Morning News

Source: Wall Street Insights

### Market Overview

The Federal Reserve held interest rates steady and gave no hint of resuming rate cuts in the near term, leading to muted moves in U.S. stocks and Treasuries. U.S. equities were mixed, with technology stocks driving the S&P 500 to a brief intraday break above the 7,000 mark. U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen voiced strong support for the U.S. dollar, fueling a rebound in the greenback.

Nvidia rose 1.6%. Storage giant Seagate Technology surged 19% following its earnings report, lifting the broader storage sector—Micron gained over 6% and Western Digital jumped 10%. ASML’s ADR closed 2.2% lower after earnings, having opened more than 2% higher in early trading. After releasing their quarterly results in the post-market session on Wednesday, Tesla climbed 2%, Meta soared over 8%, and Microsoft dropped more than 4%.

U.S. Treasuries oscillated following the Fed’s rate decision and were largely flat at the close, with the 10-year Treasury yield edging up 0.6 basis points. The U.S. dollar rebounded 0.75%, hitting an intraday high of 96.787 shortly after the Fed’s announcement. The Japanese yen snapped a three-day winning streak, falling 0.86%. Bitcoin traded choppily, facing resistance at the $90,000 level.

Spot gold skyrocketed 4%, surging $200 in a single day to near $5,400 an ounce. Spot silver jumped more than 4%, approaching the all-time high of $117.7 an ounce hit on Monday, with New York silver posting a 10.5% intraday gain. Crude oil rose over 1% intraday, with WTI crude reclaiming the $63 mark for the first time in four months.

In the Asian session, the Shanghai Composite Index trended higher in a volatile trade, with trading volumes of multiple broad-based ETFs hitting record highs again. Gold and silver-related stocks saw a widespread limit-up rally. The Hang Seng Index surged to a nearly five-year high, and Mingming Hen Mang rocketed 70% on its debut.

### Top News

#### China

- The "three red lines" regulatory framework for real estate developers has been scrapped.

- The Shanghai Futures Exchange and the Shanghai Gold Exchange raised margin requirements for gold, silver and ferrous metal contracts, and expanded the daily price limit range for multiple varieties.

- Foxconn Industrial Internet forecast a 51% to 54% increase in net profit for 2025, with revenue surging 13-fold driven by AI and high-speed switching businesses.

- At least nine Chinese AI chip companies have achieved monthly shipments exceeding 10,000 units.

#### Overseas

- The Federal Reserve paused rate cuts as expected and signaled a patient stance, though Fed Governor Waller backed a further 25-basis-point cut. Powell stated that a rate hike is not the baseline assumption for anyone’s next move, tariff-driven inflation is expected to fade by mid-2025, and he declined to comment on the U.S. dollar’s trend.

- Yellen affirmed that the U.S. has long pursued a strong dollar policy and "absolutely will not" intervene in the foreign exchange market to support the Japanese yen.

- Demand for Japan’s 40-year government bond auction hit a 10-month high, potentially easing fears of a market collapse for the time being.

- Silver is facing a "delivery failure" crisis, with March set to be a "critical moment" for precious metals.

- Tesla’s Q4 earnings beat expectations; the company has launched limited full self-driving services, invested $2 billion in xAI, and plans to mass-produce Cybecab and humanoid robots. It will discontinue Model S and Model X production, converting their production lines to manufacture the Optimus humanoid robot.

- Microsoft’s cloud business growth slowed, and a record-high capital expenditure spurred market concerns, sending its shares down about 5% in after-hours trading.

- Meta’s Q4 results, Q1 guidance and full-year capital expenditure all exceeded expectations, pushing its shares up more than 11% at one point in after-hours trading.

- ASML reported stellar Q4 earnings, with strong storage demand doubling its orders and the company raising its 2026 growth guidance. Its shares surged 10% intraday before paring gains.

- SK Hynix posted its strongest quarterly results on record, with Q4 operating profit doubling to 19.2 trillion won, driven by sustained robust demand for AI memory chips. Reports indicate SK Hynix has secured about 70% of Nvidia’s HBM4 supply, with Samsung set to begin shipments next month.

