According to foreign media, Meta (META.US) may completely cut 10% of its expenses, with the reduction in the Metaverse department possibly being as high as 30%, Citi Research issued a research report saying.

Although Meta's 10% cut for its expenses annually has become the norm since 2022, this significant reduction in Metaverse investment will undoubtedly free up resources for the Super Intelligence Labs to support the launch of its new AI products in 2026.

Citi Research believed that the above news indicate that Meta can achieve sustained product-driven growth by reallocating resources to the most promising areas. Meta remains its top pick. Therefore, the broker reiterated rating at Buy and a target price of US$850.
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CMSI released a research report forecasting accelerated integration of AI models in 2026. The US led in powerful agents and multimodal systems, such as GPT-5 and Gemini 3, but China is rapidly closing the gap through highly efficient open-source models, bringing intense competition to the global market.

Regarding China's internet sector, the broker noted that AI advertising and game drove TENCENT (00700.HK)'s growth, while rational competition in local services benefited BABA-W (09988.HK)(BABA.US). AI upgrades and cost efficiency advantages accelerated overseas expansion in cloud, e-commerce and content.

CMSI remained optimistic about the internet industry, and favored companies with characteristics such as solid profit growth, competitive moat, sound risk-return profile and sizable shareholder returns. Its top picks include TENCENT, BABA-W and BILIBILI-W (09626.HK).

Regarding US equities, CMSI reiterated its preference for large tech companies, believing that they are best positioned to address AI challenges, leverag strong core businesses to subsidize AI investments meanwhile implementing monetization strategies.

Its top pick for US stock market is Alphabet (GOOG.US) > Meta (META.US) > Amazon.com (AMZN.US) > Microsoft (MSFT.US).
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The number of initial unemployment insurance weekly claims in the US last week fell to the lowest level in over 3 years, strengthening investors' confidence in a potential rate cut by the Fed in December.

US stocks showed mixed movements on Thursday. The DJIA opened higher but closed down 31 points or nearly 0.1% to 47,850. The Nasdaq fluctuated and closed up 51 points or 0.2% to 23,505, while the S&P 500 picked up 7 points or 0.1% to close at 6,857, with both indices rising for 3 consecutive trading days.

Meta (META.US) closed up 3.4% at close, amid rumors that Mark Zuckerberg planned to significantly cut the budget for its metaverse project, with layoffs potentially starting as early as next month.

Large techs showed varied performances, with Nvidia (NVDA.US) climbing 2.1%. Tesla (TSLA.US) added 1.7%, while Microsoft (MSFT.US) ticked up 0.7%. Alphabet (GOOG.US) faded 0.7%, while Apple (AAPL.US) lost 1.2%. Micron Technology (MU.US) cascaded 3.2%.
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Hong Kong's robot concept stocks surged, with JOHNSON ELEC H (00179.HK) escalating 7.86%. SANHUA (02050.HK) mushroomed 7.64%, while UBTECH ROBOTICS (09880.HK) mounted 3.2%. DOBOT (02432.HK) ballooned 3.9%, while HORIZONROBOT-W (09660.HK) leaped nearly 3%.

It is reported that the Trump administration planned to promote the development of the US robotics industry, with the US government considering issuing an executive order on robotics next year.

US robotics-related stocks soared, with Nauticus Robotics (KITT.US) rocketing by 1.16x. iRobot (IRBT.US) snowballed 73.9%, while Serve Robotics (SERV.US) spiked 18.2%. Symbotic (SYM.US) and Tesla (TSLA.US) also rallied 9.4% and 4.1%.
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Market research firm, IDC, forecasted that Apple (AAPL.US)'s iPhone shipments will increase by 6% YoY to 247.4 million units this year, surpassing the 236 million units record set in 2021.

IDC noted that Apple's iPhone sales are driven by the latest iPhone 17 series, and that the massive demand for iPhone 17 series in the Chinese market notably accelerated Apple's sales performance.

IDC predicted that Apple's 4Q25 iPhone shipments in Chinese will jump by 17% YoY, leading to a 3% YoY growth estimation in the market this year, compared to the earlier forecast of a 1% YoY decline.
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The Trump administration plans to promote the development of the US robotics industry, according to Politico.

US Commerce Secretary, Howard Lutnick, has been meeting with CEOs of robotics companies, and is fully committed to accelerating the industry's development, the report quoted sources as saying. The government is considering issuing an executive order on robotics next year.

The authority is committed to robotics and advanced manufacturing because they are central to bringing key production back to the US, a spokesperson for the US Department of Commerce (DOC) said.

Stimulated by the report, US robotics-related stocks surged, with Nauticus Robotics (KITT.US) spiking 1.16x. iRobot (IRBT.US) snowballed 73.9%, while Serve Robotics (SERV.US) soared 18.2%. Symbotic (SYM.US) and Tesla (TSLA.US) also shot up 9.4% and 4.1%, while Teradyne (TER.US) elevated 2.7%.
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With the fourth batch of RMB69 billion national subsidy funds depleting, more and more regions in China are either suspending or adjusting car trade-in subsidy campaigns, according to a report by yicai.com.

As of now, incomplete statistics show that over 20 Chinese cities have already halted or tweaked applications for car trade-in subsidies.

For example, Hubei Province adjusted the issuance method of car trade-in qualification vouchers in mid-November. The vouchers are now distributed in four batches per day, with the final batch being issued on Friday (5th). Each batch ends once the vouchers are fully claimed.
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NVIDIA (NVDA.US) CEO Jensen Huang stated on Wednesday, after meeting with US President Donald Trump, that he is uncertain whether China will accept the company's H200 AI chip if the U.S. loosens sales restrictions.

Huang mentioned discussions with Trump regarding export control issues but refused to disclose specific details. Previously, U.S. government officials had discussed whether to allow NVIDIA's H200 chip sales in China.
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U.S. private enterprises unexpectedly cut 32,000 jobs in November, whereas the market had originally projected an increment of 42,000 jobs. The likelihood of the Fed's 25-bps rate cut next week elevated to about 89%. Investors eyed on the U.S. economic outlook, and despite being initially dampened by Microsoft (MSFT.US), U.S. bourse rebounded to close higher on Wednesday.

The DJIA leaped 408 points or 0.9% to end at 47,882. The Nasdaq added 40 points or 0.2% to finish at 23,454. The S&P 500 rose 20 points or 0.3% to settles at 6,849.

Although Microsoft denied lowering sales quotas for AI-related software, its stock still fell off 2.5% at close. Hijacked by Microsoft, AI-related stocks subtracted, including chip manufacturer Nvidia (NVDA.US), which dipped 1%, and Broadcom (AVGO.US), which dropped 0.3%. Micron (MU.US) lost over 2%.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD.US) reportedly received an almost all-cash acquisition offer from Netflix (NFLX.US), causing the latter's stock to slip nearly 5%.
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Tesla (TSLA.US) has released footage on social platform X, demonstrating the humanoid robot Optimus's ability to run smoothly in a laboratory.

At the November shareholder meeting, the company stated that it has a production line in Fremont, with a goal to produce 1 million units of Optimus by the end of next year, with costs kept under US$20,000 per unit.

The company plans to set up a new production line in Texas with an annual capacity of up to 10 million units.
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