TSMC stock hits new high after forecast-beating earnings
TAIPEI (Reuters) – The Taipei-listed shares of TSMC hit a record high on Friday after the world’s largest contract chipmaker posted forecast-beating third-quarter earnings and gave a rosy outlook for strong artificial intelligence (AI) demand.
Shares closed up 4.8% at T$1,085 ($33.77), surpassing the previous record of T$1,080 on July 11. That gives TSMC a market capitalisation of about $874 billion, the highest of any company listed in Asia. The benchmark index ended 1.9% higher.
The company, however, appeared to face some political uncertainty after U.S. media outlet the Information said the U.S. Commerce Department was investigating if it had been making AI or smartphone chips for China’s Huawei, whose access to non-Chinese chips has been curbed by U.S. export controls.
TSMC, which counts Apple and Nvidia amongst its customers, has benefited from a surge towards AI across a spectrum of industries.
TSMC reported a forecast-beating jump of 54% in quarterly profit on Thursday, raised its revenue forecast for the year and said the next five years would also be “healthy”.
The stock could go higher still, said Venson Tsai, an analyst at Cathay Futures Consultant in Taipei.
“TSMC’s share price hasn’t fully reflected the rising wave of AI long term,” he said.
After the report of the U.S. investigation, TSMC said on Friday it was a law-abiding company and committed to complying with laws and regulations, including export controls.
“If we have any reason to believe there are potential issues, we will take prompt action to ensure compliance,” it said.
Such action would include holding investigations and proactively communicating with parties such as customers and regulatory authorities as required, it added.
The U.S. commerce department declined to comment, as did Taiwan’s economy ministry, which is charged with making sure export controls are followed.
In July 2020, TSMC said it had stopped taking new orders from Huawei and did not plan to ship wafers after that September.($1=32.1190 Taiwan dollars)
(Reporting by Ben Blanchard; Additional reporting by Karen Freifeld in Washington; Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman and Savio D’Souza)
Paul Krugman Warns Trump's Tariff Plan Could Rewind Economic Progress 90 Years and Ignite Global Conflict: 'He Sees Everything In Terms Of Winners, Losers And Punishment'
In a recent interview, former President Donald Trump advocated for a significant increase in import tariffs, a move that was slammed by Nobel winning economist Paul Krugman in a recent opinion piece.
What Happened: Trump, known for imposing substantial tariffs during his presidency, is now suggesting tariffs as high as 20 percent, including a 60 percent tariff on imports from China. Economists have voiced their opposition to these proposals, warning that such high tariffs could harm the economy, according to Krugman in his New York Times column. He said he shared a similar view.
The economist also shared the column through X and asked, “Are Trump’s tariff ideas really that bad? No, they’re worse.”
The former president believes that these high tariffs would reduce U.S. trade deficits and stimulate domestic manufacturing. However, this approach has been widely criticized by economists, who argue that the tariffs would not achieve these goals.
Opining on why Trump favored Tariffs, Krugman wrote, “It has never been entirely clear why Trump has a thing for tariffs. My guess is that he sees everything in terms of winners, losers and punishment.”
Trump’s proposed tariffs, if implemented, could potentially turn the clock back 90 years, raising overall tariffs to levels not seen since the era of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act.
Trump’s proposed tariffs were framed as a plan, they were likely to raise living costs by about 3 to 4 percent, disproportionately affecting middle- and lower-income families. Economists generally agreed that these tariffs would not boost American manufacturing or reduce the trade deficit, and could ultimately harm the economy by increasing global poverty and creating market fragmentation, said Krugman.
“What the tariffs would do is shrink our economy. They would cause us to sell less of the goods we currently export — that is, stuff we’re relatively good at producing — and more stuff we aren’t that good at producing. The effect would be to make the economy less efficient and poorer,’ wrote the Economist.
He warned, “The Trump tariffs could cause a spike in global poverty — and, it’s easy to imagine, global conflict.”
