EUR/USD
1.18088
-0.074%
Gold
5034.57
1.783%
Oil
62.910
-1.122%
USD/JPY
156.551
0.498%
GBP/USD
1.36965
-0.008%
GBP/JPY
214.426
0.498%
Real-time News
On February 4th, Amazon (AMZN.O) officially launched an upgraded version of Alexa in the US, offering an AI-enhanced digital assistant to paid Prime members. Last February, Amazon announced a revamped digital assistant built on a large language model, capable of generating instant answers to questions. Previous versions of Alexa relied on pre-written, fixed responses for common questions. During the 11-month early access period, US Prime members paying an annual fee of $139 can apply for the software and receive access in batches. Daniel Rausch, Amazons vice president in charge of the Alexa and Echo smart speaker team, stated that as of January, tens of millions of people were already using Alexa+. Starting Wednesday, non-Prime users can also subscribe to Alexa+ separately for $19.99 per month, which translates to approximately $100 more per year than a Prime membership.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) reports that Toyota Motor Corporation has filed a recall request for 141,286 vehicles in the United States.February 4th - The World Gold Council published an article stating that perceptions of gold have changed dramatically over the past two decades, reflecting rising wealth in the East and a growing global emphasis on golds role in institutional portfolios. Golds unique properties as a scarce, highly liquid, and uncorrelated asset enable it to serve as a risk diversification tool in the long term. Its status as both an investment and a luxury item has resulted in an annualized return of 9% since 1971, comparable to stocks and even higher than bonds and commodities. Golds traditional role as a safe-haven asset means it will be effective during periods of high risk. However, its dual appeal as both an investment and a consumer good means it can also generate positive returns during prosperous times. This dynamic is likely to continue, reflecting ongoing political and economic uncertainty, as well as economic concerns about stock and bond markets.On February 4th, the Chongqing Municipal Commission of Economy and Information Technology and the Chongqing Municipal Finance Bureau jointly released the "Several Policies of Chongqing Municipality on Promoting the Integration of Real Data and Driving Artificial Intelligence + Manufacturing", proposing 20 specific support measures in six aspects, with a maximum single subsidy of 5 million yuan, forming a comprehensive and multi-level policy incentive system. The "Several Policies" mentions that enterprises and third-party professional institutions that create high-quality datasets and build a trustworthy data space in the industrial field will receive a maximum reward of 3 million yuan; enterprises that develop vertical large-scale models and intelligent agents for the industrial field and promote their application will receive a maximum reward of 2 million yuan; enterprises whose AI cases are selected as typical cases by the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology will receive a reward of 500,000 yuan; and the construction of innovation platforms will receive a reward of 2 million yuan.February 4th - In a report, Kit Juckes of Societe Generale stated that the euro may weaken against the dollar in the second half of 2026, as its recent appreciation has exceeded what interest rate differentials could explain. Over the past year or so, the euros gains have consistently outpaced what the two-year interest rate differential suggests, and this trend is expected to continue into early 2026. This indicates that the market is cautious about confronting Trumps stance of wanting a weaker dollar. In this context, overseas investors may choose to hedge against the risk of a weaker dollar, but this is more likely to occur in the first half of this year.
