Royal Bank of Canada: The European Central Bank may move towards negative real interest rate. Royal Bank of Canada BlueBay Asset Management said that the European Central Bank may cut the interest rate below 2% next year, which the agency estimated to be a short-term neutral interest rate. Kaspar Hense, senior portfolio manager of the institution, said in a report that the core inflation rate is expected to be around 2.5% in the first half of 2025, which means that the real interest rate will be negative. He said that under the influence of unfavorable factors such as trade, continuous competitive pressure from other countries and financial problems, this should play a moderate supporting role in the economy.European Central Bank President Lagarde: The decline in corporate profit margins is due to the increase in the cost of absorbing labor. European Central Bank President Lagarde: It is observed that corporate profit margins have declined. Inflation risk is not a two-way street. The prospect of economic productivity is improving. The decline in profit margin is due to the increase in the cost of absorbing labor.Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank: The Transmission Protection Tool (TPI) was not discussed.
Government statement: British Prime Minister Stamer will attend the informal meeting of EU leaders in Brussels on February 3rd.Central Economic Work Conference: Appropriately raise the basic pension for retirees and raise the basic pension for urban and rural residents. The Central Economic Work Conference was held in Beijing from December 11th to 12th. The meeting decided to do a good job in the following key tasks next year. It is mentioned that we should vigorously boost consumption, improve investment efficiency and expand domestic demand in all directions. We will implement special actions to boost consumption, promote low-and middle-income groups to increase income and reduce burdens, and enhance their spending power, willingness and level. Appropriately raise the basic pension for retirees, raise the basic pension for urban and rural residents, and raise the financial subsidy standard for medical insurance for urban and rural residents. Strengthen the expansion and implement the "two new" policies, innovate diversified consumption scenarios, expand service consumption, and promote the development of cultural tourism. Actively develop the starting economy, the ice and snow economy and the silver-haired economy. Strengthen top-down organization and coordination, and give greater support to the "two-fold" project. Appropriately increase investment in the central budget. Strengthen the coordination between finance and finance, and effectively promote social investment with government investment. Plan major projects in the Tenth Five-Year Plan as soon as possible. Vigorously implement urban renewal. Implement special actions to reduce the logistics cost of the whole society. (Xinhua News Agency)Spot gold fell by $5 in the short term and is now reported at $2,704 per ounce.
European Central Bank President Lagarde: Potential inflation and inflation continue to return to the target in the same direction.Central Economic Work Conference: In view of the bottleneck of industrial transformation and upgrading, the Central Economic Work Conference was held in Beijing from December 11th to 12th. The meeting proposed that we should unswervingly deepen reform and open wider to the outside world in view of the deep-seated obstacles and external challenges that restrict development; In view of the bottleneck restriction of industrial transformation and upgrading, promote the smooth continuous transformation of old and new kinetic energy; Strengthen policy support and optimize supervision services in response to concerns and demands in business operations; In view of the hidden risks in key areas, we will continue to vigorously promote risk disposal. We must vigorously improve the efficiency of implementation, fully mobilize the enthusiasm, initiative and creativity of grassroots units, continuously optimize the business environment, and better unite the joint efforts to promote high-quality development. (Xinhua News Agency)Apple's iOS 18.2 integrates ChatGPT or helps the future sales of iPhone 17. Citigroup maintains a "buy" rating. Citibank pointed out that the iOS 18.2 update released by Apple basically meets expectations and predicts that there will be more highlights in future updates. In the detailed analysis, Atif Malik, an analyst at Citigroup, said that some basic functions of Siri in the latest system version have been taken over by ChatGPT, but this did not affect his view on the phased introduction of Apple Intelligence functions. He thought that this strategy would not significantly change the difference between the update cycle of iPhone 16/17 and the previous cycle. Malik maintains a "Buy" rating on Apple and a target price of $255. For the future, Malik is optimistic about the update of iPhone 17, and predicts that Apple will achieve 227 million units, 246 million units and 253 million units in 2024, 2025 and 2026 respectively.