A notable piece of news emerged from the field of education: according to the latest regulations issued by Taiyuan Normal University, full-time high-level talents (doctoral graduates) who fail to be promoted to the position of associate professor after five years of service on campus (excluding those who cannot be promoted due to quota restrictions) will be transferred to service positions such as logistics or security. This policy has sparked widespread attention and discussion.
The university has clarified that the minimum service period for full-time talent recruitment is eight years, intended to stabilize the team of high-level talents. Meanwhile, it aims to motivate the recruited talents to strive for performance improvements in order to meet the requirements for promotion. However, regarding the actual effects and evaluation of this regulation, the responsible person indicated that issues at the school level should not be overly disclosed to the public.
In addition, in the management of campus talents, Taiyuan Normal University held a working meeting on March 6 to discuss future talent recruitment plans, demonstrating the institution’s high regard for talent work and efforts to optimize the talent recruitment and management mechanisms.
Elsewhere, in the tourism and leisure industry, Shanghai Disney Resort is actively planning the expansion of new attractions. The new attraction is positioned as a standalone themed area, adjacent to the popular “Zootopia” theme park. Since opening in 2016, Shanghai Disney has continuously expanded its charm, successively launching themed areas such as “Toy Story Land” and “Zootopia.”
In the field of social networking platforms, QQ still exhibits its powerful vitality. According to the latest statistics, QQ’s monthly active account number has reached 590 million, surpassing the total number of Weibo and Zhihu users. Although QQ does not surpass WeChat in terms of monthly active users, its “wide range social” attribute has enabled it to retain a unique attraction among young people.
Data from Questmobile shows that as of March 2023, the post-00s user group still uses QQ most frequently among various apps. This reflects the continued popularity of QQ among young groups.
While paying attention to the online behavior of teenagers, there are also representatives concerned about the welfare of the elderly. Zhou Jinbo, a national representative and CEO of Anhui Conch Cement Design & Research Institute Co., Ltd., submitted an important proposal at the annual National Two Sessions this year. He called for the establishment of a universal basic pension system, aimed at providing a basic pension for the elderly who reach the age of 65 and have no pension income. If implemented, this measure will guarantee the basic living needs of the elderly, ensuring a dignified and peaceful later life, and enhancing their sense of satisfaction and happiness. For those elderly with lower pensions, Zhou Jinbo believes that their pensions should be appropriately increased to better meet their needs for retirement.
Additionally, some national representatives have put forward suggestions to raise the threshold for personal income tax. At least three representatives have suggested raising the tax threshold from 5,000 yuan per month to 10,000 yuan. Supporting this idea is economist and Tsinghua University School of Social Sciences Professor Li Daokui. He believes that raising the threshold will increase the actual disposable income for many groups, thereby stimulating consumption, driving economic growth, and potentially bringing more fiscal tax revenue to the central government.
During the Two Sessions, National People’s Congress representative He Qiugang also brought up the issue of stress among young people. He pointed out that most young people work very hard, hoping to achieve a better future through diligence. However, it should also be understood that young people currently face immense pressure, and he hopes that the government can provide more attention and help through policies. He Qiugang suggested that reducing the pressure on young people would give them more space to broaden their horizons and could also boost the tourism market.
In the business sector, the latest financial report from the Hong Kong-listed company Xiabuxiabu shows that the company expects a net loss of 180 to 200 million yuan in 2023. According to the company, the reasons for the loss mainly include asset impairment preparations for some restaurants expected to close and continue to lose money, as well as a reduction in deferred tax assets of some subsidiaries.
Li Xiang, the founder of Ideal Automobile, responded to the online mockery encountered by MEGA Automobile. Li Xiang made it clear that such behavior not only defames the company’s reputation but also constitutes organized illegal criminal activity. Ideal Automobile reserves the right to pursue legal responsibilities. Li Xiang said on social media, in response to these actions, the company will initiate legal actions as a counterattack. He firmly believes that even if the current environment is full of challenges, it is necessary to uphold justice and the brighter side and decides to act against the darkness with action.
