The S&P hits a new high

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Intraday record for the S&P 500
the US markets popped up on wednesday. U S&P 500 it hit a new intraday high, although it pulled back by the closing bell. The Asia-Pacific shares were mixed Thursday. China’s CSI 300 advanced around 1%, leading gains in the region, according to authorities I urged state funds and insurers to buy shares. South Korea Kospi index retreated 0.8% on the release of disappointing gross domestic product figures.

South Korea’s GDP misses expectations
South Korea’s economy grew by 1.2% year-on-year in the fourth quarter, according to advanced figures. That missed the 1.4% expected by a Reuters poll, and was lower than the 1.5% growth in the country’s third quarter of 2024. However, the increase in GDP for the whole year came to 2%, higher than the 1.4% expansion of 2023.

SK Hynix’s operating profit jumped more than 2,000%
Shares of SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest memory chip makers, fell around 2.7% after the firm warned that demand in 2025 is uncertain. That said, the South Korean chipmaker has released a record operating profit of $8.08 trillion twenty ($5.6 billion) in the fourth quarter, a staggering 2.236% higher than in the same period last year, thanks to strong sales of high-bandwidth memory used in generative AI chipsets.

Dimon says the fees aren’t all bad
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said US President Donald Trump’s expected tariffs could leads to positive resultsdespite the fear of higher prices and trade wars. “If it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it,” Dimon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday in Davos, alongside comments on “hug” with Elon Musk and the bag is “a little inflated.”

Musk downplays Trump’s Stargate
Musk fired Project Stargatea joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank to invest up to $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure, which Trump announced on Tuesday. “They really don’t have the money,” Musk wrote Tuesday in response to an OpenAI post on X, undermine Trump’s announcement.

(PRO) Diversify outside of US stocks: Morgan Stanley
With the S&P 500 index hitting a new all-time high on Wednesday, U.S. stocks remaining expensive and valuations looking stretched, investors should make sure to maintain a diversified portfolio, according to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management . The bank advised investors to invest these goods instead of overconcentrating in US stocks.

It marks a change in gear from December, during which the S & P lost 2.5% as expectations of fewer tax cuts from the US Federal Reserve has reverberated through the market. Technology stocks – no surprises – were the main driver of the advance of the benchmark on Thursday.

Stocks like Oracle and Nvidia appeared on Trump’s announcement of Stargate, the mega AI infrastructure investment deal. Netflix jumped 9.7% as investors cheered the streaming service fourth quarter earnings increase and paid subscriptions. The stock market seemed to change course at the peak of 2024, when the S&P broke more than 50 closing records.

Jamie Dimon, however, is a more cautious tone.

“Asset prices are kind of inflationary, by any measure. They’re in the top 10% or 15%” of historical valuations, Dimon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

It does not necessarily suggest that the brakes will be slammed or an impact is imminent, but that there is a need for a firm base of support to support such horses behind the stocks.

“You need good enough results to justify those prices,” Dimon said. “Having pro-growth strategies helps make that happen, but there are negatives here, and they can tend to surprise you.”

This notion is taken up by the asset management division of JP Morgan.

“The number one risk we’re looking at going into this year is valuations, so we feel strongly that you need to recover earnings,” Phil Camporeale, multi-asset portfolio manager at JP Morgan Asset Management. , he told CNBC’s “Money Movers.”

While Trump’s pro-business and low-tax policies may provide the spark of ignition, corporations, ultimately, are the engine that keeps stocks running.

— CNBC’s Hugh Son, Samatha Subin, Alex Harring and Sarah Min contributed to this report.