Top News
Trump is scheduled to address the nation at 10 a.m. today.
Former U.S. President Trump indicated on social media that he would deliver a televised address to the nation during prime time at 9 PM EST on Wednesday (10 AM Beijing Time on Thursday). This speech comes at a critical juncture as Trump nears the end of his first year back in the White House, with declining approval ratings and economic headwinds emerging. The White House disclosed that Trump will speak about his historic achievements, discuss future prospects, and may preview new policies for the upcoming year.
The U.S. Senate has officially passed the $900.6 billion National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for fiscal year 2026, which will be sent to Trump for signing into law.
The U.S. Senate overwhelmingly approved a bill exceeding $900 billion on Wednesday, which will now be sent to Trump for his signature to become law. This NDAA for fiscal year 2026 represents a compromise version of two separate measures passed earlier this year by the House and Senate, authorizing annual defense spending including a 4% pay raise for military personnel, procurement of military equipment, and enhancing competitive capabilities against key adversaries. The House had already passed the bill last week.
This year's NDAA includes several provisions aimed at strengthening European security, marking a departure from Trump’s National Security Strategy released earlier this month—widely viewed as favorable toward Russia and involving a reassessment of transatlantic relations. The fiscal year 2026 NDAA allocates $800 million in aid to Ukraine ($400 million annually over the next two years).
The bill also authorizes the establishment of the Baltic Security Initiative, providing $175 million to support defense efforts in Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia. Additionally, it restricts the Department of Defense from reducing U.S. troop levels in Europe below 76,000 and prohibits the commander of U.S. European Command from relinquishing the title of NATO Supreme Allied Commander. The bill does not include funding to rename the Department of Defense as the Department of War.
Federal Reserve Governor Waller: There remains room for 50 to 100 basis points of rate cuts, with no need to rush into easing.
Waller indicated that the Federal Reserve still has room to cut interest rates by 50 to 100 basis points as the labor market weakens and inflation remains under control, but there is no need to rush. The Fed will guide rates toward neutral in a steady and gradual manner. He believes that the absence of a cliff-like drop in employment and stable inflation expectations provide conditions for moderate rate cuts, and the Fed will maintain a balance between supporting growth and controlling inflation.
Oil prices responded by rising, with Brent crude reclaiming the $60 mark.
Trump deployed what is described as the largest naval fleet in South American history to blockade Venezuelan oil tankers under sanctions. According to reports, Trump announced a full maritime blockade of Venezuela and designated the Maduro government as a "terrorist organization," moves that drove international oil prices higher. Both WTI crude and Brent crude surged over 1% intraday. Venezuela strongly condemned the U.S. action as "resource theft" and stated it would file a complaint through the United Nations.
The U.S. November CPI data will be released today.
The November CPI report, originally scheduled for release on December 10 but ultimately postponed until Thursday, is not only delayed compared to usual but also carries reliability concerns due to interruptions in survey work caused by the government shutdown. Additionally, the October CPI report will be permanently unavailable.
"The market has already assumed that this data is either irrelevant or questionable in terms of quality from a data collection perspective and will not be overly scrutinized," said Alexander Altmann, Head of Global Equity Tactical Strategy at Barclays.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) stated that, due to the absence of October data, this CPI report can only reflect part of the inflation picture and cannot provide a month-over-month comparison for the overall index or the core index.
Musk: xAI Could Achieve AGI As Early As 2026; Company Will Outperform Competitors If It Survives the Next Two to Three Years
According to Business Insider, Elon Musk expressed considerable optimism about the future prospects of his artificial intelligence (AI) startup xAI during a recent meeting. He stated that if the company can survive the next two to three years, xAI will outpace its competitors; xAI could achieve Artificial General Intelligence (AGI)—matching or surpassing human intelligence—within the coming years, potentially as early as 2026. Insiders described the meeting as "fast-paced and invigorating."
