US Stocks Open Lower, Led by Semiconductors
US stocks opened lower on Friday (30th), with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index falling 655 points, down 5.69%; the Dow Jones falling 160 points, down 0.31%; the Nasdaq falling 365 points, down 1.38%; and the S&P 500 falling 97 points, down 1.25%. Among individual stocks, TSMC ADR at one point fell 17.19 dollars, down 3.98%; Nvidia fell 6.66 dollars, down 3.12%. Chip stocks were under pressure overall, with AMD falling 8%, and Nvidia and Broadcom each falling about 3%. The decline comes as investors reassess AI trades. In Thursday's regular trading session, Alphabet shares fell 12%, as the company's 3rd quarter earnings and revenue missed expectations, with negative free cash flow of 90.7 billion dollars, dragging the Nasdaq Composite down 1.4% on the day and the S&P 500 down 0.3%. JPMorgan traders said in a recent report: "As concerns about AI profit models resurface, market rotation may continue today, but the broad indexes will reflect the decline in technology stocks."
Amazon and Intel Earnings Disappoint
According to CNBC, Amazon shares fell 6% in premarket trading. The company's 3rd quarter earnings and revenue both came in below Wall Street expectations, with negative free cash flow of 424 billion dollars, while maintaining its 2026 capital expenditure forecast of 2200 billion dollars unchanged. Intel fell nearly 24% on a weak outlook for the current quarter and slowing personal computer demand. Revenue for its Client Computing and Physical AI business group fell 5% year-on-year to 81 billion dollars. Sandisk fell 9% premarket, although its 1st quarter guidance came in better than expected, the data storage company announced an 8-for-1 stock split. As investors pulled out of technology stocks, consumer staples and healthcare shares moved higher. Procter & Gamble, Walmart and Coca-Cola each rose about 2%, supporting Dow futures. Fellow Dow components Johnson & Johnson and Merck also each rose about 2%.
Taiwan Stocks Plunge, Night Session Loses 45000
Asian stocks fell in tandem, with Taiwan stocks closing down 1156.5 points, institutional investors net selling a combined 1398 billion yuan, foreign investors net selling 1124 billion yuan, the 7th largest net sell on record, and Taiwan index futures in the night session diving again, falling more than 400 points to lose 45000 points. In Asian markets, Japan's Nikkei 225 closed down 2.12% on Friday, South Korea's Kospi fell 3.48%, Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.18%, and China's CSI 300 closed down 1.39%. Friday was the last trading day of October. The month was volatile for AI trades, with investors closely watching corporate spending on infrastructure. Hyperscale cloud operators Alphabet and Microsoft did not raise their capital expenditure forecasts. And emerging cloud companies (neoclouds) providing infrastructure for AI data centers are facing investor scrutiny over their debt levels.