- The creator of Clawdbot admitted: This AI, coded casually in 10 days, "left me stunned the moment it spoke."

- A blockbuster IPO meets metaphysics: SpaceX plans to go public in June, coinciding with a "planetary alignment" and Elon Musk’s birthday. Musk’s "space solar power dream" is inseparable from China’s supply chain.

### Market Closing Quotes

#### European and U.S. Stock Markets

- S&P 500: -0.01% to 5,978.03

- Dow Jones Industrial Average: +0.02% to 49,015.60

- Nasdaq Composite: +0.17% to 23,857.447

- Euro Stoxx 600: -0.66% to 609.08

#### A-Shares

- Shanghai Composite Index: +0.27% to 4,151.24

- Shenzhen Component Index: +0.09% to 14,342.89

- ChiNext Index: -0.57% to 3,323.56

#### Bond Market

- The U.S. 10-year Treasury yield briefly turned negative, edging close to 4.24%.

- The U.S. 2-year Treasury yield rose 1.24 basis points to 3.5854%.

#### Commodities (New York Late Session)

- COMEX Gold Futures: +5.83% to $5,378.80 an ounce, hitting a new all-time high of $5,391.30 intraday

- COMEX Silver Futures: +9.81% to $116.355 an ounce

- WTI Crude Oil: +1.5% to $63.481 a barrel

- Brent Crude Oil: +1.38% to $67.58 a barrel

# Key News Details

## Global Headlines

### China

1. The "Three Red Lines" for real estate developers is scrapped! According to China Real Estate News, sources reported on January 28 that multiple real estate enterprises are no longer required by regulators to submit monthly data related to the "Three Red Lines". Only a portion of distressed developers need to regularly report core financial indicators such as asset-liability ratios to the risk disposal task forces in the cities where their headquarters are located. As risks from the old cycle are gradually resolved and exploration of a new development model deepens, the real estate market is expected to become more stable, healthy and resilient for sustainable development in the future.

2. On the first day of the silver LOF's subscription suspension, the price rose over 7% after a morning trading halt, with intensified capital game.

3. Shanghai Futures Exchange (SHFE) & Shanghai Gold Exchange (SGE): Margin requirements raised for gold, silver and ferrous metal varieties; daily price limit range expanded for multiple products. SGE adjusted the margin ratio for silver deferred (T+D) to 20% and the daily price limit to 19%. SHFE issued tiered adjustments: margin ratio for gold and silver futures raised to 18% with a 16% daily price limit; nickel adjusted to 13%/11%; alumina, zinc and lead to 11%/9%; rebar, hot-rolled coil and other ferrous metals to 9%/7%. The exchanges reminded investors to reasonably control positions ahead of the Spring Festival holiday.

4. Foxconn Industrial Internet forecasts 51%-54% net profit growth in 2025, with revenue surging 13-fold driven by AI and high-speed switching businesses. Benefiting from the explosive demand for AI computing power, Foxconn Industrial Internet expects a substantial earnings increase in 2025. Its annual attributable net profit is projected at 35.1-35.7 billion yuan, a year-on-year rise of 51%-54%, with the fourth-quarter growth rate reaching 56%-63%. The growth is mainly driven by AI server and high-speed switch businesses: AI server revenue soared more than three times for the full year, and 800G switch revenue surged 13-fold year-on-year. The traditional precision mechanical components business also achieved double-digit growth, further consolidating the company's diversified business structure.

5. At least nine Chinese AI chip companies achieve monthly shipments exceeding 10,000 units. Backed by tech giants (Huawei Ascend, Baidu Kunlun XPU), listed and upcoming listed AI chip firms (Cambricon, Muxi Semiconductor, Iluvatar CoreX, Bitmain Computing), and even unlisted startups (Xiwang Technology, Sino Microelectronics), at least nine Chinese AI chip companies have seen their shipments or orders surpass 10,000 units. The emergence of a batch of enterprises with 10,000-unit shipments does not mean the competition for domestic AI chips has a winner, but indicates that this round of industrial trial and error has entered the stage of "large-scale delivery verification".

