Original title: Zelensky: Historical moment!
what's going on?
U.S. stocks are deep V, the energy sector tumbled again, and Fed officials made a heavy voice, raising interest rates by 75 basis points in July?
On June 23, local time, the three major U.S. stock indexes closed up collectively.
As of the close, the Dow rose 0.64%, the Nasdaq rose 1.62%, and the S&P 500 rose 0.95%.
Large technology stocks, popular Chinese concept stocks and consumer sectors performed strongly, energy stocks suffered further losses, and financial sectors were weak.
On the second day of the U.S. hearing, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell said his commitment to tackling inflation was "unconditional."
The Fed needs to maximize employment sustainably, and lower inflation helps to do that.
Previously, Powell has said that there is a high probability of raising interest rates by 50 basis points or 75 basis points in July.
Fed Governor Bowman said on the 23rd that it is appropriate for the Fed to raise interest rates by 75 basis points in July, and it is also appropriate to raise interest rates by at least 50 basis points in several subsequent meetings, as long as future inflation data are supported.
U.S. stocks rose in late trading, and popular Chinese concept stocks performed strongly
On the same day, the three major U.S. stock indexes rose collectively at the opening, but they turned down collectively during the session, and achieved a rapid rise in the late trading, showing a "V"-shaped trend as a whole.
As of the close, the Dow rose 0.64%, the Nasdaq rose 1.62%, the S&P 500 rose 0.95%, and rose more than 1% during the session.
On the disk, popular Chinese concept stocks were among the top gainers, and the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose 3.08%.
Xiaopeng Motors rose 7.82%, Alibaba, Pinduoduo, Li Auto and Shell rose more than 6%, Baidu and Weilai rose more than 2%, JD.com rose 0.78%, and New Oriental fell 8.84%.
Most of the large technology stocks rose, Amazon rose 3.2%, Apple and Microsoft rose more than 2%, Facebook parent company Meta rose 1.86%, Nvidia fell 0.83%, and Tesla fell 0.43%.
Tesla CEO (CEO) Elon Musk said the company's new factories in Berlin, Germany and Austin, Texas are losing "billions of dollars" in efforts to increase production due to supply chain disruptions, "both huge. money-burning furnace".
The consumer sector performed strongly, with Target up over 4%, Open Market up over 3%, and Procter & Gamble, Walmart, Home Depot, and Starbucks all up over 2%.
Nike has decided to pull out of Russia altogether, saying its priority is to ensure it fully supports its employees while responsibly scaling back its operations in the coming months.
The financial sector was weak, with TD Bank down 3.58%, JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup down more than 1%, and Goldman Sachs up 0.57%.
U.S. energy sector leads losses as commodity prices tumble
The energy sector led the market lower again on Thursday after suffering a heavy sell-off on Wednesday.
Among them, ConocoPhillips fell by more than 5%, Exxon Mobil, Chevron, and Shell fell by more than 3%, and British Petroleum, Total, and Norwegian Petroleum fell by more than 2%.
On the same day, international oil prices and Chicago agricultural prices fell significantly.
WTI crude oil futures fell more than 2% to $104.03 a barrel, while Brent crude fell 1.79% to $109.74 a barrel.
Earlier this month, OPEC+ (the oil exporters and their allies of producers) decided to increase crude output by 648,000 bpd in July and August, a 50% increase from its previous plan of 432,000 bpd.
White House press secretary Karin Jean-Pierre said on the 23rd that U.S. President Biden will travel to the Middle East next month to discuss energy security, regional and equality issues with Saudi Arabia and other countries.
Saudi Arabia is the chair of OPEC+, and the White House welcomed measures by Saudi Arabia and other countries to increase crude output.
According to foreign media reports, OPEC+ will not change its production increase plan.
Compared with oil prices, Chicago agricultural futures prices fell even more.
The most actively traded December contract on the Chicago Board of Trade corn market closed at $6.555 per bushel, down 38.25 cents, or 5.51%, from the previous trading day; the September wheat contract closed at $9.4925 per bushel, down from the previous session. The trading day fell 39.5 cents, or 3.99%; the soybean November contract closed at $14.155 per bushel, down 61 cents, or 4.13%, from the previous trading day.
The Industrial Securities International report pointed out that with the decline of commodities, the subsequent inflationary pressure may be alleviated, and the Fed also has the opportunity to walk a tightrope between inflation after the stock market, and there will be a turnaround in overseas monetary policy in the second half of the year.
In response to the energy crisis, German Deputy Chancellor and Minister of Economy and Climate Protection Habeck issued a statement on the 23rd, announcing the second level of alert for Germany's natural gas emergency plan.
At present, Germany is in the midst of a gas crisis, and the government will provide 15 billion euros of loans to store natural gas in preparation for winter.
At the same time, Germany will also start additional coal-fired power generation to replace the current natural gas power generation to strengthen natural gas reserves. The relevant laws are expected to be passed on July 8.
