Industrial Production YoY for Mar in the United States is 0.7%, lower than the previous value of 1.4%.~



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Industrial Production MoM for Mar in United States is 0.2%, unchanged from its last period. The forecast was 0.1%.~



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Continuing Jobless Claims for Apr/04 in United States is 1,818K, higher than the previous value of 1,787K. The forecast was 1810K.~



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Initial Jobless Claims for Apr/11 in the United States is 207K, lower than the previous value of 218K. The forecast was 215K.~



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The HSI climbed 446 points or 1.7% to close at 26,394. The HSCEI jumped up 186 points or 2.1% to 8,905. The HSTECH mounted 180 points or 3.7% to close at 5,092. Total market turnover for the day amounted to $256.228 billion.

Techs were popular. Alibaba Cloud will raise prices for certain MU model unit services by 2-7% from mid-May. BABA-W (09988.HK) advanced 5.6%, with a turnover of $17.1 billion. Some brokers expected BIDU-SW (09888.HK) to report a 40% YoY increase in its 1Q26 cloud business revenue, far exceeding market consensus. Therefore, BIDU-SW swelled 7.7% to close at $123.3. KINGSOFT CLOUD (03896.HK) and TENCENT (00700.HK) mushroomed 6.4% and 3.6%, while LENOVO GROUP (00992.HK) shot up 4.9%.

AI stocks KNOWLEDGE ATLAS (02513.HK) and MINIMAX-W (00100.HK) ascended 1.8% and 6.3%, while DEEPEXI TECH (01384.HK) soared 29.5%, with a turnover of $3.07 billion. XUNCE (03317.HK) surged 10.5%, with a turnover exceeding $2.1 billion.

Chip stocks BIREN TECH (06082.HK) and ILUVATAR COREX (09903.HK) rocketed 26.6% and 17.5%, while SMIC (00981.HK) and HUA HONG SEMI (01347.HK) ballooned 1.1% and 1.3%. Power equipment stocks DONGFANG ELEC (01072.HK) and HARBIN ELECTRIC (01133.HK) rallied 9.5% and 8.3%, while uranium stock CGN MINING (01164.HK) hyped up 6.4%.
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JD-SW (09618.HK) has launched the JoyEgoCam ultra-HD data capture terminal at its embodied intelligence ecosystem conference.

This product is the world's first embodied intelligence data infrastructure covering the entire chain of "collection, storage, labeling, training, evaluation, simulation, and testing".

It is understood that JoyEgoCam enables full-process data refinement, from data collection to thousand-GPU training and from simulation evaluation to compliant transactions, aiming to accelerate the evolution of models in real-world scenarios.
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BofA Securities issued a research report highlighting Citigroup (C.US) as its top pick among large-cap banks, and including it in its top 10 investment ideas for 2Q26. Citigroup's 1Q26 results and management commentary have only strengthened the broker's conviction.

The broker has become more confident that at the upcoming investor day on 7 May, the management is likely to set a return on tangible common equity (ROTCE) target of around 15%, which would serve as a catalyst for the next phase of share price re-rating.

BofA Securities maintained its 2027/ 2028 EPS forecasts for Citigroup unchanged at US$12.5/ US$15. Driven by better-than-expected 1Q26 EPS, the broker raised its FY2026 EPS forecast from US$10.49 to US$10.79, and elevated its target price from US$140 to US$150, with rating reiterated at Buy.
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After ASML Holding N.V. (ASML.US) raised its 2026 guidance and incorporated the Group's 2027 extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography capacity for the first time, this provided upside room for the forecasts of Citi Research and the market, Citi Research published a research report saying.

Demand for the Group is clearly strong, the broker noted. Although the Company no longer discloses order data, driven by DRAM, 1Q26 is highly likely to be another record order intake.

Citi Research raised its 2026/ 2027 revenue forecasts for the Group by 4%/ 3%, and increased its EPS forecasts by 6%/ 2%. The moves represent incremental adjustments on top of its previous estimation, which were already above market consensus.

Therefore, the broker reiterated rating at Buy on the stock, and elevated its target share for ASML Holding N.V. (ASML.AS)'s European stock from EUR1,600 to EUR1,675, driven by its positive anticipation revisions.
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The US government has comprehensively reformed Section 232 tariffs, imposing a 50% tariff on imported steel and aluminum products and a 25% tariff on derivative products starting 6 April, Citi Research issued a research report saying. The broker believed that this tariff impact on TECHTRONIC IND (00669.HK) will be mild.

Citi Research believed that, if TECHTRONIC IND's share price pulls back on the related news, it would provide a better buying opportunity. Therefore, the broker now assigned a target price of $150 and rating at Buy for TECHTRONIC IND.

Within the global power tools sector, Citi Research's stock preference for Buy-rated stocks is TECHTRONIC IND, GREAT STAR IND (002444.SZ) and Stanley Black & Decker (SWK.US), while the broker rated CHERVON (02285.HK) at Sell.
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TSMC (TSM.US)'s 1Q26 earnings rose by 58.3% YoY to a record high of TWD572.48 billion (around USD18.11 billion), beating market expectations.