### Overseas

1. Federal Reserve pauses rate cuts as expected, signals patience on further moves; Fed Chair candidate Waller backs another 25-basis-point cut. Powell: A rate hike is not the baseline assumption for anyone’s next step; tariff-driven inflation to fade by mid-2026; no comment on USD trend.

There were two dissenting votes in this rate decision, one fewer than the previous meeting. Waller cast a dissenting vote, aligning with the stance of Trump-nominated governor Milan. The Fed statement noted steady expansion in economic activity and stabilizing signs in the unemployment rate, removed the phrase "downside risks to employment have increased in recent months", and reaffirmed that inflation remains slightly elevated. Market forecasts show the odds of Waller being nominated as Fed Chair have edged up. The "New Fedwire" commented that the Fed gave no clear timeline for a potential resumption of policy moves, continuing to signal possible further action ahead without hinting at an immediate move.

Powell stated that inflation risks have receded to some extent, employment risks may be stabilizing, and a rate hike is not the baseline assumption for anyone’s next policy step. Most of the impact of tariffs has been transmitted to the economy, and tariff-driven inflation is expected to fade by mid-2026. In addition, he did not give substantive responses to high-profile political issues, but noted that the lawsuit against Fed Governor Cook may be the most significant case in the Fed's history. He also suggested that the next Fed Chair should stay away from elected politics.

2. Yellen: U.S. has long pursued a strong dollar policy, "absolutely will not" intervene in FX market to support JPY. Yellen argued that a narrowing U.S. trade deficit should automatically strengthen the dollar over time, stating that "a strong dollar policy means setting the right fundamentals—if we have sound policies, capital will flow in". Four candidates remain in the running for Fed Chair, and Trump aims to avoid a government shutdown. The JPY fell over 1% intraday after her remarks. JPMorgan strategists noted that Yellen's comments did not rule out verbal or even actual intervention, but she reaffirmed that setting the right fundamentals is crucial for the FX market in the long run.

3. Demand for Japan’s 40-year JGB auction hits 10-month high, collapse fears ease for now. The bid-to-cover ratio for Japan’s 40-year government bond auction on Wednesday reached 2.76 times, the highest level since March 2025. The 40-year JGB yield fell 2 basis points to 3.915% after the auction results were released. While the auction boosted market confidence, strategists warned that volatility may persist. Demand appears to be supported by elevated yield levels and tactical buying, rather than a broad improvement in confidence in ultra-long-dated bonds.

4. Silver facing a "delivery failure" crisis? March set to be a "critical moment" for precious metals. Over 40 million ounces of silver have been applied for delivery on COMEX in January, and with the key March delivery month approaching, delivery demand is expected to reach 70-80 million ounces, potentially depleting COMEX's current registered inventories of 110-120 million ounces. Veteran precious metals analyst Bill Holter warned that if COMEX fails to fulfill its delivery obligations, it will completely destroy the credibility of the existing pricing mechanism and trigger a chain reaction spreading to the gold and credit markets, ultimately leading to a collapse of the entire financial system.

5. Tesla’s Q4 earnings beat expectations; limited full self-driving launched; $2 billion invested in xAI; Cybercab and robots set for mass production; shares jump in after-hours trading. Tesla’s Q4 revenue turned negative with a 3% year-on-year drop (slightly below expectations), marking the first annual revenue decline. The quarter's EPS fell 17% year-on-year but still beat expectations, gross margin rose above 20%, and energy storage deployments increased 29% to a new high of 14.2 GWh. Limited Robotaxi services without safety supervisors were launched in Austin in January. Cybercab, Semi trucks, and Megapack 3 energy storage systems are on track for mass production in 2026. The first-generation production line for Optimus is under construction, with the goal of starting mass production by the end of 2026. The company expects to complete a $2 billion subscription to xAI shares in Q1. Tesla’s shares rose over 4% in after-hours trading at one point, then gave back most gains after executives said capital expenditure will exceed $20 billion in 2026. Tesla will discontinue Model S and Model X production, converting their production lines to manufacture the Optimus humanoid robot.

