China’s GDP reaches official target

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China’s GDP grew by 5% in 2024
China’s economy grew by 5% year-over-year in 2024, China report says National Statistics Officein line with Beijing’s official target of “around 5%.” In the fourth quarter, gross domestic product expanded 5.4%, more than the 5.0% estimated in a Reuters poll of economists, when Beijing’s stimulus measures took effect. That said, analysts still expect More policies to boost the country’s economy..

S&P 500 breaks three-day winning streak
US markets fell on Thursdaywith the S&P 500 breaking his three-day winning streak. Treasury Returns went further back on the easing of inflationary fears. Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed on friday. Markets in mainland China and Hong Kong rose after the release of China’s GDP figures for 2024. japan Nikkei 225 lost 0.45% as nintendo Shares fell about 4.6% after announcing a successor to its Switch console.

apple falls
Apple Shares fell 4% on Thursday, with losses. almost 12% from the stock’s most recent peak in December. The drop comes after a report on Thursday from market research firm Canalys said the iPhone maker had fallen to third place in terms of smartphones sold in China in 2024, behind local manufacturers Vivo and Huawei.

Potential US Treasury Secretary testifies
Scott Bessent, chosen by the president-elect of the United States, Donald Trump, for Secretary of the Treasury, testified Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee. During the session, Bessent, a hedge fund manager, said Trump’s proposed policies will not cause inflationdescribed American spending as “out of control,” and threw a bucket of cold water on the idea of ​​a possible US digital currency.

(PRO) Tariffs threaten retail stocks
According to Wolfe Research, several consumer goods stocks are most at risk of being hit by US President-elect Donald Trump’s plan to impose tariffs. These are the popular clothing and home goods retailers, of which stock investors have not taken into account tariff risksthe research firm said.

Reports of falling iPhone sales in China dragged down Apple shares, leading to its worst day since August 5. Other actions of the “Magnificent 7” also fell into sympathy: tesla fell 3.4%, NVIDIA lost almost 2%, and Alphabet decreased around 1.4%.

Apple has been the worst-performing stock of the Magnificent Seven so far in 2025.

With all the actions of the “Magnificent Seven”, which promoted more than half of S&P 500 gains in 2024 —Ending the session in the red, the broad-based index failed to maintain its momentum from Wednesday.

He S&P fell 0.21%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.16% and the technology sector Nasdaq CompositeIt fell 0.89%.

This despite the fact that the earnings season is off to a good start. Of the companies that reported, 77% exceeded expectations, according to FactSet data.

bank of america and Morgan Stanley reported exceeding expectations earnings. But they were ultimately not enough to boost the indexes, suggesting that stock market performance still depends on technology.

“Bank earnings started off definitely positive, but it looks like there will have to be more to it than that, and that’s what today’s action looks like,” said Keith Buchanan, senior portfolio manager at Globalt Investments.

That said, stocks and technology markets could gain an advantage if inflation appears to be under control later this year.

The governor of the United States Federal Reserve, Christopher Waller he told CNBC in an interview Thursday that, if inflation data is benign, “you can certainly see rate cuts coming sooner than perhaps markets are pricing in.”

More optimistic, Waller even suggested there could be “four cuts, three cuts, depending on what the data says this year.”

If that were to happen, Apple stock – as well as other rate-sensitive tech stocks – could defy gravity to skyrocket again.

— CNBC’s Jeff Cox, Hakyung Kim and Sarah Min contributed to this report.