Overnight US stocks | Three major indexes are uneven, Chinese concept stocks generally rise, Amazon issues a huge amount of long-term bonds to bet on AI.

On Tuesday, the three major stock indexes rose and fell, oil prices fell sharply, and the market awaited inflation data to be released before the opening of the US stock market on Wednesday. [US Stock Market] As of the close, the Dow fell 34.29 points, or 0.07%, to 47,706.51 points; the Nasdaq rose 1.16 points, or 0.01%, to 22,697.10 points; the S&P 500 fell 14.49 points, or 0.21%, to 6,781.50 points. Chinese concept stocks rose in general, with the Golden Dragon Index up 1.96%, NIO Inc. Sponsored ADR Class A car (NIO.US) up 15%, XPeng, Inc. ADR Sponsored Class A (XPEV.US) up 2.28%, Alibaba Group Holding Limited Sponsored ADR (BABA.US) up 3.17%. [European Stocks] The Germany DAX30 index rose 574.56 points, or 2.46%, to 23,968.94 points; the UK FTSE 100 index rose 163.79 points, or 1.60%, to 10,413.31 points; the France CAC40 index rose 142.00 points, or 1.79%, to 8,057.36 points; the Euro Stoxx 50 index rose 156.35 points, or 2.75%, to 5,841.55 points; the Spain IBEX35 index rose 492.16 points, or 2.90%, to 17,436.76 points; the Italy FTSE MIB index rose 1190.54 points, or 2.70%, to 45,215.50 points. [Asian Stock Market] The Nikkei 225 index rose 2.88%, the South Korea KOSPI index rose 5.35%, and the Indonesia Jakarta Composite index rose 1.41%. [Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin rose more than 1.7% to $69,835, and Ethereum rose more than 1.4% to $2,031.2. [Oil] The light crude oil futures price for delivery in April on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell $11.32 to close at $83.45 per barrel, down 11.94%; the Brent crude oil futures price for delivery in May fell $11.16 to close at $87.80 per barrel, down 11.28%. [US Dollar Index] The US dollar index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, fell 0.36% to close at 98.823 in the forex market. By the close of the New York forex market, 1 euro exchanged for $1.1644, higher than the previous trading day's $1.1578; 1 pound exchanged for $1.3460, higher than the previous trading day's $1.3388. 1 US dollar exchanged for 157.63 yen, lower than the previous trading day's 158.33 yen; 1 US dollar exchanged for 0.7770 Swiss francs, lower than the previous trading day's 0.7799 Swiss francs; 1 US dollar exchanged for 1.3570 Canadian dollars, lower than the previous trading day's 1.3591 Canadian dollars; 1 US dollar exchanged for 9.1371 Swedish kronor, lower than the previous trading day's 9.2100 Swedish kronor. [Metals] Spot gold closed at $5,192.84, and spot silver closed at $88.288. [Macro News] US House Speaker Johnson downplays gasoline price concerns, saying it is just "temporary fluctuations." US House Speaker Johnson downplayed concerns about rising gasoline prices during US military action in Iran, calling it "temporary fluctuations" that will be quickly resolved after the conflict ends. When asked if Americans can tolerate gasoline prices exceeding $5 per gallon, Johnson dismissed this concern. Johnson said, "I think the scope and mission of this operation have been carefully designed and limited. I believe the mission is being completed, it is almost over. In the past 24 hours, the commander-in-chief himself has also indicated that the operation is about to end, so gasoline prices will adjust later." He said, most of the reasons for the rise in natural gas prices may be due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz by "that regime," adding, "The Strait of Hormuz will reopen, which will take a few weeks, and natural gas prices will fall." Johnson continued, "So, this is just a temporary fluctuation in the extraordinary trend of the United States returning to energy dominance. The evidence speaks for itself, and it will continue to prove this point." Bank of America: If oil price shocks persist, it may pave the way for Fed's loose policy. Bank of America Corp said in a report that the market currently sees rising oil prices as a greater threat to inflation, but supply shocks will actually pose risks to both aspects of the Fed's dual mandate. The report pointed out that monetary policy tends to tighten only when consumer demand is strong enough and economic activity can withstand supply shocks, allowing the Fed to focus on inflation as it did during the 2022 Russia-Ukraine conflict. However, the bank noted that at that time, economic demand was significantly stronger (unemployment rate was 4%, core PCE inflation exceeded 5%, non-farm employment increased by 500,000 per month, and consumers still had a large amount of stimulus funds). Today, job growth is slower, inflation is at a moderate high level, and fiscal stimulus is more limited. The bank believes that if oil price shocks persist, it will create conditions for the Fed to implement more loose monetary policy. A $33 billion credit fund faces over 7% redemptions. According to media reports citing insiders, the flagship private credit fund under alternative investment advisor and fund manager Cliffwater may receive redemption requests exceeding 7%. Cliffwater manages about $33 billion in assets, and its fund is interval-based. According to sources, the company has not yet decided whether to set limits on redemptions when they reach 5% or 7%. The redemption window for the fund will close on Tuesday. Cliffwater is the latest private credit firm to face investor withdrawals. The industry, with a scale of $1.8 trillion, has seen investors withdrawing due to concerns about loan quality and risk exposure to software companies susceptible to artificial intelligence impact. Recently, Blackstone and BlackRock, Inc. were forced to limit redemptions, and liquidity crisis is looming in the UK and US private credit markets. US existing home sales unexpectedly rise in February, affordability improvement drives demand. Data from the National Association of Realtors on Tuesday showed that existing home sales in the US unexpectedly rose in February, while data for the previous month was revised upwards, thanks to lower mortgage rates and moderate price increases. The volume of pending contracts increased by 1.7%, equivalent to an annual rate of 4.09 million households, exceeding market expectations. A bright spot in the housing market is the improvement in affordability, with recent declines in mortgage rates and moderate price increases. The monthly housing affordability index of the National Association of Realtors (reflecting changes in house prices, median income, and borrowing costs) is currently at its most favorable level since 2022. Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the association, said, "Housing affordability is improving, and consumers are responding. But there is still a long way to go to restore transaction activity to pre-pandemic levels." The report showed that the median price of existing home sales last month increased by 0.3% year-on-year to $398,000, one of the smallest increases since the real estate boom during the pandemic. Existing home inventory increased by 4.9% year-on-year to 1.29 million, the highest level for February since 2020. [Individual Stock News] Boeing Company delays delivery of some 737 MAX aircraft due to wiring issues. Boeing Company (BA.US) stated that it will delay the delivery of some 737 MAX aircraft after discovering wiring issues on newly produced aircraft, which represents a new setback for the company's plan to accelerate the delivery of aircraft to customers. Boeing Company said on Tuesday that it found evidence of wire chafing on undelivered aircraft, tracing the problem back to a machining error. The company did not disclose what repair measures are needed or the number of affected aircraft. A Boeing Company spokesperson said that repairing each aircraft may only take a few days, and this delay may slow down the overall aircraft delivery progress for the month, but the company remains committed to its goal of delivering about 500 737 MAX aircraft to customers this year. Boeing Company said it delivered 43 narrow-body 737 aircraft to customers in February. The company delivered a total of 51 aircraft last month, the highest level for February since 2017. Pentagon introduces Alphabet Inc. Class C AI agents to automate non-classified daily work. A senior official at the US Department of Defense stated that Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) is deploying artificial intelligence agents for approximately 3 million DoD personnel to automate daily work. Emil Michael, Deputy Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, stated that Alphabet Inc. Class C's Gemini AI agent can independently perform tasks set by users and will initially run on non-classified networks. He added that the DoD is in discussions with Alphabet Inc. Class C to deploy these agents on classified cloud platforms. Jim Kelly, Vice President of Alphabet Inc. Class C, stated in a blog post on Tuesday that this new feature will allow DoD civilian and military personnel to build AI agents through natural language. Alphabet Inc. Class C has faced internal criticism in the past for its cooperation with the DoD. In 2018, thousands of employees protested the company's involvement in Project Maven, a DoD project to analyze drone warfare video data using AI. The opposition ultimately led Alphabet Inc. Class C to not renew the project contract. NVIDIA Corporation increases investment in Thinking Machines to provide AI chip support. NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA.US) is making a new round of investment in the artificial intelligence company Thinking Machines Lab and providing chips to help train and operate this startup's AI models. The company was founded by former OpenAI executive Mila Murati. Thinking Machines stated on Tuesday that, under a multi-year agreement, the company will use NVIDIA Corporation's upcoming Vera Rubin AI accelerator. These chips are expected to be deployed by early next year, providing Thinking Machines with at least the equivalent of 1 gigawatt of computing power. NVIDIA Corporation did not disclose the specific terms of the deal, nor did they specify whether this investment will be made in cash, chips, or a combination of both. The two companies only stated that this is an "important" investment. Alphabet Inc. Class C, Tesla, Inc., and other companies push to reduce electricity prices by utilizing idle grid capacity. A new alliance comprising companies including Alphabet Inc. Class C (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) and Tesla, Inc. (TSLA.US) plans to address the energy burden issue by utilizing the underutilized capacity in the grid. As AI data centers and other demands drive up electricity prices, electricity burden has become a central issue. The alliance, named Utilize, plans to work with state legislators, regulatory agencies, utilities, and other partners to solve the energy burden issue by improving grid operations while balancing power reliability and construction speed. Alliance officials said they plan to soon release a study by the Brattle Group showing that by making system improvements, American consumers could potentially save up to $180 billion in the next decade. Utilize's members also include air conditioning giant Carrier, deployment service company Sparkfund, power panel firm SPAN, and data center developer Verrus. Amazon.com, Inc. issues bonds with up to 50-year maturity to fund AI development. Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) is returning to the bond market, joining the wave of corporate financing from leading companies in the artificial intelligence sector. According to sources, the company plans to issue bonds with up to 11 different maturities ranging from 2 to 50 years. Preliminary pricing discussions for the longest part of this deal (due in 2076) suggest a spread of about 1.55 percentage points higher than US Treasuries. HSBC HOLDINGS, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs Group, Inc., and JPMorgan will manage the underwriting of this bond issue. This is the latest in a series of large bond issuances by major cloud computing companies, which are preparing to invest billions of dollars in building AI infrastructure. So far, investor demand remains strong, and recent bond offerings have been oversubscribed several times over the issue size.