On April 17th, the three major A-share indices opened high and continued to rise. By the midday close, the Shanghai Composite Index increased by 1.24%, the Shenzhen Component Index by 1.54%, and the ChiNext Index by 1.34%. The micro-cap stock index surged by 8.44%. Storage chips, CPO, and AIGC concepts led the recovery of the TMT sector, with strong gains in the education, environmental protection, machinery, and chemical sectors, as over 5,000 stocks rose across the two markets.

Let's review the market hotspots from the morning session.

**Sora Concept Soars, Annoqi and Two Other Stocks Hit the Daily Limit Up**

AI concept stocks rebounded collectively, with the Sora concept leading the way. By the midday close, Annoqi, Yuanlong Yatu, and Huayang United all hit the daily limit up, while In-Semi Group, Digital Vision, and Huichang Communications were among the top gainers.

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On April 16th, at the Create2024 Baidu AI Developer Conference, Robin Li, Baidu's founder, chairman, and CEO, delivered his first speech of 2024 titled "Everyone is a Developer," unveiling the Wenxin Large Model 4.0 tool version.

Robin Li believes that large models and generative AI will completely transform the developer community. To this end, Baidu has prepared three "out-of-the-box" tools for developers, including the intelligent agent development tool AgentBuilder, the AI-native application development tool AppBuilder, and various model customization tools ModelBuilder.

**Policy Continuously Boosts, Low-Altitude Economy Concept Erupts Again**

Low-altitude economy concept stocks remained active, with over 10 stocks including Suzhou Jiaotong Science, Wan'an Technology, and CITIC Offshore Helicopter hitting the daily limit up by the midday close.

CITIC Securities pointed out that the low-altitude economy has a long industry chain and a wide radiation range. The upstream mainly involves raw materials (including metal materials, special rubber, and high polymer materials) and core components (including batteries, motors, flight control, and airframe) for constructing various low-altitude products in the midstream; the midstream mainly involves low-altitude product manufacturing, low-altitude flying, low-altitude support, and comprehensive services; the downstream mainly involves operations and various application scenarios (including tourism, logistics, cultural tourism, and inspection industries).

The aforementioned research report also pointed out that innovation in low-altitude aircraft is mainly in drones and eVTOL (electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles), with eVTOL expected to become the most eye-catching carrier in the low-altitude economy.**China-US Economic Working Group Holds Fourth Meeting**

According to the Ministry of Finance's website, on April 16, during the World Bank/International Monetary Fund Spring Meetings in Washington, D.C., China's Vice Minister of Finance Liao Min and the United States' Deputy Secretary of the Treasury, Wally Adeyemo, co-chaired the fourth meeting of the China-US Economic Working Group. The two sides engaged in in-depth, pragmatic, and constructive communication on global and China-US macroeconomic situations and balanced growth, as well as the next steps for communication arrangements, focusing on implementing the important consensus reached by the leaders. The Chinese side expressed concerns over the U.S. trade and economic restrictions against China and provided further responses on capacity issues. Both parties agreed to continue communication and exchanges.

**China-US Financial Working Group Holds Fourth Meeting**

As reported on the People's Bank of China's official website, on April 16, 2024, the China-US Financial Working Group convened its fourth meeting in Washington, D.C. The meeting was co-chaired by the Deputy Governor of the People's Bank of China, Xuan Changneng, and the Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Treasury, Wally Adeyemo. Participants included the National Financial Regulatory Administration, the China Securities Regulatory Commission, as well as the Federal Reserve, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation. U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen met with the Chinese delegation of the China-US Financial Working Group.

Both sides conducted professional, pragmatic, candid, and constructive communication on a range of financial policy topics of mutual concern, including monetary policy and financial stability, financial regulatory cooperation, institutional arrangements in financial markets, cross-border payments and data, sustainable finance, anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing, financial infrastructure, and more. The meeting also heard reports from technical expert groups on the financial regulatory frameworks of both countries. Both parties agreed to maintain ongoing communication.

**Nine Departments Issue Document to Accelerate Cultivation of Digital Talents**

To leverage the foundational role of digital talents in supporting the digital economy and to accelerate the formation of new quality productive forces, nine departments including the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security issued the "Action Plan for Accelerating the Cultivation of Digital Talents to Support the Development of the Digital Economy (2024-2026)" on April 17. The plan is closely aligned with the development needs of digital industrialization and industrial digitization, aiming to solidly carry out special actions for the cultivation, introduction, retention, and utilization of digital talents over approximately three years. This will increase the effective supply of digital talents and create a clustering effect of digital talents.

The action plan outlines six key projects, including the cultivation project for digital technology engineers, the digital skills enhancement initiative, international exchange activities for digital talents, the digital talent innovation and entrepreneurship initiative, the digital talent empowerment for industrial development initiative, and digital vocational and technical skill competitions.

High-level digital technology engineers are an important part of our country's talent pool. The Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security is focusing on new professions in digital technology fields such as intelligent manufacturing, big data, blockchain, and integrated circuits, exploring the establishment of a certification system for digital technology engineers, and training approximately 80,000 digital technology and skill personnel each year.

The action plan also increases policy support from aspects such as optimizing training policies, improving evaluation systems, perfecting distribution systems, raising investment levels, facilitating mobility channels, and strengthening incentive guidance.Sichuan: Unprecedented Strong Support for the Hydrogen Energy Industry, Exploring Full Exemption of Highway Fees for Hydrogen Energy Vehicles

A conference on further promoting the development and application of the green hydrogen industry chain was held in Sichuan Province on the 16th. The meeting revealed a signal that Sichuan will provide unprecedented strong and precise support for the hydrogen energy industry, with a focus on application, leveraging resource advantages, resolving bottlenecks and blockages, and promoting the high-quality development of the green hydrogen industry chain. The person in charge of the Transportation Department stated that the next steps will actively explore policy space, increase guidance efforts, and explore the full exemption of highway fees for hydrogen energy vehicles. They also encourage city governments to lift restrictions on hydrogen energy trucks in urban areas and encourage cities with conditions to fully promote the renewal of hydrogen energy equipment. The person in charge of the Provincial Development and Reform Commission indicated that Sichuan will explore the development of off-grid water electrolysis for hydrogen production and will coordinate the planning and construction of hydrogen refueling stations and charging infrastructure. Subsidies for hydrogen refueling stations will be provided, similar to those for charging infrastructure.