All Four Major U.S. Indexes Fall, PHLX Semiconductor Index Plunges 7.2%
U.S. stocks closed broadly lower on Oct. 30, as earnings reports and outlooks from tech giants failed to ease market concerns over massive artificial intelligence capital spending, triggering heavy selling in semiconductor and memory stocks. The Nasdaq fell 747.72 points to close at 25,437, down 2.86%, its largest single-day drop since June. The S&P 500 fell 140.32 points to close at 7,580.07, down 1.82%, falling below its 100-day moving average. The Dow Jones fell 572.25 points to close at 51,770.31, down 1.09%. The PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 829.4 points to close at 10,688.80, down 7.2%, becoming the epicenter of the selloff.
The five Big Tech stocks all closed lower, with Meta down 1.53%, Apple down 1.23%, Alphabet down 1.40%, Microsoft down 1.55%, and Amazon down 1.41%. Among them, Amazon's third-quarter revenue and profit missed expectations, with negative free cash flow of US$42.4 billion over the past 12 months, while maintaining an estimated 2026 capital expenditure of about US$220 billion, heightening market concerns over AI investment costs and funding needs. In other news, U.S. officials reportedly identified a Chinese executive of a Singapore data center company with close contact with NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang, Huang Le, as a Chinese spy; Huang responded that all interactions were normal business dealings, and that the U.S. government had not informed him of the alleged suspicion.
Intel Plunges Nearly 29%, Memory Stocks Collapse
Semiconductor stocks fell sharply, with Intel plunging nearly 29% on a weak outlook, its largest single-day drop in over 40 years. AMD tumbled 10.88%, Qualcomm plunged 11.12%, Applied Materials fell 7.49%, Broadcom fell 5.48%, and AI chip leader NVIDIA fell 4.22%, reflecting deepening doubts over whether heavy investment can deliver actual returns. Memory stocks were also sold off, with Micron down 5.30%, Western Digital plunging 7.41%, SanDisk plunging 13.47%, Seagate down 7.98%, and SK Hynix ADR down 7.95%. The DRAM ETF covering memory and storage concept stocks fell about 20% cumulatively in October, showing continued capital withdrawal from high-tech stocks.
Binance, the world's largest cryptocurrency exchange, was hacked, with affected assets estimated at US$6.3 billion, dragging down cryptocurrency-related stocks, with Coinbase plunging nearly 11%. In contrast, defensive stocks were relatively resilient, with Walmart and Coca-Cola rising over 1%, while Chevron and Exxon Mobil both hit record highs on better-than-expected earnings, highlighting a rotation from technology stocks to consumer staples and energy stocks.
Taiwan Index Night Session Drops 867 Points, 45,000 Level on Alert
With U.S. semiconductor stocks collapsing, Taiwan stocks may hardly escape selling pressure at the Nov. 2 open. Taiwan index futures fell 867 points in the night session, while TSMC futures plunged NT$87 after hours, both sending bearish signals. As the leading heavyweight, TSMC's sharp after-hours futures drop suggests its spot shares may face clear pressure at the open, further weighing on the weighted index. Taiwan stocks closed at 45,211.83 points on Oct. 30, down 1,156.5 points or 2.49%, with turnover of NT$877.73 billion. The three major institutional investors sold a net NT$140.22 billion, including NT$112.47 billion in net selling by foreign investors and NT$51.37 billion by dealers, with only securities investment trusts net buying NT$23.62 billion.
On the positioning front, foreign investors held 92,241 net open short contracts, an increase of 2,719 short contracts on the day, while retail investors held 10,372 net long contracts, showing a standoff between bearish institutions and bullish retail investors. However, margin financing fell by NT$10.4 billion, indicating some leveraged positions have exited, which should help reduce subsequent margin-call pressure. The market is watching whether the 45,000-point level can hold, and whether TSMC, AI server, semiconductor and memory stocks can stabilize, with investors advised to watch for expanding selling pressure in the short term and manage capital carefully.