To The Moon

* S&P 500 ends flat as investors await inflation data; Hong Kong stocks lower as China industrial profit data stokes recovery concerns

🇺🇸 S&P 500: 0.09% 📈

🇺🇸 Nasdaq: 0.30% 📈

🇪🇺 Stoxx 600 Index: -0.43% 📉

🇯🇵 Nikkei 225 Index: -0.82% 📉

🇭🇰 Hang Seng Index: -2.06% 📉

🇨🇳 CSI 300 Index: -0.75% 📉

* U.S. stocks eked out gains on Thursday, with the S&P 500 $S&P 500(.SPX)$  and Nasdaq Composite $NASDAQ(.IXIC)$  rising 0.1% and 0.3% respectively, as investors looked to new inflation data to provide clues on when the U.S. Federal Reserve will begin cutting interest rates.

* U.S. GDP growth in the first quarter of 2024 was revised to 1.4% qoq, in line with expectations, from a previous estimate of 1.3% qoq, driven by increases in consumer spending, residential fixed investment, nonresidential fixed investment and state and local government spending.

* U.S. initial jobless claims fell by 6,000 to a seasonally adjusted 233K in the week ended June 22 (versus the estimate of 236K), down from the previous week's 239K increase and still at historically low levels.

* Asia-Pacific stocks fell, with the CSI 300 Index and the Hang Seng Composite Index falling -0.8% and -2.1% respectively, after data showed that profits of Chinese industrial companies increased by 0.7% year-on-year in May 2024, up from the 4% year-on-year increase last month The slowdown has intensified market concerns about the performance of Chinese companies.

💡 Future events: 💡

* We end the week with the release of US core PCE price index monthly and revised University of Michigan consumer confidence index, Japan's unemployment rate and China's National Bureau of Statistics manufacturing PMI.

💡 Things you need to know today: 💡

1. Levi Strauss $Levi Strauss & Co(LEVI)$   shares fell nearly -16% on disappointing Q2 2024 revenue, driven primarily by a decline in U.S. wholesale and underperformance of the Dockers brand, which directly Sales in the Direct-to-Consumer (DTC) segment increased 12%.

Levi Strauss

2. Following ongoing discussions with BlackRock $BlackRock(BLK)$ , VanEck , Franklin Templeton and Grayscale $Grayscale Ethereum Trust (ETH)(ETHE)$   Investments, the SEC is expected to approve eight securities by July 4 Spot Ethereum ETFs seek to provide institutional investors with access to digital assets, while Grayscale hopes to convert existing Ethereum trusts into ETFs.

Ethereum ETF

3. The London Metal Exchange (LME) is considering building a warehouse in Hong Kong to facilitate the growing demand for the exchange of metals such as aluminum and zinc between mainland China and global markets, as well as the growth in metal demand driven by green technology.

London Metal Exchange

4. Alibaba Group Holding $Alibaba(09988)$  is working with six Chinese generative AI startups to enhance its workplace messaging platform Ding by integrating advanced AI capabilities and leveraging Alibaba's AI model.

Ding Ding

✅ KEY TAKEAWAYS:

Investors will keep a close eye on personal consumption expenditures (PCE) price reports, with easing price pressures likely to solidify the likelihood of a rate cut by the U.S. Federal Reserve later this year.

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