U.S. Stock Market Recap
S&P and Dow See Fourth Straight Day of Declines, Oracle Reignites AI Concerns
Blue Owl Capital, a key data center partner of Oracle, had planned to arrange up to $10 billion in financing and make a substantial equity investment in a data center project in Michigan. However, the negotiations for the relevant agreements have now stalled, further fueling investor concerns over artificial intelligence (AI) deals. Both AI and semiconductor stocks dragged down the three major U.S. stock indices. All three indices fell broadly at the close.$Dow Jones Index (.DJI.US)$Down 0.47%,$Nasdaq Composite Index (.IXIC.US)$Down 1.81%,$S&P 500 Index (.SPX.US)$Down 1.16%.
$明星科技股(LIST2518.US)$Broad declines were seen across the board, with Oracle dropping over 5%, Tesla and Broadcom falling more than 4%, NVIDIA, Google, and Micron Technology declining over 3%, and Meta and Apple shedding more than 1%.
$热门中概股(LIST2517.US)$Most stocks declined, with the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index closing down 0.73%. PDD Holdings and Taiwan Semiconductor fell over 3%, XPeng Motors dropped more than 2%, Alibaba fell over 1%, while Luckin Coffee surged over 9% against the trend, and Trip.com rose over 1%.
$存储概念股(LIST23925.US)$Widespread declines continued, with Western Digital and Pure Storage both falling nearly 5%, Micron Technology and Seagate Technology down over 3%, and Sandisk dropping more than 1%.
$Semiconductor(LIST2015.US)$The sector saw broad declines, with AMD falling over 5%, Broadcom dropping more than 4%, Micron Technology, Intel, and NVIDIA down over 3%, Marvell Technology and Qualcomm shedding over 2%, and Texas Instruments slipping nearly 2%.
$储能概念股(LIST23939.US)$Most stocks fell, with GE Vernova dropping over 10%, GNRC declining nearly 7%, and CLSK falling over 3%.
$Integrated Oil & Gas (LIST2224.US)$rose, with Exxon Mobil, BP PLC, and TotalEnergies up more than 2%, while Suncor Energy and Chevron gained over 1%.
$黄金(LIST2110.US)$showed strong performance, with Royal Gold and Coeur Mining rising nearly 2%, and Newmont, Barrick Gold, and Pan American Silver up more than 1%.
Individual stock news
Oracle fell more than 5% overnight due to reports that its $10 billion data center project encountered obstacles.
$Oracle (ORCL.US)$Blue Owl Capital, Oracle's largest data center partner, will not fund the software giant’s next $10 billion data center project amid growing concerns about mounting debt and artificial intelligence expenditures.
Blue Owl had been negotiating with lenders and Oracle on investing in a 1-gigawatt data center planned for Saline, Michigan, which is intended to serve OpenAI. However, according to three sources familiar with the matter, the deal cannot proceed as negotiations have reached a deadlock.
Micron Technology surged nearly 7% after-hours as both earnings and guidance exceeded expectations, prompting an increase in capital expenditure and sending shares soaring in post-market trading.
$Micron Technology (MU.US)$ The company's first-quarter financial results released after-hours on Wednesday showed that not only did last quarter’s performance exceed analyst expectations, but revenue, gross margin, and EPS guidance for the second quarter also far surpassed forecasts. Additionally, Micron raised its fiscal 2026 capital expenditure outlook from $18 billion to $20 billion.
Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday to reclassify marijuana, causing cannabis stocks to rally collectively after-hours, with Tilray Brands rising over 5%.
According to sources, U.S. President Trump is expected to sign an executive order on Thursday reclassifying marijuana as a Schedule III controlled substance. The timing of the signing could change.
$Coinbase(COIN.US)$Shares rose nearly 2% in after-hours trading as the company announced the launch of a prediction market business, offering stock trading via its app.
Netflix plans to complete the Warner Bros Discovery transaction within 12 to 18 months.
It was reported that$Netflix (NFLX.US)$The plan is to complete within 12 to 18 months.$Warner Bros Discovery(WBD.US)$The transaction's HSR filing has been submitted. On Wednesday morning, Netflix sent a letter to Warner Bros shareholders, reiterating that its offer was superior and urging them to approve the agreement.
Netflix Co-CEO Ted Sarandos wrote: 'The Warner Bros Discovery board has once again confirmed that Netflix’s merger agreement is superior, and our acquisition best serves the interests of shareholders.'$Warner Bros Discovery(WBD.US)$It is advising its shareholders to reject$Paramount Skydance(PSKY.US)$the hostile takeover bid, instead supporting its original agreement with Netflix, which it considers a 'lower-quality' and 'inadequate' offer.
