The recent report on non-farm employment in the United States for December has taken the financial world by stormWith the unemployment rate dipping to 4.1%, this unexpected outcome has prompted major Wall Street institutions to revise their forecasts significantly regarding the Federal Reserve's interest rate cuts anticipated in 2025. Bank of America has boldly declared the ending of the rate-cutting cycle, while Citigroup maintains that there will be five cuts but has pushed back the timing of the first cut from January to MayGoldman Sachs has altered its forecast for rate cuts this year from three to two, and JPMorgan has adjusted its prediction for the first cut from March to June.

The sentiment in the market has changed so dramatically that the “new Fed communication agency” has reported the likelihood of a rate cut this month as being almost nonexistentThe robust employment data released has eliminated any remaining speculations about a near-term easing of monetary policy

One notable voice in the Federal Reserve, StLouis Fed's James Bullard, emphasized that the economic conditions have shifted strongly since September, with an improving economy and inflated prices higher than previously anticipatedThis indicates a need for more gradual and cautious rate cuts than initially expected.

Meanwhile, Friday's report from the University of Michigan highlighted that long-term inflation expectations have surged to the highest level since 2008. The consumer confidence index has also declined, with expectations for inflation over the next five to ten years rising to 3.3%, surpassing the market forecast of 3.0%. A divide has emerged between the current conditions index and the expectations indexMany respondents in the survey voiced expectations of an increase in unemployment over the coming year, contributing to the drop in consumer confidence, despite the current situation being positively influenced by the optimism surrounding the elected president.

The dollar index soared to a peak of 109.9660 following the robust employment data's release but eventually eased to close at 109.6500, still up by 0.65%. The stronger dollar put pressure on other currencies, with the Chinese yuan falling below 7.36 amid a 0.09% drop, and the euro slumping by 0.56% to 1.02421.

This impressive non-farm payroll report underscores the labor market's robustness and also solidifies the Federal Reserve's hawkish stance on monetary policy

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Focus is inevitably shifting toward inflation, as upcoming immigration and trade strategies from the newly elected president may further drive inflation upward, raising rate expectations across the boardAnalyst Enda Curran expressed concern that the Federal Reserve's efforts to combat inflation might stagnate, raising the specter of stagflation—an undesirable combination of stagnant economic growth and inflation.

In spite of the strong jobs data, the accompanying uncertainty surrounding policies has sparked a demand for safe-haven assetsBoth gold and silver reacted to the employment figures by initially dropping but quickly resumed a bullish trend, demonstrating a V-shaped recovery—gold climbed by 0.71% to settle at 2,688.920 USD per ounce, and silver rose by 0.97% to close at 30.381 USD per ounce.

The oil futures market experienced a sharp increase, primarily triggered by the U.S

government's announcement of a new round of economic sanctions against Russia, marking the most severe measures to date aimed at the energy sector of that countryFurther sanctions were also imposed by the UK government against two major Russian oil companiesAs a result, Brent crude oil futures surged by 3.73% to reach 79.790 USD per barrel, briefly surpassing the 80 USD mark, while West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude climbed by 3.36% to settle at 75.700 USD per barrel.

The strong economic data from the U.Shas instigated a global bond sell-off as investors begin to question whether central banks worldwide can manage to implement significant rate cuts as anticipatedAs traders slashed their Fed rate cut expectations from two to one by 2025, there was also a reduction in bets on the European Central Bank cutting rates, now expected to only drop three times by JuneThis shift has triggered a surge in U.S

Treasury yields, pushing the rates on ten-year and thirty-year bonds to a 14-month high, with the ten-year rate increasing by 8.6 basis points to reach 4.762%.

Amid all this turbulence, U.Sstock markets experienced considerable declines, wiping away all gains of the yearThe Dow Jones plummeted nearly 700 points; meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite fell by more than 300 points, marking a day of substantial losses for both stocks and bondsThe Dow closed down by 1.63%, the Nasdaq by 1.63%, and the S&P 500 dropped by 1.54%. Notably, concepts centered around NFTs gained traction with a 3% increase while areas like solid-state batteries rose by over 2%, though cloud computing and flying car concepts faced losses exceeding 5%.

The performance of the prominent "seven sisters" of the stock market was varied: Nvidia fell by 3.0%, Tesla saw a slight decline of 0.05%, Apple dropped by 2.41%, and Microsoft decreased by 1.32%, while Meta experienced a gain of 0.84%. Amazon and Google also saw falls of 1.44% and 0.98%, respectively.

On a different note, Tesla introduced a highly anticipated new model, the Model Y, aimed particularly at the Chinese market, priced between 263,500 to 303,500 CNY, showcasing impressive range capabilities of up to 719 kilometers and various design upgrades.

In an update from Keybanc on January 10, Google was maintained with an "overweight" rating, with a target price updated to 225.00 USD.

Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index started with a dip and faced continued turmoil throughout the day, finally closing down by 3.14%. The FTSE China Triple Long ETF saw a substantial decrease of 8.69%. A series of positive developments following the close of the A-shares market on Friday were overshadowed by the disappointing non-farm report from the U.S., leaving investors to manage their emotions leading into the weekend.

Within the realm of popular Chinese concept stocks, the results were mixed: Alibaba fell by 3.78%, Pinduoduo dropped by 5.62%, and JD.com saw a decline of 4.67%. In contrast, Xpeng managed a gain of 0.66%, while NIO fell by 3.47%. Other notable declines were registered by NetEase at 1.27%, iQIYI at 5.94%, and BeiGene at 0.66%. Tencent Music and Ke Holdings also faced losses of 1.65% and 1.32%, respectively.

Amid these fluctuations, some institutions have noted that the employment data may not be as robust as initially perceived