6. Microsoft’s cloud business growth slows; record-high capital expenditure sparks concerns; shares drop about 5% in after-hours trading. Microsoft’s FQ2 results beat market expectations overall, with robust growth in revenue, profit and EPS. However, the company's capital expenditure surged 66% year-on-year to a record high, coupled with a slowdown in cloud business growth from the previous quarter, sparking investor worries about a longer payback period for AI investments, sending its shares down about 5% in after-hours trading.

7. Meta’s Q4 results, Q1 guidance and full-year capital expenditure beat expectations; shares surge over 11% in after-hours trading at one point. Meta's earnings report showed that driven by AI-enhanced advertising business, the company's Q4 revenue and 2026 Q1 revenue guidance both significantly exceeded market expectations, while its full-year capital expenditure guidance was also much higher than analysts' forecasts. Meta expects 2026 capital expenditure to reach up to $135 billion, nearly double that of 2025. The strong results and aggressive investment plan were well received by investors, pushing Meta’s shares up over 11% in after-hours trading at one point.

8. ASML posts stellar Q4 earnings; strong storage demand doubles orders; 2026 growth guidance raised; shares surge 10% intraday then pare gains. The earnings report showed ASML's Q4 order intake reached 13.2 billion euros, nearly double the average analyst estimate of 6.85 billion euros compiled by Bloomberg and a sharp increase from 5.4 billion euros in the previous quarter. This record performance benefited from the rapid development of AI infrastructure. In addition, the order backlog stood at 38.8 billion euros. ASML’s CEO said 2026 will be another year of growth for the company.

9. Wall Street comments on ASML’s earnings: Explosive orders + beat on guidance; company at the start of a new tech cycle! Wall Street institutions unanimously believe ASML has clearly entered a multi-year growth cycle driven by AI computing power construction and storage technology upgrades. The "double beat" of explosive orders and earnings guidance in the report is regarded as a key signal confirming the inflection point of the semiconductor equipment industry's prosperity. For the first time, demand from memory chip customers has surpassed logic chips as the main driver, indicating that the focus of industrial investment is shifting to AI infrastructure. The current strong guidance may still be conservative, and the company is at the starting point of a new technological cycle.

10. Record-breaking earnings! SK Hynix’s Q4 operating profit doubles to 19.2 trillion KRW on sustained strong AI memory demand. SK Hynix’s Q4 operating profit more than doubled year-on-year to 19.2 trillion South Korean won (approximately $13.5 billion), exceeding the average analyst estimate of 16.7 trillion KRW. Revenue climbed to 32.8 trillion KRW. Boosted by the results, the company's South Korean shares rose over 6% in after-hours trading. The HBM business became the biggest growth driver, with full-year revenue surging more than twice year-on-year.

11. Report: SK Hynix secures about 70% of Nvidia’s HBM4 supply; Samsung to start shipments next month. Competition in the HBM4 market has intensified. Reports stated that SK Hynix secured about 70% of the orders for Nvidia’s Vera Rubin platform by virtue of its yield rate and customer trust, exceeding market expectations. Meanwhile, Samsung Electronics launched a technological counterattack, improving performance with its 1c DRAM process to achieve pricing on par with its competitors, and is set to start mass production and shipments next month.

12. Strong optical communications business drives Corning’s Q4 core revenue up 14% year-on-year to a new high; profit posts double-digit growth; Q1 expansion expected to accelerate. The optical communications business became the main growth driver, with double-digit revenue growth in both the fourth quarter and full year. Based on strong orders and demand, the company raised its "Springboard" growth plan and expects core sales growth to accelerate further to about 15% year-on-year in Q1 2026.

13. Explosive demand for gas turbines and power grid equipment; GE Vernova’s Q4 revenue beats expectations; order backlog hits $150 billion. Driven by strong orders for gas turbines and power grid equipment, GE Vernova's total order backlog increased by $31.2 billion in 2025, currently hitting a record high of $150 billion. Among them, gas turbine order volume surged from 33 GW to 40 GW, and equipment order backlog plus slot reservation agreements skyrocketed from 62 GW to 83 GW, laying a solid foundation for the company's growth in the next few years.