On the strength of the continuously accelerating AI infrastructure development worldwide, TSMC also logged a YoY increase of over 35% in revenue to TWD1.134 trillion.

Given that it is currently sourcing helium and hydrogen from multiple regions, TSMC expects no short-term impact on raw material supply, but it cautioned that its profitability could be affected by the Middle East crisis.
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A steep rise in global energy prices has begun to be reflected in inflation data for March, Fitch Ratings said. Prices rose by an average of 0.8% MoM in the major developed economies where data is available, the steepest monthly rise since 2022.

The average rise in the annual rate of inflation across all markets was 0.3 ppts, with the shock yet to work its way through fully to consumer prices. However, there was plenty of variation ash fuel price controls in some countries dampened the rise in consumer prices.
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Sonal Desai, Chief Investment Officer of Franklin Templeton Fixed Income, said that the dominance of the USD has long been in focus, but she believed that USD will remain the currency of choice.

The USD's status is supported by three main pillars, naming the scale of the world's largest economy, the depth of US market and its institutional credibility. At present, there is no other reliable alternative currency in the market, it would take decades to build the institutional infrastructure necessary to support such a reserve currency.

Desai further emphasized that the eurozone is currently unable to issue a unified safe asset on a large scale, while the RMB is constrained by capital controls and lacks full convertibility. Therefore, she believed that a real competitor to the USD has yet to emerge.
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Amazon.com (AMZN.US) agreed to acquire Globalstar, a mobile satellite service operator, with the transaction expected to be completed in 2027, BofA Securities issued a research report saying. The deal will enhance Amazon.com's own next-generation direct-to-device (D2D) system and expand network coverage scope.

The broker believed that, as Amazon Leo scales up, there will be significant revenue opportunities. Therefore, BofA Securities kept rating at Buy on Amazon.com, with a target price of US$275.
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Macau's GGR was flat QoQ and mounted 14% YoY in 1Q at USD8.14 billion, UBS said in its research report. The broker believed this was driven by a 1% QoQ and 13% YoY growth in Mass GGR, as well as a 6% QoQ decline but 23% YoY hike in VIP GGR.

UBS estimated that the Mass share of SANDS CHINA LTD (01928.HK), WYNN MACAU (01128.HK) and Melco Resorts & Entertainment (MLCO.US) elevated QoQ in 1Q, while SJM HOLDINGS (00880.HK), MGM CHINA (02282.HK) and GALAXY ENT (00027.HK) recorded market share losses.

In the absence of one-off opex headwinds in 1Q26 compared with 4Q25, paired with a shift toward the Mass segment, UBS expected Macau's gaming EBITDA to add 4% QoQ and 10% YoY in 1Q to USD2.1 billion.
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China Foreign Exchange Trade System (CFETS) announced on Thursday (16th) that the central parity of USD/ RMB sank 34 bps from the previous day to 6.8616.
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Nvidia (NVDA.US) CEO Jensen Huang said that the breakthrough of Anthropic's AI model Mythos demonstrates that the US should seek stronger cooperation with China, enabling AI researchers from the world's two largest economies to reach consensus on the safe use of AI technology.

He noted that dialogue and research exchanges between the two countries may be the most solid approach. Most importantly, both sides should strive to forge consensus on the uses of AI, particularly on which applications should not involve AI.

He added that he is concerned that tensions between the US and China over trade and security issues could hinder collaboration in key research areas.
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The Shenzhen Stock Exchange (SZSE) announced that HESAI-W (02525.HK) has been added to the list of eligible securities under the Southbound Stock Connect, effective today (16th), in accordance with relevant regulations.
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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 escalating tensions in the Strait of Hormuz, Bloomberg reported, citing people with the knowledge of the matter.

As the initial ceasefire agreement is purportedly set to expire next week, mediators between Washington and Tehran are seeking to hold technical talks to address the most challenging issues hindering a long-term deal, including the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and Iran's nuclear program.

The US has blockaded the Strait, severing Iran's oil and gas shipments. On Wednesday (15th), the US said 10 vessels were forced to turn back, while Iran continues to bar most other ships from passage.

A White House spokesperson said the US has not formally requested an extension of the ceasefire but acknowledged that the White House remains very active in negotiations.
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XPENG-W (09868.HK) has launched the pre-sale of its first full-size flagship SUV, the XPeng GX. It comes with a pure electric and extended-range variant, both priced from RMB399,800.

As the debut model built on XPENG-W's new-generation physical AI technology architecture SEPA 3.0, the XPeng GX integrates cutting-edge technologies including Robotaxi intelligent driving, flying car safety redundancy, and embodied intelligence chips.

After the launch event, He Xiaopeng, Chairman of XPENG-W, when talking about the layout of the human-vehicle-home ecosystem, told the media that the company currently has no plans to enter the home appliance sector, since building cars itself is already challenging enough.
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Alibaba Cloud announced that the company will moderately adjust the service prices of certain MU (Model Unit) model units starting May 15, in order to sequentially ensure the stable supply of underlying hardware, enhance the quality of platform operation and maintenance services, and address changes in computing power market costs.

The affected product is the large model service platform Bailian, with price hikes ranging from 2% to 7%.
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