Why It Matters: Trump’s tariff strategy has been a topic of discussion among economists and business leaders. Peter Schiff, a renowned economist, criticized Trump’s approach, stating that tariffs would only affect Americans who buy Chinese products.
Similarly, billionaire Mark Cuban expressed his skepticism about Trump’s approach to revitalizing U.S. manufacturing through tariffs. In a post, Cuban argued that Trump does not understand what it takes to achieve his goals.
Trump defended his tariff strategy during an interview at the Economic Club of Chicago, stating that tariffs have a “massive effect.”
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Stock market today: World stocks gain as China releases plan to finance share buybacks
NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are hanging around their records after Netflix jumped and CVS Health slid amid mixed reports on profits. The S&P 500 was up 0.2% in early trading Friday and flirting with its all-time high set early this week. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 76 points, or 0.2%, a day after setting its own record. The Nasdaq composite was up 0.5%. Netflix rose 8.7% after reporting stronger profit than analysts expected. That helped offset a 7.3% drop for CVS Health, which said it’s likely to report a profit for the latest quarter that’s well below what analysts had been expecting.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.
Trading on Wall Street was slightly mixed early Friday as markets try close out another week of gains with companies continuing to post their most recent profits.
Futures for the S&P 500 were up 0.2% before the bell, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average retreated a modest 0.1%.
CVS Health slid about 11% in premarket trading after the retail pharmacy chain and health care company announced that CEO Karen Lynch has stepped down. Lynch will be replaced by David Joyner, who will attempt to steer the health care giant through a worsening environment of rising medical costs.
CVS cut its financial expectations for the third time in August with all major pharmacy chains attempting to navigate a drastically changed landscape, facing competition online and elsewhere.
Tesla shares fell less than 1% after the U.S. government’s road safety agency said it is again investigating the electric car maker’s “Full Self-Driving” system, this time after getting reports of crashes in low-visibility conditions, including one that killed a pedestrian.
Netflix shares climbed 6.5% in extended trading after the video streaming company reported better third-quarter sales and profit than Wall Street was expecting late Thursday, even as subscriber growth slowed dramatically. Netflix forecast revenue growth of 15% in the current quarter, matching the booming sales growth in the July-September period.
More strong economic data from the U.S. this week has boosted hopes that the economy could make a perfect escape from the worst inflation in generations, one that ends without a recession that many investors had seen as nearly inevitable. And with the Federal Reserve now cutting interest rates to keep the economy humming, the expectation among optimists is that stocks can rise even further.
But critics are warning that stock prices look too expensive given how much faster they’ve climbed than corporate profits.
World markets mostly gained after China’s central bank released plans for supporting the stock market through share repurchases by companies and major shareholders.
The Chinese economy slowed further in the last quarter, data released Friday showed. That spurred expectations the government will ramp up its latest stimulus efforts.
The world’s second-largest economy expanded at a 4.6% annual pace in July-September, down slightly from 4.7% in the previous quarter. Growth so far this year has averaged to 4.8%, below the official target of about 5%, as weakness in the property market has continued to weigh on demand.
Meanwhile, the central bank issued guidelines for state banks to provide loans to companies and major shareholders for stock repurchases as part of an effort to stabilize China’s share markets, which have languished in recent years.
The loans, which can be made only by 21 designated financial institutions, will have a maximum interest rate of 2.25%, the People’s Bank of China said in a statement that underscored plans for strict oversight of the effort to support the markets.
The news helped drive a rally in Shanghai, where the Composite index gained 2.9% to 3,261.56. The benchmark for the smaller market in the southern city of Shenzhen jumped 4.1%.
Shanghai’s benchmark has gained 9% in the past three months, though it had surged much higher last month with the release of new measures to counter the slowdown, before falling back as investors registered their disappointment over a lack of big government spending initiatives.
Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index gained 3.6% to 20,804.11.
Elsewhere in Asia, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 edged 0.2% higher to 38,981.75 and the Kospi in Seoul shed 0.6% to 2,593.82. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 gave up 0.9% to 8,283.20.
