876.77; and the S&P 500 rose 54.00 points, or 0.97%, to 5,608.25.

All 11 sectors of the S&P 500 index closed higher, with the telecommunications sector up 1.44%, the information technology/technology sector up 1.44%, the consumer discretionary sector up 1.14%, and the energy sector up 0.42%, ranking second to last in performance.

U.S. stock industry ETFs closed higher across the board, with the biotech index ETF up more than 2%, the semiconductor ETF, technology industry ETF, global aviation ETF and global technology stock ETF each up at least 1.5%, and the Internet stock index ETF, consumer discretionary ETF, regional bank ETF and banking industry ETF each up around 1%.

Hot Stock Performance

Large technology stocks mostly rose.NvidiaThe stock market rose by more than 4%, marking the sixth consecutive day of gains.TeslaUp more than 3%, Google A up more than 2%,MicrosoftUp 0.73%,AmazonUp 0.66%, Meta up 0.35%,appleDown 0.07%.

Popular Chinese stocks generally rose, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rising 1.39%.iQIYIUp more than 6%,Ideal AutoUp more than 4%,Xpeng Motors, Bilibili, and NIO rose by more than 3%.

GeoVax Labs, a monkeypox concept stock, closed up 1.27%, having risen nearly 55% in early trading; Chimerix closed up 2.94%, having risen more than 15% during the session. Currently, a more contagious and more lethal monkeypox Ib variant is spreading around the world. In addition, the Ia variant is also a cause for concern, as it mainly affects children.

B. Riley Financial shares fell 5.8%, extending last week's losses after the bank warned that its investment in Franchise Group had taken a hit.

Company News

[Waymo reveals details of the sixth generation of driverless taxis]

On Monday, Eastern Time, Alphabet's Waymo announced the technical details of its latest "sixth generation" driverless taxis. The company has redesigned the hardware and software of driverless vehicles to provide clearer vision, stronger computing power and more functions without the need to install more expensive cameras and sensors, which greatly reduces manufacturing costs. According to Waymo, the sixth generation of driverless taxis is built on the technology of the previous generation. The new sensor suite has 13 cameras, 4 lidars and a series of external audio receivers, etc., which significantly reduces costs while optimizing vehicle performance without sacrificing safety.

[AMD acquires ZT Systems for $4.9 billion]

US chip giant Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) announced on its official website on Monday that it has signed a final agreement to acquire ZT Systems for $4.9 billion. The press release stated that AMD will pay the $4.9 billion in a mix of cash and stock. According to the media, cash will account for 75% and the other 25% will be traded in stock. This is also in addition to AMD's $1 billion investment in ZT in the past year. Media analysis said that AMD made the decision to acquire ZT in order to expand its AI chip and hardware product portfolio and compete with Nvidia, the leader in this field. Due to the needs of AI computing, technology companies need to connect thousands of chips together to form clusters in order to obtain the required data processing capabilities.

【Zoom expands webinar capacity to 1 million people】

Video conferencing app company Zoom announced on Monday that it will expand the capacity of live video webinars to 1 million participants to accommodate larger event sizes. Customers can now choose webinars with a capacity of 10,000, 50,000, 100,000, 250,000, 500,000 and 1 million participants.

【General MotorsMore than 1,000 software engineers were laid off】

People familiar with the matter said that General Motors will lay off more than 1,000 software engineers to streamline its software and services divisions. It is reported that the number of layoffs in Michigan, USA will exceed 600. General Motors said in a statement: "In the process of building the company's future, we must simplify processes, pursue speed and excellence, make bold choices, and prioritize investments that will have the greatest impact. Therefore, we will lay off certain teams in the software and services departments. We thank those who have helped the company build a strong foundation and enable General Motors to move forward." The statement did not specify the number of layoffs.

(Niu Zhanlin, Cailianshe)