GuShiio.com ① Most U.S. stocks with quantum computing concept stocks rose;
② Apple launches the iPhone 16e for US$599;
③ Google Gemini may add AI video generation capabilities;
④ Trump talks about Tesla’s possible factory in India: Yes, but it’s unfair to the United States.
Cailian News, February 20 (Editor Zhao Hao)On Wednesday (February 19), U.S. stocks opened lower and moved higher. The three major indices collectively closed higher, and the S & P 500 index reached high for two consecutive days.
At the close, the Dow Jones index rose 0.16% to 44,627.59 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.07% to 20,056.25 points.
The S & P 500 index rose 0.24% to 6,144.15 points, setting a new closing record recorded the previous day, and once rose to an all-time high of 6,147.43 points during the session.
Daily chart of the S & P 500 Index
Jim Elios, founder and chief investment officer of Elios Financial Group, commented,”I think there will be a lot of noise in the short term from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), Elon Musk and tariffs, and these things will continue, and that’s what you see today.”
Elios added,”The Trump effect is putting pressure on the stock market and causing some pain. But in the long run, I am still very optimistic that this will become a business-friendly environment.”
During the session, minutes of the January meeting released by the Federal Reserve showed that officials attending the meeting agreed that inflation needed to fall further before cutting interest rates. They are also concerned that Trump’s tariff policies may have an adverse impact on achieving inflation targets.
Peter Boockvar, chief investment officer at Bleakley Group, said central bank officials mentioned interest rate cuts because they still have a tendency to ease. He also pointed out that the Federal Reserve’s comments on the balance sheet may be the reason for the slight decline in U.S. bond yields.
Performance of hot stocks
Large technology stocks were mixed, with Apple up 0.16%; Nvidia down 0.12%; Microsoft up 1.25%; Amazon down 0.01%; Google C up 0.72%;Meta down 1.76%; Tesla up 1.82%; Broadcom up 0.09%.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed up 1.18%. Microchip Technology rose 9.90%, Adno rose 9.74%, and NXP rose 7.31%. Intel fell significantly, down 6.10%;Arm Holdings fell 3.72%.
Affected by Microsoft’s release of quantum computing chips, most quantum computing concept stocks rose. SEALSQ rose 11.92%, D-Wave Quantum rose 8.77%, Quantum Computing rose 7.86%, and Rigetti Computing rose 4.85%.
Palantir fell 10.08%. It was reported that the Trump administration had ordered senior leaders of the U.S. Department of Defense and the U.S. military to formulate a large-scale reduction plan to cut the defense budget by 8% each year for the next five years.
In terms of Chinese stocks, the Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index closed down 0.38%.
Popular Chinese stocks were mixed, with Wanguo data rising 5.49%, iQiyi rose 4.99%, Ideal Car rose 3.24%, Xiaopeng Automobile rose 2.92%, Jingdong rose 0.72%, NIO rose 0.69%, and Haomuo rose 0.55%. Tencent Music fell 3.75%, Pendmore fell 3.14%, and Baidu fell 2.36%.
company news
[Apple releases iPhone 16E starting at $599]
Apple released the iPhone 16E, which is equipped with the A18 chip, Apple Intelligence and the Apple C1, the company’s first cellular modem. The iPhone 16E starts at $599, pre-orders will begin on February 21, and the product will be available on February 28.
[Microsoft launches quantum computing chip Majorana 1 and generative artificial intelligence tool Muse]
Microsoft launched its first quantum computing chip called Majorana 1. The company said its Majorana 1 chip integrates eight qubits on a piece of scratch-paper-sized hardware and expects to eventually hold 1 million qubits. The first generative artificial intelligence tool Muse is used to create video game scenes. This modeling tool draws data from Xbox players and gamepads.
[Google Gemini may add AI video generation capabilities]
The Google App v16.6.23 code shows that Gemini may soon support the video generation (videogen) feature, but the feature has not yet been officially launched and the release time is uncertain. The code appears together with “robin”(Gemini’s internal code name) and contains prompts such as “We will notify you when we are ready”, implying that Gemini may have AI video generation capabilities. Currently, Google has launched Google Vids, which supports scripting, editing, voice generation, background removal and other functions, but it is not a purely generative AI video system.
[Trump talks about Tesla’s possible factory in India: Yes, but it’s unfair to the United States]
U.S. President Trump said in an interview broadcast on Tuesday local time that it would be unfair to the United States if Tesla built a factory in India to circumvent the country’s tariffs. Earlier, Indian media reported that Tesla had selected a site in India to plan to build a factory. Trump scolded India for imposing high tariffs on cars during Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s visit to the United States last week, but agreed to work to reach an early trade agreement and resolve the deadlock between the two sides on tariffs. “Now, if he builds a factory in India, that’s fine, but it’s not fair to us. This is very unfair, Trump said in an interview.
[Sanofi will sell 50% stake in consumer health division to private equity CD R]
Sanofi sold a 50% controlling stake in its consumer health care business Opella to private equity firm CD R. The terms of the transaction remain unchanged from previously disclosed terms and are expected to be completed as early as the second quarter of 2025. Sanofi first negotiated a potential sale with CD R in October 2024. Reported that the deal is worth approximately 15 billion euros (approximately 16.4 billion US dollars). Opella is headquartered in France and sells over-the-counter medicines and vitamins, minerals and supplements, and has 100 brands, including Allegra, Doliprane, Novanight, Icy Hot and Dulcolax. It manages 13 production bases and 4 research and innovation centers.
[Imax’s fourth-quarter revenue of US$92.7 million was lower than market estimates]
Imax’s fourth-quarter revenue was US$92.7 million, a year-on-year increase of 7.7%, with an estimated US$101.4 million; adjusted earnings per share was US$0.27, compared with US$0.17 for the same period last year, with an estimated US$0.27; adjusted net income was US$14.5 million, a year-on-year increase of 56%, with an estimated US$16.4 million.
[Rio Tinto’s 2024 net profit of US$11.55 billion is higher than market expectations]
Rio Tinto’s full-year revenue in 2024 is US$53.66 billion, with an estimated US$53.45 billion; net profit is US$11.55 billion, with an estimated US$10.97 billion. Rio Tinto still predicts alumina production of 7.4 million to 7.8 million tons in 2025, and still predicts capital expenditures of approximately US$11 billion in 2025.