14. Creator of Clawdbot admits: This AI, coded casually in 10 days, "left me stunned the moment it spoke"! Amid the dawn of AGI, one person acting as a whole team is no longer a myth. Peter Steinberger, the creator of Moltbot, admitted that he completed the project independently in just 10 days. The most shocking moment for him came during the first test of voice messages: without writing any voice processing code, the AI independently completed the entire process from decoding, transcription to reply by analyzing file headers, calling local tools, and using API keys in environment variables.

15. Blockbuster IPO meets metaphysics: SpaceX plans June IPO, coinciding with "planetary alignment" and Elon Musk’s birthday. SpaceX is targeting a mid-June IPO, when Jupiter and Venus will have their first close conjunction in more than three years, and Mercury will form a diagonal alignment with the two planets a few days later. Another consideration is that Elon Musk’s birthday (June 28) falls within this period. It is reported that SpaceX plans to raise up to $50 billion in the IPO with a valuation of about $1.5 trillion, which will break the $29 billion IPO record set by Saudi Aramco in 2019.

16. Musk’s "space solar power dream" is inseparable from China’s supply chain. Space solar power has become a hot spot in the capital market recently, mainly catalyzed by Musk's announcement of a joint construction of a photovoltaic base with an annual capacity of 200 GW to support the energy needs of his ground data centers and space AI satellites. China's photovoltaic manufacturing industry contributes more than 70% of the global production capacity and has built a complete and leading supply chain system from equipment and materials to components. Market views hold that no matter where the final production location is chosen, Musk will find it difficult to bypass in-depth reliance on China's core photovoltaic manufacturing capabilities and cost advantages to promote the large-scale and commercial implementation of his space energy blueprint.

## Selected Research Reports

1. Dalio: The U.S. has become a powder keg! The U.S. debt cycle is sliding from "fiscal deterioration" to the "brink of civil war". Ray Dalio warned in a post that the U.S. is on the verge of the sixth stage of the "big debt cycle"—the "collapse of the existing order". He pointed out that the conflict in Minneapolis is not only a social incident, but also a "leading indicator" of the failure of the macro order. Against the backdrop of a huge wealth gap, soaring debt and the loss of truth, the U.S. has become a "powder keg". Dalio bluntly said "When in doubt, leave", warning investors to watch out for the risk of capital controls.

2. Citi hails silver as "gold on steroids", sees price surging to $150/oz in the coming weeks; China leads buying, India follows, but global ETFs see net outflows. Citi believes silver is not a "shadow" of gold, but the "square term" of gold. In this rally, the premium of Shanghai silver over London silver has risen significantly and remained at a historical high, and India's silver premium has also seen a rare rebound recently. Citi raised its 0-3 month silver price target to $150 per ounce. Notably, silver's surge has occurred against the backdrop of multiple traditional "bearish indicators": global silver ETF holdings (excluding China) have seen net outflows of about 270 million ounces since December.

3. Father of the "Dollar Smile Curve": A new round of USD decline has begun; the market is "completely unprepared" for Trump's implicit depreciation. Stephen Jen, the creator of the "Dollar Smile Theory", warned that a whole generation of FX analysts is accustomed to a strong dollar and a robust U.S. economy, and is unable to handle a scenario where the dollar weakens while the U.S. economy remains strong. This is likely just the start of the next round of dollar decline, and many may be completely unprepared for it.

# Domestic and International Macroeconomy & Market Highlights

## Domestic Macroeconomy

Hong Kong’s property prices rose 3.3% in 2025, marking the first annual increase in four years. Driven by interest rate cuts, government market support policies and reduced inventory, Hong Kong’s private residential property prices climbed 3.3% in 2025, the first annual gain since 2021. With steady recovery in transactions and talent inflow, market confidence has improved significantly. Analysts expect property prices to continue rising by 3% to 10% in 2026.