At the end of March, Germany announced a natural gas emergency plan, which Habeck divided into three stages: the first stage is the "early warning stage", in which the government and energy suppliers form a crisis team, but the state will not forcefully intervene, natural gas suppliers, Traders and operators can still take market measures to ensure supply, but operators should ensure that natural gas reserves reach 80% by October and 90% by November; the second phase is the "alert phase", and relevant legislation will be carried out Amendment, natural gas should be prioritized for storage rather than power generation; the third phase is the "emergency phase", the state will intervene directly, the energy regulator Federal Network Agency will carry out prioritization, and lower priority industries and facilities will be "cut off gas" ” to ensure gas supply to key industrial areas and ordinary households.
Germany announced at the end of March that it had entered an early warning phase.
Powell says tackling inflation is 'unconditional'
Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell reiterated the central bank's firm commitment to cooling inflation in the second day of U.S. congressional hearings.
Powell said the Fed's commitment to tackling inflation was "unconditional."
It is much harder to reduce inflation without affecting the labor market.
"The labor market is unsustainably hot, and we're nowhere near our inflation target." Powell said the Fed needs to maximize employment sustainably, and lower inflation would help to do that.
The latest data released by the U.S. Department of Labor showed the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits last week fell by 2,000 from the previous week to 229,000, still near a five-month high.
The four-week average of initial jobless claims rose to 223,500, the highest since late January.
In terms of shrinking the balance sheet, Powell said it will eventually be about $2.5 to $3 trillion smaller than it is now.
Compared with raising interest rates, the impact of the shrinking balance sheet is relatively marginal.
The term "unconditional" has also appeared in the Fed's earlier monetary policy report.
According to Krishna Guha, a strategist at Evercore ISI and a former New York Fed official, the term "unconditional" shows the Fed's readiness to accept higher unemployment and a recession in order to reduce inflation appearance.
On the first day of the hearing, Powell did not use the term, taking a softer-than-expected tone.
On June 15, the Federal Reserve announced that it would raise the target range of the federal funds rate from 0.75% to 1.00% by 75 basis points to 1.50% to 1.75%.
The 75 basis points was the largest single rate hike by the Fed since November 1994.
Powell said at the time that the next meeting (in July) is likely to raise interest rates by 50 basis points or 75 basis points.
Fed Governor Bowman also said on the 23rd that it is appropriate for the Fed to raise interest rates by 75 basis points in July, and it is also appropriate to raise interest rates by at least 50 basis points in several subsequent meetings, as long as future inflation data are supported.
Norges Bank raises interest rates the most in 20 years, worries about economic downturn
After the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 75 basis points last week, the central banks of Switzerland, the United Kingdom and other countries have followed suit, and the Swiss National Bank has raised interest rates for the first time since 2007.
On Thursday, the Norges Bank announced that it would raise its benchmark interest rate by 50 basis points, the largest rate hike since 2002.
Norges Bank's Monetary Policy and Financial Stability Committee decided to raise the benchmark interest rate from 0.75% to 1.25%.
Norges Bank President Ida Walden Budge said the policy rate is likely to rise to 1.5% in August based on the committee's forecast on future risk outlook and balance.
Norway's central bank said economic activity in Norway was high and spare capacity was weak.
Unemployment fell more than expected and was at very low levels.
The inflation rate was significantly higher than the 2% target level, and the rapid rise in underlying inflation was also unexpected.
"Rapid rate hikes now will help reduce the risk of high inflation and reduce the need for sharp monetary tightening in the future," Bach said.
Annual inflation in Norway was 5.7% in May, the highest since December 1988.
In discussing the balance of risks, the Committee is concerned that inflation risks will continue to rise unexpectedly, especially given the backdrop of small spare capacity, persistent global inflationary pressures and a weaker Norwegian krone.
On the other hand, rapid rate hikes overseas could also lead to the risk of a sudden economic downturn, and global inflationary pressures may ease unexpectedly quickly.
EU approves Ukraine and Moldova as EU candidates
According to CCTV news, European Council President Michelle announced on the 23rd local time that the EU summit that day agreed to approve Ukraine and Moldova as EU candidate countries, and Georgia as a potential candidate country.
Michel called it a historic moment that marked a crucial step for Ukraine towards the European Union.
European Commission President von der Leyen said that this decision not only strengthened the strength of Ukraine, Moldova and Georgia, but also strengthened the strength of the European Union.
The decision of the EU summit was made in response to the recommendation of the European Commission on the 17th of this month.
Zelensky: Ukraine's EU candidate status is a unique moment in Ukraine's relationship with the EU
According to CCTV news, on the 23rd local time, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky tweeted on the official social media that Ukraine won the EU candidate status, saying that this is a unique historical moment in Ukraine's relations with the EU.
He said that the future of Ukraine lies in the European Union.
Zelensky also thanked EU leaders for their support.
Zelensky wrote on social media: "I sincerely welcome the decision of the EU leaders to give Ukraine EU candidate status. This is a unique and historic moment in Ukraine-EU relations. I thank Michel, von der Leyen and the EU Leader's support. Ukraine's future is in the EU."