Nebius launches a new generation AI cloud platform powered by NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra chips, directly competing with CoreWeave.
Dutch artificial intelligence infrastructure provider $NEBIUS(NBIS.US)$released Nebius AI Cloud 3.1, which will introduce the next$NVIDIA (NVDA.US)$The Blackwell Ultra computing technology and enhanced operational capabilities have been integrated into its latest full-stack artificial intelligence cloud platform.
Nebius noted that it is deploying NVIDIA Blackwell Ultra infrastructure globally, with the NVIDIA GB300 NVL72 system and HGX B300 system already available for customer use. Nebius also stated that it is now the first cloud service provider in Europe to operate both platforms simultaneously in a production environment.
Google releases a more efficient new version of the Gemini 3 AI model across its product suite.
Following the successful release of Gemini 3,Google (GOOGL.US)A more efficient and cost-effective top-tier artificial intelligence (AI) model has been introduced into its product lineup.
On December 17, Google unveiled Gemini 3 Flash, a low-cost version of its flagship model designed to help users process more complex queries faster. This new model will replace the existing 2.5 Flash in the Gemini app and become the default system powering the 'AI Mode' feature in Google Search.
According to reports, Google Search will also allow users to utilize Gemini 3 Pro in AI mode and access Google's advanced image generation tool, Nano Banana.
Google announces 'Project Helios,' planning to deploy AI data centers in space by 2027.
Google (GOOGL.US)The concept of a 'space-based data center' has been proposed, aiming to alleviate AI computational power and energy bottlenecks through clusters of solar-powered satellites. However, high costs, maintenance challenges, orbital collisions, and regulatory gaps pose significant obstacles. Following setbacks from Microsoft’s underwater project, this plan appears to be an aggressive bet on AI's boundless expansion.
Trade tensions between Switzerland and the United States have further eased, with Novartis and Roche expected to reach a drug pricing agreement with the U.S.
According to Bloomberg, the White House is expected to announce as early as Friday that it has reached a drug pricing agreement withNovartis AG (NVS.US)and$ROCHE HOLDING AG (RHHBY.US)$in order to ease trade tensions between the United States and Switzerland. This announcement may also cover other pharmaceutical companies, as Pfizer and AstraZeneca have reached similar agreements in recent months.
These agreements aim to lower drug prices in the United States, with pharmaceutical companies agreeing to reduce costs under certain conditions in exchange for tariff reductions and potential leniency in regulatory actions.
Amazon appoints new AI executive, integrating AGI, chip, and quantum computing divisions.
$Amazon(AMZN.US)$ On Wednesday, Amazon announced the reorganization of its teams related to artificial intelligence (AI) projects and appointed a senior executive from its cloud computing division to oversee a newly established business unit. The new organizational structure will integrate Amazon's Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) team, which is responsible for the company's Nova-branded AI models and the 'digital brain' behind the Alexa voice assistant, while also incorporating Amazon’s chip manufacturing division and quantum computing research operations.
Top 20 by Trading Value
Market Outlook
Northbound capital purchased over HKD 1 billion worth of Xiaomi shares and over HKD 700 million worth of Meituan shares, while selling more than HKD 500 million worth of China Mobile shares.
On December 17 (Wednesday), southbound capital net bought HKD 7.91 billion worth of Hong Kong stocks.
$Xiaomi Group-W(01810.HK)$、$Meituan-W(03690.HK)$、$CSOP Hang Seng Tech Index ETF (03033.HK)$Net purchases amounted to HKD 1.063 billion, HKD 751 million, and HKD 745 million, respectively.
$China Mobile (00941.HK)$、$CNOOC Limited (00883.HK)$Net sales reached HKD 514 million and HKD 132 million, respectively.
CATL: Embodied intelligent robots have achieved scaled implementation on CATL's battery production lines.
According to$CATL (03750.HK)$According to reports, the world's first new energy power battery PACK production line that has achieved large-scale implementation of humanoid embodied intelligence robots was officially put into operation at CATL’s Zhongzhou base. The humanoid robot 'Xiao Mo' can now precisely complete complex tasks such as battery connector plug-in operations, marking a milestone breakthrough in the application of embodied intelligence within the field of intelligent manufacturing.
