I went to see a movie again this afternoon, "MJ's Road to Stardom".
In terms of completion and quality, it is far inferior to "Letters to Grandma," but a comment I saw a few days ago touched me: "The opportunity to experience < Bill Jeans > and <Thriller> on a big screen with theater sound systems only comes once every few years."
Indeed, I didn't want to miss out on that experience, so I went to see it.
The actor playing MJ is his nephew. MJ's two biological sons don't look like him at all, but this nephew is 80% similar, especially from certain angles of his profile… The songs in the classic scenes of the movie use MJ's original voice, but only his nephew can dance. He's pretty good, and he looks 80-90% like his uncle, which is quite impressive.
The movie's plot was so-so. The main conflict was that young MJ gradually broke free from his father's control. While watching, I took out my phone to check that MJ's father had passed away in 2018. Sure enough, if he were still alive, he would have jumped out and cursed me long ago.
After watching the movie, I looked into MJ's affairs. Shortly after his death, his personal finances were on the verge of bankruptcy. It was his lawyer of 30 years, Blanca, who saved the day, revitalizing his copyright assets, which have now grown into a trust of over $3 billion. He provides nearly ten million dollars in support to MJ's family annually, but control remains with Blanca, who is currently in litigation with MJ's daughter.
I think this lawyer is a remarkable person. Many unscrupulous lawyers will embezzle assets after their clients die, but Blanca did not disappoint MJ's dying wish.
After watching the movie, I stopped by Xiabu Xiabu in the mall for a meal. I noticed that the garlic lobster on the menu was very cheap, only 39 yuan a serving. The bowl that was served had about 20 lobsters, which was a generous portion. I felt that this price was a bit off; I used to think that lobster was always quite expensive.
I searched the news, and it's another typical story of cutthroat competition. A few years ago, the late-night food economy was booming, and crayfish were at their peak, with wholesale prices reaching 50-70 yuan per jin (approximately 0.5 catties). Everyone thought it was easy money, so they flocked to crayfish farming, increasing production capacity by 200%. Then, oversupply led to a stampede, and prices plummeted by 70-80%. Now it's 15-17 yuan per jin, so you can eat as much as you want—it's very affordable. Our increased consumption is also helping those unfortunate crayfish farmers. In China, never blindly follow trends in low-barrier-to-entry businesses.
Let's summarize the most important information from the weekend:
1. On Friday night, US storage stocks continued their surge, with Micron Technology up 15.5% and SanDisk up 16.6%, once again igniting market sentiment. This round of AI rally was initiated by the US storage sector after the May Day holiday, and A-shares followed suit, rising along with the US hot topic. Currently, trading in the AI and storage sectors is extremely crowded and frenzied, increasing the short-term bubble risk. However, it is precisely at such seemingly dangerous junctures that the final sprint can produce particularly fierce gains each day.
2. Jensen Huang said that the next generation of AI infrastructure requires a large number of optical links, which copper wires can no longer meet, creating a demand gap. Keep an eye on this; it could be the next hot topic.
3. Previously, it was rumored online that someone in Yibin was linked to the cruise ship ( Hundius ) that had an outbreak of Hantavirus overseas. However, after investigation, the local authorities in Yibin clarified that the person was lucky. He disembarked on March 31, while the first case on the ship boarded on April 1, so there was no overlap in time and space, and they just missed each other.
The world is currently very concerned about the Hantavirus. If the first case is discovered in mainland China, it will definitely stimulate a surge in the biotech vaccine sector, giving funds that have been trapped in vaccine stocks a chance to escape in the short term.
4. Yesterday, the Ministry of Civil Affairs released the marriage data for the first quarter of 2026: 1.697 million couples got married and 622,000 couples got divorced. It is important to look at the data in comparison. In the first quarter of 2025, there were 1.81 million marriages, a year-on-year decrease of 6.24%, and 630,000 divorces, a year-on-year decrease of 1.27%.
Marriage is a prerequisite for childbirth, so the birth rate will likely continue to decline next year, but the decline appears to be in the single digits.
5. In April, RMB exports in USD terms increased by 14.1%, which exceeded expectations and was very strong. I checked and found that this was mainly due to the rapid growth in sales of AI, new energy, and high-end manufacturing. Exports of integrated circuits increased by 99.6%, AI servers by 47.3%, and automobiles by 44.2%. These products have strong bargaining power in the global market and are gradually replacing the previous low value-added goods.
From this perspective, the RMB exchange rate still has room to rise. It hit 6.8 this Friday, and it seems likely to move towards the 6.7 range, potentially reaching 6.6 by the end of the year. If you're investing in US stocks, you're fine; this exchange rate fluctuation will be quickly offset by the stock price recovery. However, some people who exchanged RMB for USD a few years ago and deposited their money in Hong Kong are now losing more than their principal due to interest payments.
6. The passenger vehicle market performed poorly in April, with retail sales of 1.406 million units, down 20% year-on-year and 15% month-on-month. Among them, new energy vehicles sold 880,000 units, with a penetration rate as high as 62.8%, down 5% year-on-year. Sales of gasoline vehicles plummeted, with only 520,000 units sold, down 35% year-on-year. In short, the domestic market has declined significantly, and it is now relying entirely on exports (+20%) to save the day, but there is still a risk of overcapacity.
Also, everyone should be prepared that around 2035, there probably won't be any more gasoline-powered cars on the market.
7. South Korea's Kospi index rose 13.6% last week, mainly driven by Samsung and SK Hynix. Goldman Sachs analysts believe there is still 20% upside potential, with a target price of 9000 points. The South Korean marriage market is currently being stirred up by this storage boom. Samsung and SK Hynix have a combined workforce of 100,000 to 110,000 employees in the storage industry, and it's estimated that tens of thousands of them are unmarried, making them highly sought after.
This reminds me of the time before 2021 when Chinese concept stocks were performing well. An Alibaba P8 employee, earning 1.7 million yuan a year, even went viral online for posting a marriage proposal. However, things have been stagnant for the past few years because the stock prices of Chinese concept stocks have been severely damaged and have never recovered.
8. There have been small-scale clashes between the US and Iran, with each side firing a few missiles, but no full-scale war has broken out. Capital markets are gradually becoming desensitized, and even Wall Street is already adjusting its bets based on a prolonged period of high oil prices. Meanwhile, Russia and Ukraine have implemented a three-day ceasefire, exchanging 1,000 prisoners of war, with hopes for a complete ceasefire this year.
That's about it. Today is Mother's Day, and I wish all the mothers among my readers happiness and joy. I had considered allocating some money for an event, but it's difficult to implement because the WeChat official account's backend can't differentiate users by gender. Often, we have ideas but lack concrete plans. For example, a few days ago I thought about sending a small monetary gift to families with autistic children, but I couldn't locate them, so it was impossible to do so. Good ideas need to be paired with practical solutions to be implemented, and the WeChat official account platform still has limitations in this regard.
Original Article: View Chinese Version
