Top News
The US and Iran are considering a two-week ceasefire. Trump: An agreement with Iran may be reached before King Charles III's visit to the US in late April.
According to a CCTV News report, based on US updates from the 15th, President Trump stated that it is “highly likely” an agreement with Iran will be reached before King Charles III of the UK visits the US in late April. During an interview, Trump mentioned that the current likelihood of reaching an agreement is “very high.” As scheduled, Charles III and Queen Camilla will visit the US from April 27 to 30. Previously, Bloomberg reported that the US and Iran are considering extending the ceasefire by two weeks to allow more time for peace negotiations, thereby reducing the risk of renewed conflict following heightened tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that whether the US and Iran will extend the ceasefire remains unconfirmed, while the White House denied having requested an extension of the ceasefire.
The spokesperson for Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that dialogue between Iran and the US continues through Pakistan as an intermediary. Iranian sources indicated that Iran has not yet agreed to the request for an extended ceasefire, asserting that the US should fulfill its commitments under the current ceasefire agreement rather than request an extension. Furthermore, the US should refrain from making excessive demands during negotiations. The White House press secretary noted that both parties remain in continuous contact and are advancing discussions; the US considers the talks “constructive” and is optimistic about the prospects of reaching an agreement. It was emphasized that Pakistan remains the sole mediator.
Iran to evaluate whether to hold another round of negotiations with the US, proposes free passage on Oman side of the Strait of Hormuz.
Iranian media learned that after meeting with a delegation led by the Chief of Staff of the Pakistani Army, Iran will conduct necessary assessments before deciding whether to engage in another round of negotiations with the US. Reports indicate that as part of its negotiation proposal with the US, Iran suggested that if an agreement can be reached to prevent the recurrence of conflict, Iran may consider allowing vessels free passage through the Oman side of the Strait of Hormuz. Iran’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it is impossible for Iran to “fully accept” the US proposal, as this does not align with the logic of negotiation and dialogue.
Senate Rejects Bill Limiting Trump’s War Powers Again.
On the 15th, the US Senate once again rejected a bill proposed by Democrats. The bill demanded that President Trump end military operations against Iran and secure congressional authorization before taking any further military actions against Iran. The vote result showed 47 in favor, 52 against, with one Republican senator abstaining, failing to pass the bill. Given that Republicans hold 53 out of 100 seats in the Senate, this outcome was expected. This marks the fourth time since the US initiated military action against Iran at the end of February that the Senate has rejected bills proposed by Democrats to limit the president’s war powers. Democrats have stated they will continue to introduce similar bills until military operations against Iran conclude or Congress authorizes continued military action.
Fed’s Musalem: Current Interest Rate Levels May Be Maintained for an Extended Period.
James Musalem, President of the St. Louis Federal Reserve, stated that supply shocks pose risks to the Fed’s dual mandates of inflation and employment, and the current interest rate range may remain appropriate for “a considerable period of time.” He revised his GDP forecast for the year downward from 2%-2.5% to 1.5%-2% and projected that inflation will approach 3% by the end of the year. He believes the oil price shock is driving up core inflation, while easing tariff impacts and improvements in housing inflation could help bring inflation down. Musalem also noted that a rise in inflation expectations could prompt consideration of a rate hike. CME data shows a 98.4% probability that the Fed will keep rates unchanged in April, aligning closely with market expectations and official statements.
Trump threatens to fire Powell, claiming interest rates will decline under Warsh's leadership.
Trump stated in a media interview on the same day that if Powell continues to serve as a Federal Reserve governor after his successor is confirmed, he will remove him from his position. When asked about this, Trump responded: 'Then I will have to fire him if he doesn’t leave on time. I've been holding back from firing him. I really want to fire him, but I don't want to cause controversy. You know, I hope things won't lead to controversy.' It is reported that Powell’s term as chairman will expire on May 15, and Trump has nominated former Fed governor Kevin Warsh as his successor. The Senate Banking Committee announced that Warsh's confirmation hearing will be held next Tuesday (April 21) local time.