Economist Fu Peng has interpreted the development trend of the new energy vehicle industry. He pointed out that although the overall direction of the new energy industry’s development is positive, the issue of overcapacity has already led to intensified price wars within the industry. Fu Peng believes that new energy vehicles may face the most fierce year of price competition to date, mainly caused by the situation of overcapacity.
In recent stock market dynamics, the performance of the three major U.S. stock indices diverged. Specifically, the Dow Jones Index saw a slight increase, while the NASDAQ and S&P 500 indices experienced declines. The performance of tech stocks varied, with the share prices of several large tech companies rising and falling. Chinese concept stocks generally showed an upward trend, with some companies experiencing significant increases.
The share price of Contemporary Amperex Technology Co. Limited (CATL) saw a substantial rise in recent trading days. The reason behind this rise is that CATL received positive evaluations from Morgan Stanley, who are optimistic about the expansion of its product line and improvements in cost efficiency, and accordingly raised the target price for the company.
Alibaba Group’s big entertainment business unit announced a major investment plan. Under this investment framework called the “Hong Kong Arts Revival Plan,” Alibaba’s big entertainment will inject at least 5 billion Hong Kong dollars into Hong Kong’s entertainment industry over the next five years. The investment areas include television dramas, movies, performances, and training of young talents, among other aspects.
In terms of the Beijing real estate market, sales of new developments are doing well, with quite a few people visiting and signing contracts even on weekdays. At the same time, the volume of listings in Beijing’s second-hand housing market has also set a new record, showing that the real estate market’s heat continues unabated.
In the current real estate market, new home sales remain vibrant, and in the eyes of many property sales personnel, their products do not need to be promoted through discount strategies like special offer houses. In contrast, the secondary housing market seems relatively calm. According to the latest surveys, the number of second-hand houses listed in Beijing has reached a new historical high, with data from Beike Zhaofang showing that there are already 170,900 listings in Beijing, an increase of over 10,000 compared to the same period in February.
On the other hand, in the financial sector, deposit interest rates in Hong Kong have been climbing, with some major banks offering up to 6% interest rates on Hong Kong dollar and US dollar deposit incentive programs. Although such deposit products seem tempting, they are actually bound by various thresholds and hidden risks. Experts point out that individuals considering deposits in Hong Kong need to take into account multiple factors such as time and cost, foreign exchange limits, and the uncertainty of exchange rates. Therefore, before making a decision, depositors need to comprehensively assess whether it suits their personal circumstances, for instance, whether it is convenient to go to Hong Kong to make the deposit, and whether they can withstand fluctuations in exchange rates, among other issues.
In the consumer goods sector, Wahaha has become a hot topic of discussion on the internet recently. Many netizens are calling for Wahaha to launch a beer product, believing that beer is the ideal choice for the generation that grew up with the brand. With the widespread circulation of packaging design drafts, reporters called Wahaha’s official customer service for information and learned that the demand for beer products has been relayed to the research institute, and they were informed that the new product is in an active developmental stage, with a hopeful future launch.
In the tech industry, the latest research report from CITIC Securities indicates that OLED display technology is becoming an important upgrade direction at the display technology level. With the penetration of OLED technology in the smartphone market and its continuous application in tablets, laptops, vehicles, and other scenes, the industry is expected to maintain a steady growth trend. The report especially emphasizes that in the OLED panel segment, due to the improvement in supply and demand relations, optimistic views are held on the sustainable price increase momentum. Looking in the long term, as terminal applications continue to penetrate, the development space of the industry will also continue to expand. At the upstream level, it is expected that domestic OLED equipment and materials manufacturers will encounter new opportunities for development, driven by the new round of expansion cycles and the push for domestic substitution.
