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CITIC Securities: It is expected that the global semiconductor and hardware fundamentals will resume their upward trend from the second quarter of next year. According to the CITIC Securities Research Report, the global semiconductor and hardware fundamentals are expected to remain weak from the fourth quarter of 2024 to the first quarter of 2025, and will resume their upward trend from the second quarter of 2025. Similar to 2024, GenAI is expected to continue to be the core driving force, but industrial opportunities are expected to continue to spread around NVIDIA. At the same time, we should also pay attention to the recovery progress of IT expenditure of European and American enterprises after the US election, the pull of end-side AI and windows10 EOL on consumer electronics and bulk storage chips, and the recovery process of automobile and industrial sectors at the bottom of the cycle. Tariff and trade policies, US macro and inflation data, and GenAI technology progress are expected to continue to be the core influencing variables of the industry. At the sub-sector level, our preference order is: advanced process, AI network (Ethernet equipment and high-speed interface), AI computing chip (ASIC, commercial GPU), AI server, enterprise IT equipment (network equipment, high-end storage, general server), consumer electronics (PC, mobile phone), analog chip, semiconductor equipment, bulk storage chip, mature process and so on.Goldman Sachs expects the average price of iron ore to be 95 USD/ton in 2025 and 90 USD/ton in 2026.Employees hide $154 million in accounts. Macy's said that internal control was ineffective. On Thursday, Macy's said that a reassessment of its financial situation showed that as of February this year, the internal control (including proper record maintenance) of the chain department store was not effective. The retailer launched an evaluation at the end of November after discovering that an employee had concealed as much as $154 million in expenses for many years. Therefore, the company postponed the release of the third quarter earnings report until December 11th. Macy's said that under the supervision of the board of directors, Tony Spring, its CEO, and Adrian Mitchell, its chief financial officer, re-evaluated the effectiveness of internal control, and pointed out that its financial report was not effective as of February 3 due to major defects. The department store chain said that it is implementing changes to improve internal control and make up for major defects.

Apple is reported to cooperate with Broadcom to develop AI chips, and TSMC's advanced process will welcome big orders again. On December 13, it was reported that Apple intends to invest in self-developed AI chips, jointly develop them with Broadcom, and produce them in TSMC's 3 nm process, and mass-produce them in 2026. The legal person is optimistic that after the development of Apple's self-developed AI chip is completed, the investment is expected, and TSMC's advanced process will usher in another big order. It is understood that Apple's current A-series processors for iPhone and M-series processors for Mac all adopt self-developed strategies, and are exclusively manufactured by TSMC. The legal person believes that once Apple's self-developed chips are extended to AI chips, the cooperation with TSMC will be closer. (Taiwan Province Economic Daily)The Australian stock market fell for the fourth consecutive trading day, led by mining stocks. The Australian stock market fell with the US stock market on Friday, with mining stocks falling the most. The day before, the unemployment rate in Australia fell sharply in November, prompting investors to reduce their bets on interest rate cuts in February. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 index fell 0.7% to 8276.5, the fourth consecutive trading day. The benchmark fell by about 1.6% this week, the biggest weekly decline since early August.People's Daily: Ensure that artificial intelligence is always a "friend". At present, the ability of artificial intelligence is comparable to that of human brain in many aspects, but it cannot accurately distinguish right from wrong in terms of value. This means that it is necessary to strengthen the supervision and regulation of artificial intelligence from many aspects. In recent years, many countries, including China, have introduced artificial intelligence development plans, management methods and supervision principles, precisely to ensure that technology truly serves people and benefits society. No matter how far artificial intelligence develops, it all comes from human design and is an extension of human wisdom. Artificial intelligence is doing more and more work and becoming more and more intelligent. We must take precautions to ensure that it is always a "friend".

After the release of the Bank of Japan's short-term report, the yen rose slightly.Guotai Junan: The rise of leading enterprises and the downward shift of costs are important features of the steel industry entering a new cycle. Guotai Junan issued a document saying that with the change of demand structure, the demand for plates has steadily increased, and the demand for high-end plates such as automobiles, household appliances, shipbuilding, offshore engineering and energy is strong. The added value and profit per ton of products brought by leading companies' active adjustment of product structure, accumulation of products, R&D drive, continuous capital expenditure and equipment investment have been significantly improved, gradually widening the gap with the industry average gross profit. When the industry is facing the marginal losses of most steel enterprises, leading companies still maintain a high profit level by relying on the cost advantages brought by product differences and management, and the rise and differentiation of industry leaders are emerging. On the other hand, with the gradual increase in the supply side and the difficulty in improving the demand side, iron ore has gradually entered a loose cycle, and the steel cost constraints are expected to gradually improve.Citic Jiantou Pharmaceutical's 2025 strategy: looking for new additions and integration opportunities. Citic Jiantou said that looking forward to 2025, the reform policy in the medical field has been normalized, and the most noteworthy incremental policy in the medical insurance field is to establish a diversified payment system. The medical field is about to usher in the reform of "deep water areas" such as salary system and graded diagnosis and treatment, which is in line with expectations as a whole. At the same time, the innovation of China's pharmaceutical industry has gradually stepped onto the international stage, some sub-sectors will be marginally improved, and industry integration will begin. We are optimistic about the investment opportunities in the pharmaceutical industry in 2025. It is suggested to focus on the new increase (innovation, going out to sea, marginal change) and industry integration opportunities.