Preview of US Stock Market | The three major stock index futures all rose, with AI and quantum computing concept stocks soaring.

1. Before the market opened on Wednesday, January 22nd, the three major US stock index futures rose together. As of the time of writing, Dow Jones futures rose by 0.16%, S&P 500 index futures rose by 0.44%, and Nasdaq futures rose by 0.84%. 2. As of the time of writing, the German DAX index rose by 1.19%, the UK FTSE 100 index rose by 0.41%, the French CAC 40 index rose by 0.88%, and the European Stoxx 50 index rose by 0.91%. 3. As of the time of writing, WTI crude oil rose by 0.47%, to $76.19 per barrel. Brent crude oil rose by 0.44%, to $79.64 per barrel. Market News Sell US tech stocks, increase holdings in Chinese stocks! The contrarian investment strategy of the $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund leader. Nikolai Tangen, the head of Norway's $1.8 trillion sovereign wealth fund, stated that investors willing to go against the market in the coming months should consider selling US tech stocks and private credit, while increasing holdings in Chinese stocks. Tangen made these comments during an interview at the World Economic Forum in Davos. "What should you do today? Well, if you are going to be contrarian, that is selling US tech stocks, buying Chinese stocks, selling private credit, and buying outdated things," he said. He acknowledged that this approach was "very, very difficult to do, because if you go against the trend, if you are different from the benchmark, there will be periods of underperformance, and everyone will question your rationality," the executive said. Up to $500 billion in size! Trump announces "Stargate" AI infrastructure project led by OpenAI, SoftBank, and Oracle Corporation. US President Trump appeared at the White House with the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, the CEO of SoftBank, Masayoshi Son, and the chairman of Oracle Corporation, Larry Ellison, to announce that the private sector will invest massively in American artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure. Trump announced a new AI infrastructure investment plan called "Stargate." He stated that the three companies will each contribute $100 billion as initial funding, and the investment amount will increase to $500 billion over the next four years. The project will begin at a data center in Texas. Trump noted that the Stargate project will build physical and virtual infrastructures to power the next generation of AI, including data centers across the country. AI concept stocks surged, with Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US), Rezolve AI (RZLV.US) climbing over 9%, and C3.ai (AI.US) and Arm Holdings (ARM.US) rising over 5%, while Palantir (PLTR.US) increased by over 2%. Deutsche Bank: If the US imposes a 25% tariff on Canada and Mexico, the inflation index favored by the Fed could increase by 1.4%. On Monday, Trump stated that he may impose a 25% tariff on imports from Canada and Mexico as early as February. According to US Census Bureau data, in November 2024, Mexico and Canada were the two largest trading partners of the US, accounting for 15.4% and 13.8% of total trade, respectively. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft stated, "At the time, most people saw it as a negotiating strategy. But last night's temporary extension of the 25% tariff negotiations suggests that we should take this threat more seriously, even though there is still time to reach an agreement. Imports from Canada and Mexico account for about 4.7% of total personal consumption expenditures in the US and 5.4% of core consumption expenditures. If an additional 25% tariff is applied to all stages of production, core PCE price levels are expected to increase by 1.4% (5.4% multiplied by 25%)." Market calmly faces Trump's return to the White House, Bank of Japan moves towards rate hike. After the global financial markets reacted relatively calmly to Trump's return to the White House, the Bank of Japan is expected to raise interest rates to the highest level since 2008 on Friday. Sources revealed earlier this month that Bank of Japan officials believed that there was a high probability of a rate hike unless Trump's return to the White House brought too many negative surprises. In addition, sources indicated after Trump's inauguration that Japanese government officials would support the actions of the Bank of Japan this week. If the Bank of Japan announces a rate hike on Friday as expected by the market, this will be the third rate hike by the Bank of Japan in less than 12 months. Before March last year, the Bank of Japan had not raised interest rates for 17 years. Currently, the Bank of Japan is steadily moving towards monetary policy normalization, while the Fed and the ECB are considering pausing their easing cycles. Stock News Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.US) beats Q4 earnings expectations. Johnson & Johnson had a strong performance in the fourth quarter, with Non-GAAP earnings per share reaching $2.04, exceeding the $2.02 in the same period last year and higher than the market expectation of $2.01. The company's fourth-quarter revenue reached $22.5 billion, a 5.1% increase from the same period last year, an increase of $50 million over the previous year, and exceeding the market expectation of $22.43 billion. Additionally, Johnson & Johnson is optimistic about its full-year performance in 2025, expecting adjusted earnings per share to be between $10.75 and $10.95, higher than the market expectation of $10.59. The company expects full-year revenue in 2025 to be between $90.9 billion and $91.7 billion, close to the market expectation of $90.99 billion. Netflix (NFLX.US) beats Q4 earnings expectations, surpasses 300 million paid subscribers. Netflix announced that its paid subscriber count exceeded 300 million in the fourth quarter, with a record 