行业景气观察：12月社零同比增幅持续收窄，存储器价格持续走强

Group 1: Overall Industry Trends - The growth rate of social retail sales in December continues to narrow, primarily due to high base effects, weak overall demand, and the preemptive effects of previous consumption expansion policies [2][22] - In December, the total retail sales of consumer goods reached 501.202 billion, with a year-on-year growth rate of 0.9%, down from 1.3% in the previous month [14][22] - The retail sales growth in first-tier cities turned negative at -5.0%, significantly dragging down overall performance, while new first-tier, second-tier, third-tier, fourth-tier, and fifth-tier cities also experienced a slowdown [14][22] Group 2: Consumer Demand Insights - Essential consumption categories mostly slowed down, with year-on-year growth rates for staple food, beverages, and clothing declining to 3.9%, 1.7%, and 0.6% respectively, while the decline in tobacco and alcohol sales narrowed to -2.9% [18][22] - Optional consumption showed some improvement, with cosmetics growth expanding to 8.8% and daily necessities turning positive at 3.7% [18][22] - The online retail sales of physical goods grew at a rate higher than the overall retail sales, indicating a continued advantage for channels like instant retail and live streaming [22][23] Group 3: Information Technology Sector - The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index and DXI Index increased, indicating a positive trend in the semiconductor sector [3][8] - Prices for DDR5 and DDR4 DRAM memory continued to rise, while NAND index also showed an upward trend [3][8] - In December, the production of integrated circuits saw a year-on-year growth rate narrowing, while smartphone production experienced a reduced decline [3][8] Group 4: Midstream Manufacturing Sector - The automotive production and sales in December turned negative year-on-year, with a three-month rolling growth rate narrowing to 4.26% [6][8] - The price index for photovoltaic products increased, while prices for upstream products in the new energy sector mostly declined [6][8] - The production of industrial robots saw a narrowing year-on-year growth rate, and the production of metal cutting machine tools turned negative [6][8] Group 5: Resource Sector Trends - The average transaction volume of construction steel declined, and prices for rebar also decreased [4][10] - Coal prices showed mixed trends, with some prices rising while others fell, and overall coal inventory increased [4][10] - The Brent crude oil price increased, while the chemical product price index showed a mixed performance [4][10]