Fed Beige Book: Middle East Conflicts Have Become the Primary Source of Uncertainty for the U.S. Economy
Overall, the report sets a largely consistent tone for the U.S. economy: the economy remains in a state of mild expansion, but growth continues to slow. Consumption maintains slight growth overall, but the disparity in the 'K-shaped economy' continues to widen, with pressures on low-income groups rising significantly. The labor market remains in a 'freeze period,' with companies halting expansionary hiring, while AI, as a structural variable, begins to influence hiring decisions. The report also noted that the military conflict between the United States and Iran is impacting the domestic economic situation across all aspects. The Beige Book stated that the Middle East conflict is widely regarded as a significant source of uncertainty for the current economic outlook, disrupting business decisions on hiring, pricing, and capital expenditures, causing many firms to adopt a wait-and-see attitude.
U.S. stock market recap
S&P makes historic first breakthrough above 7000 points, computational power giants surge together.
Overnight and this morning, both the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Composite Index hit new record highs. The S&P 500 Index, serving as the market benchmark, closed above the 7,000-point mark for the first time in its history. The Nasdaq, representing technology stocks, also closed above 24,000 points for the first time after rising for 11 consecutive trading days. The continued market surge remains based on expectations that the conflict in Iran will come to a swift conclusion.
At the close, the Standard & Poor's 500 Index rose 0.8% to 7022.95 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index surged 1.59% to 24016.02 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.15% to 48463.72 points.
$Star Tech Stocks (LIST2518.US)$ Broad gains were seen as NVIDIA closed up 1.2%, Google-A gained 1.26%, Apple rose 2.94%, Microsoft surged 4.61%, Amazon dropped 0.21%, Taiwan Semiconductor fell 1.26%, Broadcom climbed 4.19%, Meta increased by 1.37%, Tesla soared 7.62%.
$Popular Chinese Concept Stocks (LIST2517.US)$Strengthening,$Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index (.HXC.US)$ The index closed up 0.75% on Wednesday, marking its fourth consecutive session of gains. At the close, Alibaba rose 1.47%, PDD Holdings fell 0.13%, NetEase climbed 2%, JD.com gained 0.7%, Baidu rose 2.29%, Trip.com Group surged 2.95%, Li Auto dropped 3.09%, Bilibili slipped 0.2%, Nio fell 2.36%, and Canaan surged 7.51%.
Nuclear power and quantum computing sectors continued their upward momentum, with Oklo surging over 8%, NuScale Power gaining 14.24%, Energy Fuels climbing 7.47%, D-Wave Quantum jumping 22.63%, and IonQ soaring 20.95%.
$AI Application Software Stock (LIST23492.US)$ Across-the-board rallies were observed as Cloudflare surged 6.43%, Palantir climbed 4.75%, Oracle rose 4.18%, Adobe gained 3.79%, Salesforce increased by 3.67%, and CrowdStrike advanced 3.18%.
$半导体(LIST2015.US)$ Gains and losses diverged as AI chip stocks strengthened but lithography giant ASML Holding fell 4%, dragging down the sector due to weaker-than-expected Q2 revenue guidance. Intel gained 1.77%, Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.20%, and Marvell Technology increased by 0.58%.
$Storage Concept Stocks (LIST23925.US)$ Collective pullback in the DRAM spot market intensifies wait-and-see sentiment, with NAND continuing its decline. Western Digital fell 5.58%, Seagate Technology dropped 2.59%, and Micron Technology declined by 2.03%.
Individual stock information
Tesla's A15 chip successfully taped out, with Elon Musk stating it will become one of the highest production AI chips globally.
Tesla surged 7.62% overnight, leading the rally among prominent technology stocks. Reports indicate that Tesla’s self-developed A15 AI inference chip has successfully completed taping out. Elon Musk made a high-profile statement on social media, asserting that the chip “will become one of the highest production AI chips globally in the future.” The A15 chip is primarily designed for Tesla's autonomous driving computing platform and Dojo supercomputer cluster. Its successful taping out marks a key step forward for Tesla in achieving independent control over AI computing power, potentially significantly reducing reliance on external chip suppliers. Analysts noted that this progress not only strengthens the hardware foundation for Tesla’s FSD (Full Self-Driving) but also provides computational power assurance for the future mass production of its AI robot, Optimus. Coupled with recent smooth progress in the Robotaxi business, the market narrative around Tesla's “AI + Automotive” dual-driver strategy has been further reinforced.