Finally, in the area of corporate human resources policies, Alibaba Group is in the process of upgrading its employee incentive policies. In addition to one-off annual bonuses and equity, the group will introduce “long-term cash” as a new incentive method. Starting from April 1, 2024, newly granted performance-based and promotion equity incentives will include a combination of equity and long-term cash, and the ownership and distribution frequency of equity will be adjusted from annual to quarterly, improving the flexibility and liquidity of employee incentives. Alibaba insiders have confirmed this news and stated that such adjustments aim to reduce the impact of stock price fluctuations on employee income and provide a more stable income source for grassroots employees.
Financial Prospects Analysis: Looking ahead to the market situation over the next 3 to 6 months, investment institutions recommend an overweight stance on gold. According to model forecasts, if U.S. Treasury yields continue to decline, the price of gold could rise to levels of $2,200 to $2,400 per ounce. However, given the recent rapid and substantial increase in gold prices, if the upcoming US CPI inflation data is stronger than expected, the gold market and rate cut operations may face a test phase. Based on this, investors are advised to maintain flexibility in their positions and pay attention to risk management.
Performance of Technology Companies: As the AI era flourishes, analysis comments suggest that the product power of the iPhone is gradually waning, with frequent price cuts becoming a common marketing strategy. On the other hand, another tech giant, Nvidia, has seen its stock price reach a historical high, racing for the global market capitalization crown. Reports mention that within the first six weeks of 2024, Apple’s smartphone sales in the Chinese market fell by 24%, with its ranking slipping from first to fourth place. According to analysis, one of the key reasons for iPhone’s defenseless position against domestic competitors is the lack of AI features. Although Apple tries to boost sales through multiple rounds of price promotions, industry opinions believe this does not fundamentally solve the problem of inadequate product strength and may weaken the brand image and undermine the original positioning and marketing strategy in the long run.
Corporate Dynamics: Weimob has recently announced the launch of the “SuperApp” solution, aiming to embark on a new journey in the global technology market. This solution has already led to a partnership with a major telecommunications service provider in Saudi Arabia, indicating that Weimob is beginning to expand its SaaS underlying technology and ecosystem to the international market and move towards a new development stage driven by product and technology. On the other hand, Ericsson has responded to external rumors about adjustments and layoffs in its China business, emphasizing that the company is optimizing its R&D team configuration globally to improve the flexibility and cost-efficiency of software design and reiterating its commitment to serve the Chinese market and not exit.
Wages and Investment: According to reports, SoftBank has reached an agreement with the union on employee wages, deciding to raise employee salaries by an average of 5.5%, which is the highest increase in history, including base pay and regular increases. Meanwhile, the world’s largest oil company, Saudi Aramco, is actively seeking further investment opportunities in China. The CEO mentioned that China’s refining capacity is comprehensively integrated with high conversion rates, and the company has invested hefty sums in the Chinese market, possibly exceeding 100 billion yuan. At the same time, JPMorgan strategists have expressed their views on the future valuations of US tech giants, believing that even though these tech companies have stellar performance, their valuations are still attractive compared to other stocks.
In the US stock market, even if tech stocks’ valuations may appear a bit high in absolute terms, these leading US tech stocks have not actually become more expensive from a relative value perspective. However, some investors presently have concentrated concerns about the performance of the stock market. JPMorgan, in terms of valuation, indicates a preference for growth stocks over value stocks. Concurrently, the valuations of cyclical stocks also seem elevated.
About the progress in the artificial intelligence field, Dongguan Securities’ latest research report mentioned that the delightful AI multimodal large-scale models are rapidly iterating. In the past month, we witnessed the release of the Sora model by OpenAI, followed by Google’s updated Gemini 1.5 version, and then the new Claude 3 series models from Anthropic. As multimodal capabilities continue to strengthen, the value and commercial conversion of intellectual property content are expected to accelerate, helping to reduce the cost of content creation and improve efficiency, which will undoubtedly promote the growth of the entire industry. The report suggests that we should closely monitor the practical application and progress of large models both domestically and abroad in the future, and pay attention to those domestic companies that are laying out in the field of AI large models, such as Kunlun Wanwei, as well as IP and film companies, such as Chinese Online and Shanghai Film, that will benefit from the development of multimodal technology.
