City Group predicts a high of 500,000 yen for the Nikkei average in the morning. Toyota's market capitalization has risen to 2nd in Asia, surpassing Samsung for the first time in 7 and a half years.

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Societe G suggests that the next move by the FOMC could be a rate hike if the U.S. economy accelerates again, rather than a rate cut.
Societe Generale points out that if the U.S. economy accelerates again, the next move by the financial authorities may be a rate hike rather than a rate cut. In that case, there is a possibility that the dollar will be pushed higher.
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Mr. Powell will testify in both houses in March - focusing on inflation response and strengthening capital regulations.

Commercial real estate loans surged at more than 20 U.S. regional banks, exceeding regulatory warning thresholds.
By the end of 2023 in the United States, there were around twenty banks holding commercial real estate loan assets that may require increased monitoring by regulatory authorities. It indicates the potential for more banks to be pressured by authorities to increase reserves.
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Crisis in commercial real estate, swallowing German financial institution PBB - S&P downgrades.

USA Economic Indicators
New initial jobless claims in the U.S. decreased to 0.212 million, hitting a low point for the first time in a month.
U.S. manufacturing production declined in January for the first time in three months - automobiles, machinery, among others, experienced a drop.
NAHB Housing Market Index in the USA hits a 6-month high - benefiting from the continued impact of low interest rates.
US mortgage interest rates rise to a 2-month high - acting as restraining factors on both supply and demand.
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The yen has risen to the upper 149-yen range against the dollar, with the trend of a strong dollar easing due to weak U.S. indicators.

Citi raises the high target for the Nikkei Average to 45,000 yen - with the Bank of Japan maintaining easing measures.
Citi Group Securities has raised its 2024 high target Nikkei Average price forecast from the previous 30.9 thousand yen to 40.5 thousand yen, citing the ongoing strength of the US economy and stock market, as well as the increased likelihood of the Bank of Japan maintaining accommodative monetary policy in Japan.
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The Nikkei Average is 0.03 million 8000 yen, acknowledging the strength of earning power overseas, as well as the 'divergence' with GDP.
Listed companies have achieved record-high profits for three consecutive periods, exceeding 3 trillion yen for the fiscal year ending in March 2024.

Even after the removal of negative interest rates, long-term interest rates exceeding 1% are causing concerns about increased volatility.
As the Bank of Japan approaches the timing of lifting the negative interest rates, the movement of Japanese government bonds becomes volatile. There is growing caution among market participants about the possibility of the long-term interest rate, which has been kept in the 0.7% range, suddenly rising to above 1%.

Toyota's market capitalization is rising to second place in Asia, surpassing Samsung for the first time in seven and a half years.
$Toyota Motor (7203.JP)$The market capitalization of Apple exceeds South Korea's Samsung Electronics, rising to second place among Asian companies after Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSMC). On the Tokyo stock market on the 15th, the closing price of Toyota stock was 3,382 yen, down 0.1% from the previous day, while Samsung stock in the Korean market closed the trade down 1.4% from the previous day. Toyota's market capitalization of 55 trillion 177.2 billion yen exceeded Samsung's (54 trillion 911.6 billion yen) by nearly 270 billion yen.

OpenAI develops realistic video generation AI.
Emerging U.S. company OpenAI has announced a new technology that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to generate high-quality videos from text descriptions. The new system is named 'Sora,' and it generates extremely realistic videos based on the input prompt (instruction text) using AI.
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Selling Alphabet stock, OpenAI's reported development of search services

Applied Materials stock surged on bullish outlook, suggesting recovery in the semiconductor industry
The largest US semiconductor manufacturing equipment manufacturer, $Applied Materials (AMAT.US)$saw a sharp rise in stock price in after-hours trading following the close of regular trading on the 15th. It indicated a bullish outlook for the current quarter's revenue, suggesting that some major semiconductor manufacturers are increasing investment in new production.

SoundHound AI surges by 44%, Nvidia's investment becomes clear
specializing in voice AI, $SoundHound AI (SOUN.US)$soared by 44%. It was revealed that Nvidia (NVDA.US) has invested in the company. $NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$is British $Arm Holdings (ARM.US)$Invested in bio as well. $Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX.US)$As revealed in documents submitted to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

GM and Panasonic invest in Canadian graphite mining company - Producing EV battery materials.
rice $General Motors (GM.US)$and $Panasonic Holdings (6752.JP)$Lear will purchase graphite for electric vehicle (EV) batteries from Canada's Nouveau Monde Graphite (NMG) and has signed a contract to invest in the company's project to manufacture high-quality graphite in North America.