Overnight US stocks | US data at the beginning of the week fell unexpectedly, the three major indices closed up, and Intel (INTC.US) rose more than 7.6%

The Zhitong Finance App learned that on Thursday, the three major indices collectively rose after the Federal Reserve's interest rate hike was implemented, and the US Labor Department unexpectedly fell. The US Department of Labor said on Thursday that in the week ending September 12, the initial number of applicants for unemployment benefits in each state decreased by 10,000 to 196,000 after seasonal adjustment. Previously, economists generally predicted the number of applicants to be 208 thousand. This unexpected drop probably reflects fluctuations in data during the Labor Day holiday last week.

[US Stocks] At the close, the Dow Jones index rose 316.14 points, or 0.61%, to 51778.04 points; the S&P 500 rose 85.91 points, or 1.14%, to 7637.72 points; and the Nasdaq Composite rose 439.87 points, or 1.69%, to 26418.30 points. SK Hynix (SKHY.US) rose 4.6%, Nvidia (NVDA.US) rose 2.5%, AMD (AMD.US) rose 6%, and Intel (INTC.US) rose more than 7.6%. The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index rose 0.16%, Alibaba (BABA.US) rose 1%, and BILI.US (BILI.US) fell 3%.

[European stocks] The German DAX30 index rose 165.47 points, or 0.65%, to 25724.35 points; the British FTSE 100 index rose 131.67 points, or 1.23%, to 10820.14 points; the French CAC40 index rose 46.34 points, or 0.57%, to 8186.93 points; the European Stock 50 index rose 57.75 points, or 0.92%, to 6324.25 points; Spain's IBEX35 index rose 200.51 points, or 1.02%, The report was 19836.31 points; Italy's FTSE MIB index rose 422.38 points, or 0.81%, to 52391.50 points.

[Asian Stock Market] The Nikkei 225 Index rose 0.33%, and the Korea Composite Index fell slightly.

[US Dollar Index] The US dollar index, which measures the US dollar against six major currencies, closed at 100.248 at the end of the foreign exchange market on the same day. As of the end of the exchange market in New York, 1 euro was worth $1.1475, up from $1.1470 on the previous trading day; 1 pound was worth $1.3353, down from $1.3382 on the previous trading day. 1 US dollar was worth 156.04 yen, up from 155.92 yen on the previous trading day; 1 US dollar was worth 0.8248 Swiss franc, lower than 0.8250 Swiss franc on the previous trading day; 1 US dollar was worth 1.3992 Canadian dollars, lower than 1.3994 Canadian dollars on the previous trading day; and 1 US dollar was worth 9.8256 SEK, lower than 9.8598 on the previous trading day.

[Cryptocurrency] Bitcoin rose more than 1% to 76,509 yuan as of press release; Ethereum rose more than 2.4% to 2,450 US dollars.

[Crude oil] Light crude oil futures for October delivery on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 52 cents, or 0.51%, to close at $101.91 a barrel; London Brent crude oil futures for November delivery fell $1.01, or 0.95%, to close at $104.82 a barrel.

[Precious Metals] Spot gold rose 1.8% to 4341.79 US dollars/ounce; spot silver reported 65.207 US dollars/ounce.

[Macro News]

Interest rates on 30-year US mortgages have risen close to 7% for the fourth week in a row. Fannie Mae said in a statement on Thursday that the average interest rate on 30-year fixed mortgages in the US rose to 6.95%, up from 6.76% a week ago. This is the first time since January 2025 that interest rate has risen to this level. In comparison, this rate was 6.26% a year ago. Mortgage interest rates close to 7% are certainly the latest blow to potential buyers who were expecting the pressure on housing loans to ease in 2026. After the Federal Reserve raised interest rates by 25 basis points on Wednesday, the market also began to realize that borrowing costs may not drop significantly in the short term. The rising cost of homeownership is becoming one of the central topics in the upcoming November midterm elections. Meanwhile, while the Trump administration is trying to boost the housing market through measures such as bond purchases and deregulation, the chances of a rapid recovery in the housing market are becoming less and less likely. According to estimates by the Intercontinental Exchange, if you buy a home with an average price of 440,000 US dollars, the typical household's mortgage expenses will account for 31% of the median household income based on current loan costs, the highest level since July 2025. Meanwhile, the homebuilder confidence index fell sharply this month to its lowest level in a year.