MiniMax and Zhipu AI have both passed the listing hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange.
This week, two Chinese AI unicorn companies, MiniMax and Zhipu AI, were reported to have passed the listing hearing of the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. According to Tencent News’ ‘Frontline’ report on Wednesday, December 17, both companies received overseas listing approvals from the China Securities Regulatory Commission earlier this week and participated in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange hearing. Media reports indicate that MiniMax passed the hearing on December 17, while Zhipu AI reportedly attended its hearing on December 16.
If the process goes smoothly, these two companies will become the fastest cases to pass the listing hearing under the new 'filing system' policy for mainland enterprises going public in Hong Kong. MiniMax is reportedly planning to list in Hong Kong in January next year.
Hong Kong Exchange to Introduce Alternative Minimum Public Float Threshold
Hong Kong Exchange (00388.HK)The Hong Kong Exchange published a consultation summary regarding the rules on minimum public float on its website, announcing that it will introduce an alternative threshold for minimum public float to provide issuers with greater flexibility in capital management. New reporting obligations for public float will be imposed on all issuers, along with additional disclosure requirements for those with insufficient public float, thereby enhancing market transparency.
Continuing public float requirements for A+H issuers: The public float of H shares must account for at least 5% of the total number of issued shares of the relevant class (i.e., A shares and H shares), or reach a market value of at least HKD 1 billion, to ensure that there is always a sufficient number of H shares available for public trading. The new requirements will take effect on January 1 of next year.
Sunac China: Approximately USD 9.6 billion of existing debt will be fully released and forgiven.
$Sunac China (01918.HK)$According to an announcement by the Hong Kong Exchange, it is expected that the restructuring effective date will be implemented on December 23, 2025, and approximately USD 9.6 billion of existing debt will be released. Additionally, the company has entered into a restructuring agreement with Sanya Qingtian and Jiyou regarding a loan with an outstanding principal of HKD 858 million.
Under the agreement, the outstanding amount will be restructured into a ten-year extended loan of HKD 300 million, with the remainder repaid through the issuance of new shares. The company expects to completely resolve debt risks through this restructuring.
Xiaomi has launched a new model emphasizing 'ultimate cost-performance ratio.' Luo Fuli stated, 'This is only the second step in our AGI roadmap.'
$0.1 per million tokens, speed 150 tokens per second,$Xiaomi Group-W(01810.HK)$The sudden release of the new model MiMo-V2-Flash scores 73.4% in programming tasks, rivaling DeepSeek-V3.2. Luo Fuli stated directly: "This is only the second step on our AGI roadmap." Morgan Stanley analysts noted that Xiaomi intends to deeply reshape its vast 'people-car-home' ecosystem through this high-performance model.
Today's Focus
Keywords: Bank of England and European Central Bank interest rate decisions, US November inflation data
In terms of economic data, the November CPI figures, which could influence the Federal Reserve's future monetary policy direction, will be released.
9:00 China's November Swift RMB share in global payments
15:00 Switzerland's November trade balance (in billion Swiss francs)
20:00 UK BoE Interest Rate Decision up to December 18
21:30 US November Unadjusted CPI Year-over-Year, US November Seasonally Adjusted CPI Month-over-Month, US Initial Jobless Claims for the Week Ending December 13 (in ten thousands)
23:30 US EIA Natural Gas Inventory for the Week Ending December 12 (in billion cubic feet)
In terms of financial events, attention can be paid to the interest rate decision outcomes from the Bank of England and the European Central Bank.
20:00 Bank of England releases interest rate decision and meeting minutes
21:15 The European Central Bank announces its interest rate decision.
21:45 ECB President Lagarde holds press conference on monetary policy
Regarding earnings reports, $Accenture (ACN.US)$ will release earnings reports pre-market, Nike (NKE.US) 、 FedEx (FDX.US) will release the previous fiscal quarter's earnings report post-market.
Morning Reading by Niuniu:
Market trends are always born in despair, grow amidst skepticism, mature in anticipation, and perish in hope.
— Peter Lynch
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