Google’s latest SpaceX stake revealed, investment profits expected to reach $100 billion.
The latest information shows that, according to documents submitted by SpaceX to Alaska this week, as of the end of 2025, $Google-C(GOOG.US)$ it holds 6.11% of the company’s shares. At a post-IPO valuation of $2 trillion, this equates to $122.2 billion. Considering the equity dilution caused by SpaceX’s merger with xAI in February this year, Google’s current stake should be around 5%, corresponding to a value of approximately $100 billion. According to the filing, only Elon Musk, with nearly 40% ownership, and Google, surpassing the 5% shareholder disclosure threshold, are required to report their stakes. SpaceX’s IPO is also set to make Elon Musk the first “trillionaire” in Earth’s history. For broader institutional investors, assuming the private space giant reaches a market capitalization of $2 trillion, holding 0.05% would translate to $100 million.
Apple CEO Tim Cook has once again increased his holdings in Nike stock, with the portion purchased last year already showing a 25% unrealized loss.
Amid widespread sell-offs of Nike stock on Wall Street this year, $Apple(AAPL.US)$ CEO Tim Cook and Nike (NKE.US) another CEO chose to buy against the trend, possibly reflecting some insiders' bets on an upcoming rebound in the company’s stock price. According to filings submitted by Cook to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), he purchased 25,000 shares of Nike stock last Friday at approximately $42.43 per share, totaling about $1.06 million. After the transaction, Cook held 130,480 shares of Nike stock, valued at approximately $5.7 million based on Tuesday’s closing price of $44.20. On Wednesday, Nike’s stock price rose significantly, closing up 2.81% at $45.44, marking a new monthly high. It is understood that Cook has been a member of Nike's board of directors since 2005.
U.S. SEC relaxes intraday trading restrictions, Robinhood and other platforms see collective stock price surges.
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) announced a relaxation of regulations related to intraday trading. Under the original rule, if a trader’s margin account assets were below $25,000, their number of intraday trades within five business days could not exceed four times. The news was directly beneficial to retail trading platforms represented by $Robinhood(HOOD.US)$ 、 Interactive Brokers (IBKR.US) , with relevant companies’ stock prices surging collectively during the trading session. This move is interpreted by the market as an important signal under the new administration's guidance for the SEC to loosen financial regulatory constraints, which will help boost retail trading activity and increase platform transaction commissions and market-making revenues.
Sneaker brand Allbirds announced its pivot from footwear to computational power, with its stock price skyrocketing by up to 800%.
$Allbirds(BIRD.US)$ In a Wednesday announcement, the company stated that it is shifting its core business to AI computing infrastructure, and will subsequently be renamed NewBird AI, having secured an agreement to raise up to $50 million. This transition is expected to be completed in the second quarter of this year. The listed company noted that the initial phase of the transformation will focus on acquiring high-performance, low-latency AI computing hardware, and providing customers with access to computational power through long-term leasing arrangements to meet the unsteady demand from the spot computational power market and hyperscalers. As part of its new long-term vision, Allbirds aims to become a fully integrated GPU-as-a-Service (GPUaaS) and AI-native cloud solutions provider.
The AI computing power arms race has intensified again as Jane Street, the Wall Street quantitative trading giant, invested $1 billion to acquire a stake in CoreWeave.
Wall Street quantitative giant Jane Street invested $1 billion in the AI cloud service provider CoreWeave (CRWV.US) , while also placing an additional $6 billion in technology procurement orders aimed at securing NVIDIA's next-generation Rubin chip computing power and AI software services. Following large orders from Meta and Anthropic, Jane Street’s involvement helps CoreWeave reduce reliance on single clients and accelerates its transition to a comprehensive technology service provider.
