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Pfizer announced an increase in its quarterly dividend, and American pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said on Thursday that it would increase its quarterly dividend by 2.4%, from 42 cents to 43 cents per share. The new dividend is equivalent to $1.72 per year, which means that the annual yield is about 6.8%. Albert Bourla, CEO of Pfizer, said that the dividend increase highlighted the company's strong financial performance, execution and commitment to return capital to shareholders.Apple is reported to cooperate with Broadcom to develop AI chips, and TSMC's advanced process will welcome big orders again. On December 13, it was reported that Apple intends to invest in self-developed AI chips, jointly develop them with Broadcom, and produce them in TSMC's 3 nm process, and mass-produce them in 2026. The legal person is optimistic that after the development of Apple's self-developed AI chip is completed, the investment is expected, and TSMC's advanced process will usher in another big order. It is understood that Apple's current A-series processors for iPhone and M-series processors for Mac all adopt self-developed strategies, and are exclusively manufactured by TSMC. The legal person believes that once Apple's self-developed chips are extended to AI chips, the cooperation with TSMC will be closer. (Taiwan Province Economic Daily)US Congressman French Hill will take over as the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. On December 12, local time, the reporter learned that French Hill, a Republican congressman and former banker from Arkansas, will be the next chairman of the House Financial Services Committee. The Financial Services Committee of the House of Representatives is an important body of the US Congress, which is responsible for supervising the financial industry and formulating relevant legislation. Its responsibilities cover banking, the overall financial system and the cryptocurrency market. Hill will succeed retiring Patrick Patrick McHenry, whose formal appointment is expected to be approved by the Republican Party in the next few days. (CCTV)

Haitong Securities: The moderate price reduction of traditional Chinese medicine varieties continues. The domestic pharmaceutical industry is expected to set off a wave of mergers and acquisitions. Haitong Securities released a research report saying that the moderate price reduction of traditional Chinese medicine varieties continues. In 2024, the traditional Chinese medicine industry was under pressure due to the pressure of pharmacy terminal sales and inventory pressure, and it is expected to return to a good situation in the next 25 years. In addition, the continuous technological changes in the pharmaceutical industry, the development of IPO to mergers and acquisitions and the promotion of corporate governance optimization at the shareholder level are the main reasons for promoting mergers and acquisitions in the industry. In terms of fields, mergers and acquisitions are expected to occur intensively in sub-sectors such as medical devices, Chinese medicine, medical services, blood products and scientific research services.Ministry of National Defense: Fujian Ship will gradually launch the follow-up test project. On the morning of December 13th, Senior Colonel Wu Qian, director of the Information Bureau of the Ministry of National Defense and spokesman of the Ministry of National Defense, released a message on the recent military-related issues. Reporter: According to the announcement of Shanghai Maritime Safety Administration, in early December, traffic control was implemented for the import of a large ship in the deep water channel of the Yangtze River estuary. Some analysts believe that China Navy Fujian Ship may have completed its fifth sea trial and returned to its home port. Can you confirm it? Wu Qian: It is a normal arrangement for Fujian Ship to carry out relevant tests during the construction process. In the next step, follow-up test projects will be gradually launched according to the progress of aircraft carrier construction. (issued by the Ministry of National Defense)This year's performance is the worst since the epidemic, and Starbucks will reduce the salary increase for its employees. An internal document shows that in view of the company's worst financial performance since the epidemic, Starbucks will reduce the salary increase for its coffee shop employees. According to different qualifications, this year's salary increase is generally between 2% and 3%, while last year's salary increase was at least 3%, and employees who have served for five years or more were at least 5%. The salary increase will take effect on December 30, and employees will see the change of payroll on January 10 or January 17.

Soochow securities: It is expected that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25bps in December. According to the soochow securities Research Report, the CPI of the United States rebounded to +2.75% in November as scheduled, and the CPI that did not exceed expectations cleared the last obstacle for the Fed to cut interest rates in December. In the short term, the combination of low base and high viscosity means that CPI is expected to continue to rebound to +2.8% in December. In the medium term, Trump is expected to drive out illegal immigrants on the first day after taking office, which will aggravate the risk of stagflation in the labor market. However, the intensification of wage inflation stickiness may be concealed by the downward movement of non-agricultural centers in the same period, the expectation of increasing oil prices and the high base in the first half of 2025. The market's concern about "stagnation" may provide room for the Fed to cut interest rates smoothly in the first half of 2025. However, in the second half of 2025, the cumulative interest rate cuts will give support to the economy, the persistence of inflation stickiness and the landing of Trump's tax reduction policy will force the Fed to cut interest rates. It is expected that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by 25bps in December, 25bps in March and June next year, and stop cutting interest rates in the second half of the year. The end point of the policy interest rate in 2025 is [3.75,4.0]%.This year's performance is the worst since the epidemic, and Starbucks will reduce the salary increase for its employees. An internal document shows that in view of the company's worst financial performance since the epidemic, Starbucks will reduce the salary increase for its coffee shop employees. According to different qualifications, this year's salary increase is generally between 2% and 3%, while last year's salary increase was at least 3%, and employees who have served for five years or more were at least 5%. The salary increase will take effect on December 30, and employees will see the change of payroll on January 10 or January 17.CITIC Jiantou: With the increase of policy stimulus, the pro-cyclical catering chain is expected to take the lead in benefiting from the expected improvement. According to CITIC Jiantou Research Report, since September, heavy meetings have continuously released a clear policy signal to strive to achieve the goals and tasks of economic and social development throughout the year, and policies such as lowering the standard, reducing interest rates, lowering the mortgage interest rate, supporting local governments to resolve government affairs risks, issuing special government bonds to supplement core Tier 1 capital, using various tools to promote the real estate market to stop falling and stabilize, and increasing support and guarantee for key groups have been released one after another. Focusing on boosting consumption and expanding effective domestic demand, the food and beverage industry is expected to usher in an inflection point, and its performance and valuation are expected to continue to improve. The liquor sector is expected to rebound with the boost of the domestic economy and the activation of household consumption, and the business scene and mass consumption boom will return to the consumption upgrading channel, and the profitability of leading liquor companies is expected to accelerate the repair. At present, the overall valuation of the liquor sector is still at a low level, and the long-term investment value is prominent. With the increase of policy stimulus, the pro-cyclical catering chain is expected to take the lead in benefiting from the expected improvement. Continue to be optimistic: 1) The leisure snacks and beverage industries maintain a high degree of prosperity, and new channels bring important incremental opportunities to companies in the industry; 2) Combined with the catering channels that are recovering continuously, it is suggested to pay attention to condiments, beer and catering chain labels with innovative products or reform expectations. At the same time, the current market price of molasses has further dropped from the previous month, which is of great help to yeast enterprises to improve their profit elasticity. 3) The inflection point of the raw milk cycle is approaching, the gift scene is expected to be repaired, and the dairy products continue to upgrade their structure, with high dividends and outstanding cost performance.