The Taiex in Taiwan gained 1.9% and the SET in Bangkok lost 0.4%. India’s Sensex rose 0.3%.
At midday in Europe, Germany’s DAX rose 0.3%. In Paris, the CAC 40 gained 0.7% and in London, Britain’s FTSE 100 slipped 0.2%.
In other dealings early Friday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gave back 3 cents to $70.06 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, lost 10 cents to $74.34 per barrel.
The dollar fell to 150.05 Japanese yen from 150.21 yen. The euro rose to $1.0852 from $1.0827.
Netflix will 'continue to evolve' its pricing model but loves 'the low price point' of its $6.99 ads plan
Netflix (NFLX) isn’t planning on hiking its US subscription prices just yet, despite streamers from Disney+ to Peacock all raising their respective prices this year.
“We try to think about our pricing, not in relationship to competitors, but from the value that we’re delivering to members,” Netflix co-CEO Greg Peters said Thursday during the company’s third quarter earnings call. “We want to have a range of price points. We think that that’s healthy.”
The company beat Q3 expectations across the board, adding another 5 million-plus subscribers in the quarter. The stock jumped as much as 5% in after-hours trading, lifting shares even closer to their record high of around $730.
Wall Street analysts have noted a price hike would be a positive catalyst for the stock in the near term, especially after its latest biannual viewership report showed subscribers watched over 94 billion hours on the platform from January to June.
“Given Netflix’s low cost per viewed hour, we see scope for the firm to raise US prices by 12% in 2025,” Citi analyst Jason Bazinet said in a note to clients ahead of the report.
Netflix last raised the price of its Standard plan in January 2022, upping the monthly cost to $15.49 from $13.99. It also raised the price of its Premium tier by $2 to $19.99 a month at the same time; the company again raised the cost of that plan last October to $22.99.
The company recently phased out its lowest-priced ad-free streaming plan, making the $15.49 Standard plan its cheapest offering for an ad-free experience.
Netflix has yet to raise the price of its ad-supported offering, introduced less than two years ago, which remains one of the cheapest ad plans among all of the major streaming players at $6.99 a month.
“We love the low price point and increased accessibility that comes with our ad plan,” Peters said. “It represents an incredible value.”
Netflix, which has raised the prices of its plans in countries like Scandinavia and Japan, said Thursday it plans to increase prices in Spain and Italy as well.
In regards to the US, the company said it will continue to look at metrics like engagement, acquisition, and retention in order to assess the best price point for consumers.
“We’ll continually try to offer consumers a spread of plan choices, the right features at the right price point, and evaluate that and evolve it based on what we think works,” Peters said.
Alexandra Canal is a Senior Reporter at Yahoo Finance. Follow her on X @allie_canal, LinkedIn, and email her at alexandra.canal@yahoofinance.com.
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Billionaire Israel Englander Just Bought 30.9 Million Shares in This Little-Known Warren Buffett and Cathie Wood Stock. Time to Buy?
Financial services is one of Warren Buffett’s favorite industries. His investment vehicle, Berkshire Hathaway, owns a number of insurance and bank stocks.
Another high-profile investor, Cathie Wood, also owns a number of financial services stocks across her exchange-traded funds (ETFs). One rare position that Wood and Buffett share is a fintech company called Nu Holdings (NYSE: NU).
Recently, I was taking a look at some 13F filings and discovered that another well-known Wall Street titan, Israel Englander of Millennium Management, purchased 30.9 million shares of Nu Holdings last quarter — increasing the hedge fund’s position by 370%.
If you’re unfamiliar with Nu Holdings, you might want to put it on your radar. Let’s dig into what makes this up-and-coming financial services company so attractive, and explore if now is a good opportunity to join Buffett, Wood, and Englander.
What does Nu Holdings do?
At its core, Nu is a banking platform. The company offers a variety of services including credit cards, lending, insurance, and investing — all made easy through the company’s online platform.
