Market Highlights 💡 - 15 January 2025

S&P 500 index rises slightly before CPI data release; Chinese stock market gains on support pledge from regulators.

🇺🇸 S&P 500: +0.11% 📈

🇺🇸 Nasdaq: -0.23% 📉

🇪🇺 Stoxx 600: -0.08% 📉

🇯🇵 Nikkei 225: -1.83% 📉

🇭🇰 Hang Seng Index: +1.83% 📈

🇨🇳 CSI 300 Index: +2.63% 📈

🇸🇬 Straits Times Index: -0.08% 📉

U.S. stocks mixed, with the S&P 500 barely rising by 0.1%, while the Nasdaq Composite dropped by 0.2%. Investors remain cautious ahead of key consumer inflation data to gauge the Federal Reserve's future interest rate policy.

In December 2024, U.S. producer prices rose by 0.2% month-on-month (forecast: 0.3%), with a year-on-year increase of 3.3% (forecast: 3.4%).

Asia-Pacific markets mixed, with the Hang Seng Index bouncing back from a four-month low following a pledge from Chinese securities regulators to stabilize markets, while the Nikkei 225 dropped by 1.8% in post-holiday trading, in line with global market declines.

Bank of China issued 900 billion yuan in new loans in December 2024 (forecast: 890 billion yuan), driven by a surge in credit demand as authorities implemented various stimulus measures, including increased bond issuance.

💡 Upcoming Events: 💡

Investors will await U.S. core inflation rate and annual inflation rate data, as well as Eurozone industrial production data on Wednesday.

The U.S. will release retail sales and jobless claims data on Thursday, while Japan will report PPI year-on-year data.

On Friday, China will release a range of data, including GDP growth rate, industrial production year-on-year, retail sales year-on-year, and unemployment rate.

💡 Things to Know Today: 💡

1. Bloomberg reports that China is considering allowing Elon Musk to acquire TikTok's U.S. operations to prevent the app from being effectively banned.

Elon Musk acquires TikTok

2. The China Securities Regulatory Commission announced its commitment to ensuring a stable recovery in the securities market in 2025, focusing on working with the central bank to strengthen monetary policy tools and improve policy communication to address market concerns and stabilize expectations.

China Securities Regulatory Commission

3. The Biden administration, which is nearing the end of its term, finalized new regulations on Tuesday banning Chinese-made software and hardware for smart cars from entering the U.S. market. This move not only prevents Chinese-made cars and trucks from entering the U.S. but also blocks cars from other countries that use Chinese-made hardware or software from being sold in the U.S.

Biden Administration

4. S&P Global Ratings downgraded Nissan Motor's $Nissan Motor Co., Ltd.(NSANY)$  credit outlook from stable to negative and affirmed its BB+ rating, commenting that "the negative outlook reflects our view that if profitability does not improve and the company fails to generate positive free cash flow, its credit rating will continue to deteriorate."

Nissan

5. Eli Lilly's $Eli Lilly(LLY)$  stock dropped by 6.6% on Tuesday after the company provided a disappointing outlook, forecasting that sales of its weight loss drug Zepbound would fall short of Wall Street expectations for the fourth quarter. This marks the second time since the drug's launch at the end of 2023 that sales have been underwhelming.

Eli Lilly

✅ Key Takeaways:

Attention now shifts to Wednesday's consumer inflation report, which will be released alongside earnings reports from major banks, which will influence market sentiment driven by the Federal Reserve's actions.

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