## Domestic Corporates

1. Key deployment by the "national team" in commercial aerospace: full effort to break through reusable technologies. The Commercial Rocket Company of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation recently held its annual working conference, clearly stating that it will fully tackle the maiden flight and recovery technologies of its main carrier rockets in 2026 to enhance China’s capability for large-scale, efficient access to space. Founded in Shanghai in 2024, the company initially formed core capabilities represented by the research and test station in Jiuquan in 2025. On January 16, its developed Long March 12B carrier rocket successfully completed a static fire test, laying a foundation for subsequent flight tests. As a new-generation reusable model, the rocket will be mainly used to meet China’s commercial satellite launch demands.

2. Guotai Haitong reported a projected profit surge of over 110%, with improved operations and one-off gains jointly boosting profit growth; its non-recurring profit after tax rose 69% to 73% year-on-year.

3. China Life Property & Casualty Insurance’s net profit doubled in 2025, with underwriting business turning from loss to profit.

4. Qingdao Bank’s rapid balance sheet expansion drove ROE recovery, with attributable net profit up over 20%.

5. Xiamen Bank achieved double growth in revenue and net profit, with loans surging over 18%.

## Overseas Macroeconomy

1. U.S. government faces a shutdown by the end of the month; can a last-minute rescue be achieved, with ICE at the center of the dispute? Current differences focus on immigration law enforcement restrictions related to ICE. The Democratic Party demands that restrictions on law enforcement actions be "enshrined in law" and tends to separate or rewrite DHS funding from the six bills; while the White House and Senate Republicans insist on making minimal changes to the bill text to avoid the bills being sent back to the House for a re-vote due to revisions. The House is scheduled to reconvene only next Monday, further compressing the operational space.

2. U.S.-Canada tensions escalate! Trudeau and Trump speak by phone, Trudeau affirms "Davos speech" was serious. Reports stated that Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau reaffirmed after a phone call with Donald Trump that his stance against "economic coercion" at the World Economic Forum in Davos was serious, and publicly denied U.S. Treasury Secretary Yellen’s claim that he had "walked back his remarks". Analysts pointed out that the public rift between the two sides highlights strained relations, foreshadowing challenging upcoming renegotiations on the USMCA review.

3. Bank of Canada holds benchmark interest rate steady at 2.25%, uncertainty limits rate path. The Bank of Canada kept its benchmark interest rate unchanged at 2.25% for the second consecutive time, in line with expectations. Governor Tiff Macklem acknowledged that amid high uncertainty over U.S. trade policies and geopolitical risks, policymakers cannot determine the next move for interest rates. While the central bank raised its 2025 growth forecast and deemed the current interest rate appropriate, it emphasized that its policies cannot repair the structural damage caused by tariffs.

4. Capital inflows into commodities for the third consecutive week, highly concentrated in precious metals and agricultural products. The latest JPMorgan report showed that global commodity markets have seen substantial capital inflows for the third straight week. As of January 23, the total value of open interest rose to approximately $1.83 trillion, a record high. Capital flows were highly concentrated in the precious metals and agricultural products sectors, with net inflows of $21.5 billion and $8.9 billion respectively, among which gold was the largest source of increment. In addition, extreme cold weather pushed U.S. natural gas prices up by a staggering 70%.

## Overseas Corporates

1. Report: Supply chain sources say Nvidia’s next-gen GPU to partner with Intel after Apple, to please Trump. Supply chain insiders revealed that Nvidia’s Feynman architecture platform, set to launch in 2028, will cooperate with Intel, with Nvidia adopting a "small-volume, low-end, non-core" cooperation strategy in the partnership. Besides Nvidia, Apple, Google, Microsoft, AWS, Qualcomm, Broadcom and other enterprises are also in talks with Intel for cooperation. Analysts believe that against the backdrop of political considerations, supply chain resilience and TSMC’s constrained advanced packaging capacity, major U.S. chipmakers are bound to launch a dual foundry strategy.

2. Doubled memory prices to make iPhones more expensive? TF International Securities’ Ming-Chi Kuo: Apple’s strategy is "absorb costs to seize market share, recoup losses through services". Ming-Chi Kuo stated that the increase in iPhone memory prices in Apple’s Q2 2026 will be close to that in Q1, and Apple has a clear strategy: use its strong bargaining power to ensure chip supply, absorb cost pressures to seize market share, and then make up for losses through its service business. Memory pricing has been changed to quarterly negotiations, but Apple plans to keep the starting price of the new iPhone 18 unchanged to avoid the impact of price hikes on sales.