Simple enough, right? Well, there’s actually a little more to the picture.
While Nu may be seen as a commoditized business offering the same set of products as other larger industry incumbents, there is one big differentiator at play here. Namely, Nu absolutely dominates a key geographic region: Latin America.
Why Nu could be a lucrative opportunity
Financial services and online banking may seem second nature for many people. However, many areas around the world have not yet fully integrated these services and technology into everyday life.
In Latin America, digital banking is still an emerging product. According to a recent study by the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), the number of fintech start-ups across Latin America and the Caribbean has risen by 340% during the past six years. Brazil, Mexico, and Colombia account for the majority of this growth in the region.
These trends have surely been a tailwind for Nu. At the end of the second quarter of 2018, Nu boasted roughly 5 million customers on its platform. As of the end of the 2024 second quarter, the company has grown more than 20-fold to 105 million customers.
As the company continues acquiring more customers, Nu should be able to strengthen its unit economics by cross-selling additional products and services — further boosting its average revenue per user (ARPU).
With revenue growth eclipsing 50% on a consistent basis, gross profit margin in excess of 40%, and consistent positive net income, Nu is demonstrating an impressive financial profile across the board and I don’t see that slowing anytime soon.
Is Nu a good stock to buy right now?
As of the time of this article, Nu trades at a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) multiple of 23.8.
To put this into perspective, Nu’s forward P/E is trading considerably lower than those of other emerging fintechs such as SoFi Technologies or Upstart — both of which compete in much more saturated markets. Moreover, the average forward P/E of the S&P 500 is 23 — nearly identical to that of Nu. I’d wager that most companies in the S&P 500 aren’t having top line growth of between 50% and 60% on a consistent basis all while widening their profit margins.
To me, Nu is very much overlooked and may be mistaken as “just another bank.” Financial services have a long runway in Latin America, and given Nu’s meteoric rise across the region I’m hard-pressed to believe the company’s penetration will be disrupted by another player anytime soon.
I think the stock could easily become a multibagger for long-term investors and see the latest purchase from Englander as a savvy move.
Don’t miss this second chance at a potentially lucrative opportunity
Ever feel like you missed the boat in buying the most successful stocks? Then you’ll want to hear this.
On rare occasions, our expert team of analysts issues a “Double Down” stock recommendation for companies that they think are about to pop. If you’re worried you’ve already missed your chance to invest, now is the best time to buy before it’s too late. And the numbers speak for themselves:
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Amazon: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2010, you’d have $21,049!*
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Apple: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2008, you’d have $43,847!*
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Netflix: if you invested $1,000 when we doubled down in 2004, you’d have $378,583!*
Right now, we’re issuing “Double Down” alerts for three incredible companies, and there may not be another chance like this anytime soon.
*Stock Advisor returns as of October 14, 2024
Adam Spatacco has positions in SoFi Technologies. The Motley Fool has positions in and recommends Berkshire Hathaway and Upstart. The Motley Fool recommends Nu Holdings. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
Billionaire Israel Englander Just Bought 30.9 Million Shares in This Little-Known Warren Buffett and Cathie Wood Stock. Time to Buy? was originally published by The Motley Fool
The 2024 Shanghai International City and Architecture Expo to open on Oct. 31
SHANGHAI, Oct. 18, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — The 2024 Shanghai International City and Architecture Expo will be held from October 31 to November 2 at the Shanghai World Expo Exhibition and Convention Center.
As a supporting event for this year’s World Cities Day, the expo is hosted by the United Nations Human Settlements Programme and the Shanghai Municipal Commission of Housing, Urban-Rural Development and Management. The Shanghai Coordination Center of World Cities Day is the co-organizer, while the Shanghai Green Building Council is the organizer.
The theme of this year’s expo focuses on innovation-driven green development and empowering people-oriented urban development with new quality productive forces. It will showcase the achievements of urban construction and development in Shanghai through diverse means.