Top 20 by trading value
Hong Kong Market Outlook
Southbound capital increased holdings in Hong Kong stocks by over HK$4.2 billion, purchasing nearly HK$800 million worth of Pop Mart shares while selling nearly HK$700 million worth of Alibaba shares.
On April 15th (Wednesday), southbound capital net purchased HK$4.221 billion worth of Hong Kong stocks.
$Pop Mart (09992.HK)$、SMIC (00981.HK)、$Akeso Biopharma (09926.HK)$Net purchases amounted to HK$775 million, HK$693 million, and HK$166 million respectively;
$Alibaba-W (09988.HK)$、$Geely Auto (00175.HK)$、Changfei Fiber Optic Cables (Stock Code: 06869.HK)Net sales reached HK$679 million, HK$566 million, and HK$559 million respectively.
The Ministry of Finance will issue 15.5 billion yuan of government bonds in Hong Kong, expanding the supply of offshore RMB assets.
China's Ministry of Finance will issue 15.5 billion yuan of government bonds in Hong Kong, the largest issuance since 2023. This issuance is expected to enrich the maturity structure of the offshore RMB bond market and further improve the offshore RMB yield curve, indirectly benefiting Hong Kong Exchange (00388.HK) and other Hong Kong stock infrastructure targets. The recent sustained net inflow of southbound capital into Hong Kong stocks, combined with improved offshore RMB liquidity, helps maintain this trend.
JD.com's Q1 earnings report is imminent, with Wall Street optimistic about a recovery in its core business and reduced losses in its food delivery segment.
JD.com-SW (09618.HK) JD.com is set to release its Q1 2026 earnings report soon. Wall Street generally expects the company’s core retail business to continue its recovery trend, while losses in its food delivery business are expected to narrow. JD.com’s U.S.-listed shares rose 0.70% overnight, and its Hong Kong-listed shares closed 4.59% higher at HKD 120.70 yesterday. Analysts noted that JD.com’s continued investment in supply chain efficiency optimization and instant retail layout is translating into actual performance improvements, making the Q1 earnings report a key moment to validate a fundamental turning point.
CATL released multiple significant announcements involving dividend distribution, Q1 financial reports, and overseas investments.
$宁德时代(03750.HK)$ For the fiscal year 2025, a dividend of RMB 69.57 will be distributed per 10 shares, with a total dividend payout exceeding RMB 30.4 billion. The record date for equity registration is April 21, 2026, and the ex-dividend and ex-rights date, as well as the cash dividend payment date, is April 22, 2026. CATL reported a net profit of RMB 20.738 billion in the first quarter, representing a year-on-year increase of 48.52%. It plans to register a capital of RMB 30 billion to establish Times Resources Group, further extending its reach into upstream key raw material sectors.
Today's Focus
Keywords: China’s March retail sales data, speeches by Federal Reserve officials, Taiwan Semiconductor, PepsiCo, and other companies’ earnings reports.
In terms of financial events, Federal Reserve officials will deliver密集 speeches, providing investors with more critical statements.
Currently, the market is gradually shifting towards a more hawkish view of the Federal Reserve, but Bank of America is challenging this trend. The bank maintains its forecast of two interest rate cuts in 2026 and has informed clients that the Fed will ultimately overlook supply-driven inflation, weak wage pressures, and political dynamics, rather than choosing to keep interest rates higher for an extended period.
Regarding economic data, China's March retail sales and year-on-year GDP growth for Q1
In terms of new stock offerings, $Changguang Chenguang(03277.HK)$ 、 $Qunhe Technology(00068.HK)$ The gray market has opened. $Sige New Energy (06656.HK)$ listed.
In terms of performance, Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM.US) 、 $PepsiCo (PEP.US)$ 、$Charles Schwab(SCHW.US)$ will announce earnings before the US stock market opens, $Alcoa Corporation (AA.US)$ 、 Netflix (NFLX.US) Will release earnings after the U.S. stock market closes.
Futubull AI Morning Reading:
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