US Stocks Mixed, Dow Edges Up, Tech Mostly Gains with Rivian Surging 13%; Chinese Stocks Mostly Decline, New Oriental Down Over 4%; A-Shares Margin Trading Balance Hits Record High, Brokerages Optimistic About 2025 Market Outlook

US Stocks Mixed, Dow Edges Up, Tech Mostly Gains with Rivian Surging 13%; Chinese Stocks Mostly Decline, New Oriental Down Over 4%; A-Shares Margin Trading Balance Hits Record High, Brokerages Optimistic About 2025 Market OutlookUS stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.11%, the S&P 500 gaining 0

US Stocks Mixed, Dow Edges Up, Tech Mostly Gains with Rivian Surging 13%; Chinese Stocks Mostly Decline, New Oriental Down Over 4%; A-Shares Margin Trading Balance Hits Record High, Brokerages Optimistic About 2025 Market Outlook

US stocks closed mixed on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising 0.11%, the S&P 500 gaining 0.02%, and the Nasdaq Composite falling 0.26%. Large tech stocks mostly rose, with Intel up over 3%, Amazon up over 2%, and Netflix up over 1%, while Microsoft, Apple, and Tesla posted modest gains. Nvidia and Google fell over 1%, and Meta declined slightly. Electric vehicle maker Rivian's stock surged over 13% after Volkswagen increased its investment in the company to US$5.8 billion. Sector-wise, solid-state batteries, 3D printing, and lithium batteries led the gains.

Chinese stocks on the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index fell 1.09%. Popular Chinese stocks mostly declined, with New Oriental down over 4%, Up Fintech down over 3%, XPeng, Tencent Music, and iQiyi down over 2%, while Zhihu surged over 13%.

International crude oil futures closed slightly higher. WTI December crude futures rose $0.31, or 0.45%, to settle at $68.43 per barrel. Brent January crude futures rose $0.39, or 0.54%, to settle at $72.28 per barrel.

COMEX gold futures fell 1.07% to settle at $2578.4 per ounce; COMEX silver futures fell 1.15% to settle at $30.405 per ounce.

Bitcoin surged and then retreated, briefly breaking through US$93,000 before quickly falling back by US$5,000, then rapidly rebounding to above US$90,000. It is currently trading at US$90,322 per coin. The rapid price fluctuations caused over 250,000 traders to liquidate their positions within 24 hours, resulting in losses exceeding US$860 million.

A-shares are seeing an increase in investor leverage as the stock market picks up momentum. Data shows that as of November 12th, the aggregate margin trading balance of Shanghai, Shenzhen, and the Beijing Stock Exchanges reached 1,846,235 billion yuan, rising for seven consecutive trading days. Among them, the margin balance was 1,835,224 billion yuan, second only to the peak in 2015 and reaching a new high in over nine years. Meanwhile, off-exchange margin trading has also "emerged," with industry insiders urging investors to increase their risk awareness.

With the year end approaching, brokerage firms are increasingly focused on the outlook for the macroeconomy and the A-share market in 2025. Overall, most brokerages hold a positive view on the A-share market continuing to strengthen in 2025, believing that overall risk appetite is expected to recover and A-share earnings are expected to further improve. In terms of style, brokerages are unanimously bullish on the technology growth sector; in terms of allocation, high-quality growth, domestic consumption, and mergers and acquisitions are more worthy of attention.

The recent string of stake-building events has attracted external attention. Analysis of relevant stake-building cases shows that insurance funds, which advocate value investing and long-term investment, are using a "gradual and steady" approach to stake-building in listed companies with stable performance. In the view of market insiders, given the six-month holding period restriction after stake-building, with the A-share market continuing to rebound, whether it be financial capital, industrial capital, or independent private equity, investing in listed companies through stake-building at this time indicates their strong confidence in the targeted company's development prospects and future trajectory.