Late night, US stocks surge across the board! Chinese assets rally!

U.S. stocks open higher and continue to rise.

As of press time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average is up 1.02%, the S&P 500 is up 1.09%, and the Nasdaq Composite is up 1.21%.

The Nasdaq China Golden Dragon Index widened its gains, now up 2.0%, latest at 7,292.87 points.

U.S. optical communication stocks surged across the board, with Coherent up over 7%, Lumentum and Ciena up more than 5%.

Cryptocurrency concept stocks opened higher, with Bitmine up nearly 12%, TeraWulf up over 9%, Circle up nearly 8%, and Strategy up nearly 5%.

International crude oil prices declined, with WTI crude down 4.12% to $92.850 per barrel; Brent futures fell further by 3%, at $99.926 per barrel.

From March 17 to 18, U.S. Federal Reserve will hold a two-day policy meeting.

According to February CPI data released by U.S. government agencies, inflation remains stable. However, the market generally believes this data reflects conditions before the geopolitical conflicts, and the surge in oil prices since late February will be reflected in inflation data in the coming months. Currently, market focus has shifted to the potential impact of energy price increases driven by geopolitical tensions on future prices.

U.S. February employment data significantly underperformed expectations: non-farm employment decreased by 92,000, far below the expected increase of 59,000, returning to negative growth since October 2025; at the same time, the unemployment rate hit a new high since December 2025. Although short-term factors such as healthcare strikes and winter storms disturbed the data, the cooling trend in the job market has been largely confirmed.

Zhang Manan, Deputy Director of the Europe and America Research Department at the China Center for International Economic Exchanges, told CGTN’s Global News “Flash Review” that escalating external geopolitical conflicts and the sharp downturn in the domestic economy put the U.S. at risk of stagflation. The Federal Reserve faces a dilemma, and the cycle of rate cuts may be forced to be delayed.

The most direct impact comes from external uncertainty. Military strikes by the U.S. and Israel on Iran could become prolonged, causing severe shocks to international oil prices. After the Strait of Hormuz was blocked, global logistics were severely disrupted, further increasing inflationary pressures in the U.S.

The domestic situation in the U.S. is not optimistic, especially with the sharp downturn in the employment market, indicating that the resilience of the U.S. labor market has been significantly affected.

If inflation is further transmitted externally to U.S. production costs, the U.S. faces the risk of a second round of inflation. On one hand, employment and economic pressures decline; on the other, inflation rises, potentially putting the U.S. under stagflation pressure.

External pressures combined with domestic economic downturn risks put the Federal Reserve in a dilemma. It is likely to extend the rate cut cycle into the second half of the year or later, reflecting the current policy dilemma faced by the U.S.

Source: CCTV News

Proofread by: Panda