3. Seagate Technology earnings call: All capacity sold out! CEO says customers care more about supply than price, orders negotiated until 2027. AI-driven demand for nearline hard drives remains strong; Seagate Technology’s 2026 capacity has been fully allocated, and the company has started discussing 2027 order arrangements with customers. The CEO bluntly stated that customers’ current focus has shifted from price to securing stable supply. The company also emphasized that HAMR hard drives are operating in cloud customers’ production environments, and product upgrades and supply discipline are expected to continuously improve the profit structure.

4. Masayoshi Son goes all in! SoftBank plans to invest up to $30 billion more in OpenAI. Reports indicated that this potential investment will be part of OpenAI’s ongoing fundraising round targeting up to $100 billion. If the full amount is raised, OpenAI’s valuation may reach $830 billion. Some strategists said that although ChatGPT is facing fierce competition from rivals such as Google Gemini and its prospects are less optimistic than before, "Masayoshi Son has gone all in, betting his entire fortune".

5. Tether, the top stablecoin issuer, hoards 140 tons of gold, becoming the world’s largest private gold vault. Tether has emerged as a top global gold player, holding approximately 140 tons of gold (worth $24 billion), a scale comparable to the Qatar Central Bank. As gold prices soared to $5,200 an ounce, its holdings recorded an unrealized gain of over $5 billion. Its strategy is extremely rare: it crazily purchases 1 to 2 tons of gold every week and stores it in a former nuclear bunker in Switzerland, with gold purchases second only to Poland last year. The company also poached talent from HSBC, aiming to challenge JPMorgan’s dominance in trading and build a hard asset empire amid dollar volatility.

6. Starbucks same-store sales post two consecutive quarters of growth on dual recovery in North America and China; cost pressures persist, adjusted EPS down 19% year-on-year. Q1 revenue rose 6% year-on-year to $9.9 billion, with global same-store sales up 4% driven by recovered transaction volumes, and U.S. store traffic turning positive for the first time in eight quarters. International business performed outstandingly, with China same-store sales up 7% supported by double growth in transaction volumes and average customer spending. The store network continues to expand, with the total number of global stores exceeding 41,000. The company also issued full-year guidance, expecting mid-single-digit growth in same-store sales, indicating that its core business is gradually emerging from the downturn.

## Industries/Concepts

### 1. Embodied AI

Shenzhen to promote the full integration of the home furnishing industry with AI embodied agents with policy support. On January 28, five departments including the Shenzhen Municipal Administration for Market Regulation issued the *Shenzhen Three-Year Action Plan for Optimizing the Consumption Environment (2026-2028)*, proposing to vigorously boost home furnishing consumption, improve the development ecosystem of the smart home industry, build smart home consumption experience centers, and construct a "big home furnishing" ecological system. Smart home enterprises are encouraged to accelerate adaptation to domestic operating systems and chips, and promote the full integration of furniture, TVs, audio-visual entertainment devices, door locks, kitchen utensils, lighting, robot vacuums, fitness equipment and other products with AI.

**Commentary**: Soochow Securities released a research report stating that embodied AI is accelerating the accumulation of knowledge and skills in the process of interacting with the physical world, forming the ability to generate intelligence and influence the physical world. With technological breakthroughs in large models, the market scale of embodied AI is expected to grow steadily, reaching 632.8 billion yuan by 2027.

### 2. Cloud Services

Google Cloud announced on January 27 that it will officially raise global data transfer service prices starting from May 2026, with rates in North America set to nearly double the current level. Against the backdrop of the continuous surge in AI computing power demand and the structural rise in upstream costs such as hardware and energy, mainstream cloud service providers are gradually passing on systemic cost pressures to end users, marking a key turning point in the industry’s long-term price reduction trend. The fact that Google Cloud and AWS announced price hikes for core services within a few days reflects the industry’s consensus on cost pressures. The market generally expects other mainstream cloud service providers to follow similar pricing strategy adjustments in the future.