19 million new users. The company attributed this growth to quality content, product improvements, and the usual seasonal growth in the fourth quarter. Netflix's performance in the quarter ending on December 31st exceeded market expectations.In the quarter, earnings per share were $4.27, higher than the expected $4.20; revenue reached $10.25 billion, exceeding the expected $10.11 billion; the number of paid members reached 301.63 million, surpassing the expected 290.9 million. The company's net income increased from $938 million in the same period last year to $1.87 billion, doubling year-on-year. Fourth quarter revenue increased by 16% year-on-year to reach $10.25 billion, higher than market expectations. Netflix has raised its full-year revenue forecast for 2025 to $43.5 billion to $44.5 billion, approximately $5 billion higher than previously predicted.American Airlines Group Inc. continues to report good news! United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (UAL.US) Q4 performance exceeded expectations, with continued strong travel demand. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. Q4 revenue increased by 8% year-on-year to $14.7 billion, better than market expectations, mainly driven by a 20% increase in basic economy fare sales and a 10% increase in premium ticket prices; adjusted earnings per share rose to $3.26, surpassing market expectations of $3.05. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. expects first-quarter profits in 2025 to greatly exceed Wall Street's expectations, due to the strong demand for high-end and international travel. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. expects adjusted earnings per share in the first quarter to be between $0.75 and $1.25, compared to analysts' average expectations of $0.56. United Airlines Holdings, Inc. also expects full-year adjusted earnings per share to be between $11.50 and $13.50, compared to analysts' average estimate of $12.84. Customer trading volume and commission income soar, Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. Class A Q4 (IBKR.US) revenue and profits exceed expectations. Automated global electronic broker Interactive Brokers Group, Inc. Class A announced its fourth-quarter financial performance after the market closed on January 21. The data shows that revenue for the quarter was $1.387 billion, exceeding analysts' average expectation of $1.29 billion, and adjusted earnings per share were $2.03, surpassing analysts' expectations by $0.30. Driven by increased customer trading volume, commission income increased by 37% year-on-year to $477 million. Customer options and stock trading volumes surged by 32% and 65% respectively, while futures trading volume declined by 3%. Net interest income rose 11% to $807 million, driven by an increase in average customer margin loans and customer credit balances. In the fourth quarter, the company's customer accounts grew by 30% year-on-year to 3.34 million, and customer equity assets increased by 33% to $568.2 billion. SoftBank's stock price achieves largest gain in nearly 5 months! Partners with Oracle Corporation (ORCL.US), OpenAI, etc. to invest billions of dollars in AI infrastructure. SoftBank Group announced a project called "Stargate" in collaboration with OpenAI, Oracle Corporation, and Abu Dhabi-supported MGX Corporation to build a $500 billion data center and infrastructure in the United States. Subsequently, SoftBank's stock price surged 12% in the Japanese market, marking its largest single-day increase since August of last year. Oracle Corporation and SoftBank's chip design company, Arm Holdings (ARM.US), also saw gains in the U.S. stock market. Weak sales drag down Apple Inc. (AAPL.US) stock price, NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) regains title of global market value leader. On Tuesday, Apple Inc.'s stock price continued to decline, while NVIDIA Corporation's stock began to surpass Apple Inc., once again becoming the leader in global market value among publicly traded companies. In Tuesday's U.S. stock trading, NVIDIA Corporation's market value exceeded $3.46 trillion, surpassing Apple Inc.'s market value of $3.33 trillion. As of the time of writing, NVIDIA Corporation rose 1.68% to $143.2 after hours, while Apple Inc. fell 2.7% to $222.03, despite having rebounded from previous lows. AI chip manufacturer NVIDIA Corporation surpassed Apple Inc. in market value in early November last year, but Apple Inc. regained the top position later that month. On December 26 last year, Apple Inc. reached a historical high stock price of $260.10, but has since fallen by about 15%. Honeywell International Inc.'s (HON.US) Quantum Subsidiary, Quantinuum, plans to build a research center, causing U.S. quantum computing stocks to rise. Honeywell International Inc.'s quantum software division, Quantinuum, announced plans to establish a new research center in New Mexico, causing U.S. quantum computing stocks to rise. Quantinuum stated that the planned center will focus on photonics technology, which will help advance ion quantum computing technology. Quantinuum President and CEO Rajeeb Hazra stated: "As a leading company in the field of quantum computing, Quantinuum has found an ideal partner in New Mexico. The state's vibrant technology ecosystem and skilled workforce align perfectly with our strategic goals." Upcoming important economic data and events 23:00 Beijing time: U.S. December Conference Board Leading Index Month-on-Month (%). 23:05 Beijing time: Speech by ECB President Lagarde. Next day at 5:30 am Beijing time: U.S. API Crude Oil Inventory Change (thousand barrels) for the week ending January 17. Performance forecast Thursday morning: Alcoa Corporation (AA.US) Thursday pre-market: The Paci FIC (UNP.US), American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL.US), TAL Education Group Sponsored ADR Class A (TAL.US)Je suis dsol, je ne parle pas franais.