Taiwan Stocks Close Down 1156 Points
Taipei stocks opened lower and moved lower on October 30, dragged down by concerns over U.S. tech earnings, with the weighted index closing down 1156.5 points at 45211.83 points. Intraday the index was down as much as 1642.07 points, falling below the 45000-point level before rebounding. Ahead of Halloween, Taiwan stocks collapsed nearly 2000 points over two days, triggering extreme panic among retail investors. 郭哲榮, Chief Investment Officer of Moore Investment Advisory, said in a livestream that the plunge was a gift from the market to investors, and reiterated that the year-end target of 50000 points for Taiwan stocks remains unchanged.
Betting 10000 Servings of Fried Chicken and Bubble Tea to Back the Bulls
To demonstrate his confidence, 郭哲榮 made an on-air bet that if the weighted index fails to reach 50000 points by year-end, he will pay out of his own pocket for 5000 servings of fried chicken and 5000 cups of bubble tea. If the market falls below the 40000-point level again, he said he will raise 5000萬元 in funds to continue adding to 元大台灣50 (0050). He said he prefers ETFs with low management fees and high visibility, and 0050 meets those criteria, injecting a shot of confidence into the market.
Comments on Tech Earnings and AI Capital Spending
On the recent sharp declines in U.S. tech giants after earnings, 郭哲榮 described Wall Street's attitude as like Asian parents, treating a score of 100 as expected and harshly criticizing a score of 99. Using Google as an example, he said the market panicked over negative free cash flow while ignoring that the company still holds 2651億美元 in massive cash on its books. He noted the cash flow decline was mainly due to heavy capital spending on AI equipment and TPU chips, which can be amortized over time in accounting, and operations are not in crisis. He stressed that AI is reshaping corporate competitiveness from customer service automation to administrative work and code writing, the long-term trend is irreversible, and underestimating the speed of AI development is a fatal mistake.
Bullish on Q4 Rebound and Stock Picks
On the outlook, 郭哲榮 cited historical statistics that in the past ten years, the fourth quarter rose in nine years, with only 2018 as an exception due to the U.S.-China trade war, and November and December after an October plunge have a strong chance of staging a thousand-point rebound. For positioning, he is bullish on advanced packaging concept stock 精材 (3374) with strong momentum and a long-term chance to challenge the 800 to 1000 level, while 聯電 (2303), down about 37% from its high, is already attractive for investment. He urged investors to stay calm and rational, saying they can go heavy but must never use margin loans, adding that without leverage they will not be washed out by this pullback and can treat the pullback as a buying opportunity. Investing always involves risk, and decisions should be carefully evaluated at one's own risk.