Federal Reserve Chairman Powell delivered a speech on August 22 at the annual economic symposium held in Jackson Hole, Wyoming, indicating that despite the current inflationary risks still existing, the Federal Reserve may still cut interest rates in the coming months.

According to the Securities Times, traders subsequently increased their bets on the Federal Reserve cutting interest rates in September, fully pricing in two rate cuts by the end of the year. According to CME's FedWatch, the probability of a 25 basis point rate cut in September has soared to 91.1%, while the probability of maintaining rates unchanged is 8.9%.

As a result, European and American stock indices collectively rose, with all three major U.S. indices rising over 1.5%, among which the Dow Jones reached a historical high. Large tech stocks rose broadly, and popular Chinese concept stocks rose broadly, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rising 2.73%.

Under the expectation of a Federal Reserve rate cut, international precious metal futures generally rose, with COMEX gold futures rising 1.05%, reported at $3,417.20 per ounce, with a cumulative rise of 1.02% this week; COMEX silver futures rose 2.10%, reported at $38.88 per ounce, with a cumulative rise of 2.38% this week. U.S. crude oil main contract rose 0.39%, reported at $63.77 per barrel, with a cumulative rise of 2.89% this week; Brent crude oil main contract rose 0.24%, reported at $67.28 per barrel, with a cumulative rise of 2.17% this week.

In addition, the cryptocurrency market surged across the board, with Ethereum at one point rising over 5%, breaking through the historical high of $4,871.42 set in early November 2021, and accumulating over 250% since its year low on April 9, with a total market value of approximately $590 billion.

Powell hints at interest rate cut

According to CCTV News, Powell pointed out that the U.S. economy is still showing resilience against the backdrop of high tariffs and tightening immigration policies, but the labor market and economic growth have significantly slowed down. He emphasized that, in the context of sustained tight policies, the economic outlook and risk changes may require adjustments in policy stance.

Powell hinted in his speech that despite the current inflationary risks still existing, the Federal Reserve may still cut interest rates in the coming months.

On inflation, Powell pointed out that tariffs have pushed up prices of some goods, with the core PCE price index rising 2.9% year-on-year in July. He emphasized that the tariff effect may be a one-time shock, but if inflation expectations are raised, the risks cannot be ignored.

Regarding policy stance, Powell stated that the Federal Reserve's interest rate level is now closer to 'neutral' than it was last year, and in the future, it will cautiously assess risks to ensure that a one-time price increase does not evolve into a long-term inflation issue. He reiterated that the Federal Reserve will always maintain a balance between achieving maximum employment and price stability. At the same time, Powell mentioned that the experience of high inflation over the past five years indicates that the Fed must firmly uphold the 2% inflation target to maintain long-term expectations stability.

On the same day, the Federal Reserve also released a revised (long-term goals and monetary policy strategy statement). Key revisions include the elimination of the 'average inflation targeting' and a return to a flexible inflation targeting.

Global asset explosion

Stimulated by Powell's speech, U.S. stocks surged on Friday, with the Dow Jones rising 1.89% to set a new historical high, the Nasdaq rising 1.88%, and the S&P 500 Index rising 1.52%.

Large tech stocks rose broadly, with Tesla up over 6%, Google A up 3.17%, Amazon up 3.10%, Meta up 2.12%, Nvidia up 1.72%, Apple up 1.27%, and Microsoft up 0.59%.

Tesla rose 6.22%. It is reported that Tesla has recently reached a cooperation agreement with Volcano Engine, which will provide large model services for Tesla in the domestic market, helping to upgrade Tesla's smart cockpit interaction experience. According to the recent update on Tesla China's official website (terms of use for Tesla vehicle voice assistant), the newly launched Tesla Model Y L will be equipped with the Doubao large model and DeepSeek model, both of which are accessed through Volcano Engine. Among them, the Doubao large model will handle voice command functions such as navigation settings, media playback control, air conditioning temperature adjustment, etc., and also has a vehicle owner's manual inquiry function; the DeepSeek model will provide AI voice chat services.

Intel rose 5.53%. According to Xinhua News Agency, American chip manufacturer Intel announced on the 22nd that it has reached an agreement with the U.S. federal government, which will invest $8.9 billion in Intel's common stock, acquiring 433.3 million shares of Intel common stock at a price of $20.47 per share, equivalent to 9.9% of the company's shares.

Chinese assets showed strong trends, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rising 2.73%. Miniso rose over 20%, Upward Fusion Technology rose over 13%, Kingsoft Cloud rose over 9%, Alibaba, iQIYI, and XPeng Motors rose over 4%, while JD.com, Baidu, and Li Auto rose over 2%.

NIO rose over 14%. On the evening of August 21, NIO Chairman Li Bin announced the pre-sale price of the new ES8 model, with a starting purchase price of 416,800 yuan for the whole vehicle and a starting purchase price of 308,800 yuan for battery rental. The new car will officially launch and start deliveries in late September 2025.

According to the Securities Times, at the current point in time, foreign investors' outlook on Chinese assets is becoming increasingly optimistic. According to Bank of America's global fund manager survey in July, since the easing of trade frictions, overseas institutions' growth expectations for China have improved for four consecutive months, indicating that under the background of alleviating external concerns, institutional investors' confidence in China's economic growth has been enhanced again.

Franklin Templeton, an American fund management company, stated that the Chinese stock market—especially the Hong Kong stock market—remains favored, as valuations still possess extremely high attractiveness, and as the uncertainty of tariffs eases, the predictability of corporate earnings in Hong Kong stocks is also improving.

J.P. Morgan Asset Management pointed out: 'From a valuation perspective, both the A-share and Hong Kong markets show a significant discount compared to developed markets.'#BNB创新高 #Strategy增持比特币