Four Major U.S. Indexes Close Higher, Led by Semiconductors
Supported by returning AI-themed buying and falling international oil prices, all four major U.S. indexes closed higher on the 27th. The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 15.99 points, or 0.03%, to close at 52377.57 points; the S&P 500 rose 0.60% to close at 7722.60 points; the Nasdaq rose 1.18% to close at 26477.81 points; and the PHLX Semiconductor Index surged 399.04 points, or 3.60%, to close at 11482.51 points, the strongest performer. The rally was mainly led by large AI and semiconductor stocks, with funds reconcentrating in technology growth stocks rather than a broad advance, indicating improved risk appetite and repositioning ahead of big-tech earnings.
Semiconductor and AI Supply Chain Strength Spreads to Memory
Semiconductors were the market focus, with AMD surging 5.45%, Broadcom up 4%, Nvidia up 0.9%, Micron up 2.77%, and Applied Materials, Qualcomm and Intel also higher. Super Micro surged over 7% and Dell Technologies also jumped over 7%, showing funds spreading from GPUs and chip design to AI servers, data centers and hardware equipment supply chains. In memory, Micron, Western Digital, SanDisk and Seagate all rose together, reflecting continued expectations for AI servers to drive memory and storage demand. The market is watching upcoming big-tech earnings for confirmation that data-center and AI capital spending will continue, and when AI investment will convert into revenue and profit.
Three Focus Areas for Taiwan Stocks, with Fed and Earnings in Focus
For Taiwan stocks on the 28th, TSMC ADR closed at $436.87, up $12.50, or 2.95%, holding high after hours, and combined with the strong PHLX Semiconductor Index, this supports TSMC (2330) in stabilizing the broader market. ASE ADR surged 5.39% and UMC ADR rose 1.41%, showing synchronized buying in assembly and testing and foundry. The three main areas to watch are advanced processes and CoWoS advanced packaging, semiconductor equipment and materials; memory stocks Nanya Technology (2408), Winbond (2344), Phison (8299), ADATA (3260); and AI servers and ASICs Quanta (2382), Wistron (3231), Wiwynn (6669), Inventec (2356), MiTAC (3706), Alchip-KY (3661), Global Unichip (3443). In addition, Brent crude fell on Tuesday, helping ease energy-cost and inflation concerns, with funds potentially rotating from energy hedges back to AI technology. However, the Federal Reserve will announce its rate decision on the 28th U.S. time, with expectations for no change, and the focus will be on Chairman Kevin Warsh's views on inflation and whether rates will rise at year-end; hawkish wording could lift U.S. bond yields and pressure high-P/E technology stocks. With Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon earnings imminent, short-term chasing should still be mindful of profit-taking pressure.