**Commentary**: Research institutions believe that this industry-wide price adjustment reflects the long-term trend of surging global AI computing power demand and rising infrastructure costs. From the perspective of industrial chain value distribution, scarce computing power resources and network transmission links are becoming increasingly important in the revenue structure. Huatai Securities pointed out that the new three-in-one system—with artificial intelligence as the new production tool, data as the new production factor, and computing power as the new infrastructure—is accelerating integration with industries, including upgrading industrial service capabilities, transforming industrial development models, and spawning emerging fields.

### 3. Commercial Aerospace

According to IT Home, Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, posted on social media that the first flight test of Starship V3 (the third-generation Starship) will be conducted in six weeks at the Starbase launch site in Boca Chica, Texas. The core goal of this mission is to send the new-generation Starlink V3 satellites into orbit and verify multiple key technical capabilities of Starship V3.

**Commentary**: GF Securities stated that China’s commercial aerospace is ushering in a dual inflection point of "technological breakthroughs" and "scale explosion", and the market scale of China’s commercial aerospace is expected to exceed 2.5 trillion yuan in 2026. Guotai Junan Securities pointed out that commercial aerospace is expected to drive the coordinated development of multiple industries such as low-orbit internet constellations, remote sensing and telemetry, satellite navigation, and satellite communications. Policies successively issued in many regions are expected to catalyze China’s commercial aerospace industry to enter a "fast track".

### 4. Reusable Rockets

The Commercial Rocket Company of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation held its 2026 annual working conference, emphasizing that 2026 is the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan and a crucial year for China’s commercial rockets to consolidate foundations and fully accelerate development. With a firm belief in striving for victory, the courage to forge ahead with reform, a pragmatic and efficient work style, and a passionate entrepreneurial spirit, the company will resolutely win the tough battle of the maiden flight and recovery of its main carrier rockets, fully break through reusable technologies, efficiently fulfill commercial launch missions, and make greater contributions to enhancing China’s capability for large-scale, efficient access to space.

**Commentary**: Securities Times pointed out that a reusable rocket refers to a carrier rocket whose partial or entire structure can safely return to Earth and perform launch missions again after maintenance upon completion of a launch task. This technology aims to significantly reduce the cost of accessing space, increase launch frequency, and promote the sustainable development of aerospace activities. As of the beginning of 2026, reusable rocket technology has entered a period of intensive verification. SpaceX’s Falcon 9 has achieved more than 500 successful recoveries, and China is accelerating its catch-up through multiple rounds of trial and error, with 3D printing, advanced materials and intelligent guidance set to be key supports. With the accelerated breakthrough of core technologies, the commercial market for reusable rockets is expected to open up rapidly. Institutions predict that reusable technology is expected to reduce launch costs from 300,000 yuan per kilogram to 20,000 yuan per kilogram, unlocking a 100-billion-yuan level commercial launch market and driving a trillion-yuan level space economy ecosystem including satellite manufacturing, ground terminals and space applications.

### 5. Nuclear Fusion

Recently, the advanced field-reversed mirror fusion device FLAME, independently developed by an enterprise empowered by achievements from the University of Science and Technology of China, has been completed and is about to conduct its first plasma discharge. The "field-reversed configuration" is a technical path in magnetic confinement nuclear fusion research, which constrains high-temperature plasma through a specific magnetic field configuration to achieve controlled nuclear fusion reactions.

**Commentary**: China Securities Journal pointed out that the completion of the device is a concrete progress in the diversified exploration of fusion research. When it comes to the "artificial sun", people always think of the tokamak, which is like a "top supercar" requiring expensive superconducting materials and with extremely high costs. In contrast, the FLAME device is like an efficient "energy baguette", adopting the "field-reversed configuration" fusion path. It can create a "small sun" at only one-tenth of the cost, making it one of the various solutions for exploring practical fusion energy in the future.

## Upcoming Key News Today

1. UK Prime Minister visits China

2. U.S. December PCE Price Index, personal income and personal consumption expenditures

3. U.S. weekly initial jobless claims

4. U.S. November trade balance

5. U.S. November factory orders and durable goods orders

6. Earnings reports from Apple, Caterpillar and SAP

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