NVIDIA’s CEO Jensen Huang announced that the company’s upcoming next-generation DGX AI systems will use liquid cooling technology. This move signifies new development opportunities for the data center industry. This important news was revealed in a recent meeting. The data center and AI service sectors are swiftly adopting liquid cooling technology, with substantial funds being pumped into liquid cooling equipment manufacturing plants. Moreover, liquid-cooled data centers will require extensive research and development and the establishment of corresponding infrastructure for maintenance.
In the insurance industry, China Life Insurance announced that from January to February 2024, the company achieved a cumulative original insurance premium income of about 252.7 billion RMB, an increase of 2.8% compared to the same period last year.
Food industry giant Haitian Stock released its performance express for 2023. The company’s total operating income reached 12.77 billion yuan in 2023, an increase of 7.53% year-over-year, and the net profit was 2.42 billion yuan, with an increase of 13.5%.
In the software industry, Oracle announced the financial performance for the third quarter of the fiscal year 2024, with total quarterly revenue growing by 7% year-over-year to 13.3 billion USD. Among them, revenue from cloud services and license support was particularly significant, growing by 12% in USD and by 11% at constant currency, reaching 10 billion USD.
From the electronics manufacturer Feike Appliances, it was reported that in 2023, the company achieved a business income of 5.06 billion yuan, with an increase of 9.35%. The net profit attributable to the parent company was 1.02 billion, a significant rise of 23.9% year-over-year, with basic earnings per share of 2.34 yuan. In addition, the company also plans to distribute a cash dividend of 23 yuan RMB for every 10 shares held by all shareholders (including taxes).
In recent business dynamics, Jinzi Food unveiled its impressive performance report. In 2023, the company achieved an operating income of 2.065 billion yuan, an increase of 41.26% compared to the same period last year. Even more impressive is that its net profit reached 209 million yuan, with an annual growth rate of 67.87%, and basic earnings per share of 0.48 yuan.
In the biotech industry, Xianbo Biotech recently announced the completion of Series A+ financing, raising a total of 200 million yuan. Youshan Capital, as the lead investor, received support from Yuanhe Origin, Pudao Capital, and Guochuang Qingzhi among other investment institutions. The financial advisor was provided by Haoyue Capital. Dr. Cao Zhuoxiao, the CEO, stated that the company will continue to advance the clinical development of innovative immunocyte therapies and is committed to extending the application of CAR-NK cell therapy in more indications.
Also successful in the capital market, Zhongke Shitong Hengqi, a data intelligence solution provider, announced that it has completed nearly 200 million yuan in Series A+ and B round financing. The funds were mainly invested by industrial capital, Yuanchi Co-creation, and Le Li Capital, with continuous support from existing shareholders, such as Dawn Capital and Yuanqi Capital. This capital will be mainly used for research and development of large models in the defense industry, data platform innovation, talent introduction, and market expansion in the defense, government and enterprise, and financial industries.
Sub-industries also shine brilliantly, as Boya Julili made new progress in the field of polymer materials. The company, specializing in polyimide research, has successfully completed tens of millions of yuan in Series A++ funding, jointly invested by Zhongke Chuangxing and Blueprint Venture. Boya Julili plans to use the funds to attract industrial resources. The hope is to accelerate the pace of factory construction and achieve cost reduction and efficiency enhancement through formula optimization.
Influenced by traditional folk customs, this year’s “Dragon Head Raising Day” on the second day of the second lunar month, hair salons experienced a small business boom. It is reported that there are currently about 1.2245 million hair salon businesses in China, and for nearly a decade, the number of new hair salons has exceeded 50,000 each year, showing a stable growth trend.
