Caixin News on September 13th (Editor Shi Zhengcheng): Last night and this morning, with the latest and as expected U.S. PPI data released, the Fed has completed all important data before the start of this round of rate cuts. Just as the U.S. stock market was preparing to enter a 'wait-and-see mode,' OpenAI unexpectedly introduced the 'GPT-3' model, triggering a wave of afternoon gains in the U.S. stock market.

At the close, the S&P 500 index rose by 0.75%, closing at 5595.76 points; the Nasdaq index rose by 1%, closing at 17569.68 points; the Dow Jones Industrial Index rose by 0.58%, closing at 41096.77 points.

(S&P 500 index intraday chart, Source: Wind)

With the Nasdaq and S&P rising for the fourth consecutive day, the S&P 500 index is currently 1.3% away from its historical high of 5669.67 points.

Of course, including yesterday's speech by Huang Renxun, the tech giants have been driving the U.S. stock market higher for two consecutive days. This also means that such days will not happen every day, and the market will ultimately return to reflecting the fundamentals.

Edward Jones' Senior Investment Strategist, Mona Mahajan, said that people usually stay on the sidelines before the Fed meeting, and the U.S. stock market is expected to remain volatile in the typically weaker September. If the market continues to be in the background of the Fed's rate cuts and gradual inflation easing, and ultimately achieves an economic soft landing, historically, the market should continue to perform well in this situation.

On the other side of the Atlantic, the European Central Bank cut interest rates by another 25 basis points on Thursday as expected. Lagarde expects inflation to rise by the end of this year and then continue to decline next year. The European Central Bank also lowered its economic growth forecast for this year and the outlook for the next two years.

Hot stocks rose and fell.

On Thursday, tech giants continued to maintain their upward momentum, with Apple up 0.05%, Microsoft up 0.94%, Amazon up 1.34%, Meta up 2.69%, Google-A up 2.34%, Tesla up 0.74%, Nvidia up 1.92%, and Intel down 1.43%.

Chinese concept stocks entered a mixed state of gains and losses, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon Index down 0.79%. Alibaba rose 0.80%, Baidu rose 0.14%, Pinduoduo rose 2.15%, JD.com rose 0.34%, Netease fell 1.27%, Nio fell 5.71%, Li Auto Inc. fell 3.58%, and Xpeng fell 5.69%.

Other news

Warren Buffett's deputy sold more than half of his Berkshire holdings.

Vice Chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, Ajit Jain, who is in charge of the insurance business, disclosed yesterday after hours that he sold 200 shares of Berkshire Class A shares on September 9 at a price of $695,417.65, equivalent to cashing out $13.9 billion (approximately RMB 9.9 billion). As a result, Berkshire-A fell 0.69% on Thursday, its seventh consecutive trading day of decline.

After completing this transaction, Jain himself still holds 61 shares of Berkshire Class A stock, in addition to 55 shares held by his family trust and 50 shares held by the non-profit organization Jain Foundation.

Gilead's HIV prevention drug once again delivered positive results.

The results disclosed by Gilead Sciences on Thursday showed that lenacapavir, a new drug for pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) of HIV, once again demonstrated high effectiveness. Among the 2,180 subjects in the lenacapavir group, there were only 2 new cases and 99.9% of the participants were not infected with HIV, reducing the relative risk by 96%; in the control group of 1,087 subjects, there were 9 new cases. As of Thursday's close, Gilead Sciences rose by 2.74%, approaching its historical high.

Eli Lilly and Co. announced on Thursday that it will invest $1.8 billion in two production bases in Ireland to promote the production of its popular weight loss drugs, diabetes drugs, and Alzheimer's disease drugs.

Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly and Co. announced on Thursday that it will invest $1.8 billion in two production bases in Ireland to promote the production of its popular weight loss drugs, diabetes drugs, and Alzheimer's disease drugs.

The FDA approved Apple's hearing assistance software, AirPods Pro, to become the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing assistance software in history. According to the FDA, after being customized according to the user's hearing needs, AirPods Pro with this software installed will serve as OTC hearing aids, amplifying sound for individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss aged 18 and above.

The U.S. FDA announced on Thursday that Apple's Hearing Assistance Function (HAF) has become the first over-the-counter (OTC) hearing assistance software. According to the FDA, after being customized based on the user's hearing needs, AirPods Pro with this software installed will serve as OTC hearing aids, amplifying sound for individuals with mild to moderate hearing loss aged 18 and above.

Moderna, a well-known mRNA industry company, announced on Thursday that it will cut 20% of its future R&D budget for the next three years and terminate 5 projects in its pipeline due to poor vaccine sales. The goal of achieving breakeven has been postponed from 2026 to 2028. As a result, the company's stock price fell by 12.36%, hitting a new low for the year.

Moderna, a well-known mRNA industry company, announced on Thursday that it will cut 20% of its future R&D budget for the next three years and terminate 5 projects in its pipeline due to poor vaccine sales. The goal of achieving profitability has been postponed from 2026 to 2028. As a result, the company's stock price fell by 12.36%, hitting a new low for the year.

The company also announced that the mRNA vaccine for skin cancer developed in collaboration with Merck will be launched as early as next year.

Analysts downgrade micron technology's target price due to negative sentiment in the non-HBM memory market.

At the close, micron technology fell 3.79% on Thursday. Raymond James Financial analyst Srini Pajjuri lowered their target price for the company from $160 to $125 due to a temporary slowdown in the non-HBM memory market. Pajjuri noted that PC/smartphone customers appear to have already built up inventory in anticipation of price increases, which has resulted in a more modest seasonal performance in the second half of 2024.