OpenAI has been revealed to be close to solving yet another “Millennium Awards conundrum.” According to reports, earlier this month, OpenAI fell into a vortex of public opinion because mathematicians were accusing them of trying to take credit for solving an extremely difficult math problem, but a person familiar with the solution revealed that OpenAI is now close to solving another mathematical problem in the “Millennium Awards Problem.” The source said that employees expect the next problem, Hodge's conjecture, to be resolved soon. However, the source said the company may take longer to announce the solution as it is trying to work with the math community to ensure it doesn't trigger another PR crisis when it releases the news. The report said that although solving these problems is not cheap, some OpenAI researchers believe that after software engineering, mathematics is a natural field that their models should explore next. These two fields have similar characteristics: they both require gradual logical reasoning, and the answers can usually be automatically verified for accuracy. Some researchers even believe that the wave of automation that occurred in software engineering over the past year will sweep the field of mathematics within the next six to nine months. Furthermore, solving difficult math problems also helps AI developers advance the automated process of machine learning research—a field involving a large amount of mathematics.

Bank of England Governor Bailey: The outlook is not clear yet, and it is impossible to judge the market's expectations of four interest rate hikes. When asked if it is reasonable for the market to include nearly four interest rate hikes in the next year, Bank of England Governor Bailey said on Thursday that the outlook is too difficult to predict, adding that his officials have yet to discuss it. “We have had a lot of discussions this time, but we have not discussed the prospects of raising interest rates four times,” Bailey told the media after the Bank of England kept interest rates unchanged but warned that inflationary pressure would increase. He added: “The market must form its own judgment, but I must point out: the current situation... is just too unpredictable.” Bailey said that the state of the UK treasury bond market — this week's 30-year treasury yield hit the highest level since 1998 — did not affect the bank's announcement. Bailey said, “We had planned to do this work long before the Middle East conflict broke out, so it's not at all a response to market conditions.”

The number of jobless claims in the US fell to 196,000 at the beginning of the week during the Labor Day holiday. The number of initial jobless claims in the US fell to its lowest level since July last week, further indicating that the labor market is stabilizing. According to data from the Ministry of Labor released on Thursday, the number of initial jobless claims dropped by 10,000 to 196,000 in the week ending September 12. This week includes Labor Day, so data may fluctuate around the holidays. The four-week moving average of new applicants — an indicator that helps smooth out fluctuations — fell to 203.25 million, a five-week low. The decline in initial jobless claims may reflect seasonal fluctuations associated with Labor Day and the start of the new school year. Despite this, the overall trend is still prominent. With the exception of a few high-profile layoff announcements, the overall economic sector's layoffs are still moderate. The number of renewed jobless claims fell to 1.73 million last week, the lowest level since 2024. Despite the limited scale of layoffs, Americans are still cautious about leaving their jobs due to the uneven recruitment situation, which further consolidates the “low recruitment, low layoffs” labor market pattern.

The number of new home starts in the US unexpectedly declined in August. New housing projects in the US unexpectedly slowed in August, falling to one of the weakest levels since the pandemic, reflecting a sharp decline in the number of multi-family housing projects started. Housing starts fell 2.6% to 1.28 million units per annualized, according to federal government data released on Thursday. The number of multi-family housing projects started fell by nearly 22%, with an annualized rate of 357,000 units. Single-family housing construction increased 7.6%, with an annualized rate of 918,000 units, the fastest growth rate since March, mainly due to growth in the western and midwestern regions. Despite an increase in single-family housing starts last month, the residential real estate market is still facing challenges against the backdrop of rising mortgage interest rates and limited affordability to buy a home. As housing inventories are still far above pre-pandemic levels, developers may also be unwilling to speed up the construction of new homes.