The expo will highlight the application of green and low-carbon transformation, intelligent construction and operation efficiency improvement, as well as the renewal and upgrading of urban infrastructure. It aims to comprehensively demonstrate the effectiveness of Shanghai’s innovative construction management.
The expo includes two main exhibition areas, namely the exhibition on achievements in people-centered urban construction and the best practices from 16 districts of Shanghai.
Meanwhile, there are five major thematic exhibition areas, including urban sustainable development and green architecture, digital transformation and architectural technological innovation, urban renewal and projects that cater to the needs of the people, urban safety and operational security, as well as urban space and landscape environment exhibition.
In addition to exhibitions, a series of concurrent events such as the opening ceremony, main forum, series of forums, and business and trade matchmaking meetings will also be held.
Specifically, the expo this year introduces a digital transformation exhibition area for the housing and urban-rural development industry, which will comprehensively showcase the achievements of digital transformation in the housing and urban-rural development industry in Shanghai.
Source: World Cities Day & Shanghai Green Building Council
Contact person: Ms. Liu, Tel: 86-10-63074558
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AYR Wellness to Hold Third Quarter 2024 Conference Call on November 13th at 8:30 a.m. ET
MIAMI, Oct. 17, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — AYR Wellness Inc. AYRAYRWF (“AYR” or the “Company”), a leading vertically integrated U.S. multi-state cannabis operator (“MSO”), will hold a conference call on Wednesday, November 13, 2024, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2024.
AYR Interim CEO Steven Cohen and CFO Brad Asher will host the conference call, followed by a question-and-answer period. The Company will provide its financial results in a press release prior to the call.
Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2024
Time: 8:30 a.m. ET
Toll-free dial-in number: (844) 763-8274
International dial-in number: (647) 484-8814
Webcast: LINK
A telephonic replay of the conference call will also be available for one month until end of day Friday, December 13, 2024.
Toll-free replay number: (855) 669-9658
International replay number: (412) 317-0088
Replay ID: 8552657
Please dial into the conference call 5-10 minutes prior to the start time. An operator will register your name and organization. If you have any difficulty connecting with the conference call, please contact the company’s investor relations team at ir@ayrwellness.com.
About AYR Wellness Inc.
AYR Wellness is a vertically integrated, U.S. multi-state cannabis business. The Company operates simultaneously as a retailer with 90+ licensed dispensaries and a house of cannabis CPG brands.
AYR is committed to delivering high-quality cannabis products to its patients and customers while acting as a Force for Good for its team members and the communities that the Company serves. For more information, please visit www.ayrwellness.com.
Investor Relations Contact:
Sean Mansouri, CFA
Elevate IR
T: (786) 885-0397
Email: ir@ayrwellness.com
Media Contact:
Robert Vanisko
VP, Public Engagement
T: (786) 885-0397
Email: comms@ayrwellness.com
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© 2024 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Stocks Steady as Traders Assess China, Rates Path: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — US stock futures ticked higher as a recovery in Big Tech looked set to extend Friday, thanks to results from Netflix Inc. that eclipsed Wall Street’s expectations.
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Contracts on the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 rose 0.5%, as Netflix jumped 7% in US premarket trading. The streaming company beat expectations on key metrics, including subscriber additions in the third quarter. Apple Inc. rose as data showed China sales of its latest iPhone increased 20% in the first three weeks compared with the 2023 model.
Treasuries steadied from their heavy selling after a batch of strong data on the US economy Thursday recast expectations for interest-rate cuts. Stronger than forecast retail sales underscored how consumer spending continues to power the American economy, lessening the urgency for the Federal Reserve to unwind restrictive rate policy.
One beneficiary of the improving US economic narrative has been small-cap stocks. The Russell 2000 index touched a 2024 high this week as weakening inflation spurs bets the Fed has room to cut rates, albeit not by as much as previously thought.
Small caps are also getting a boost from the so-called Trump Trade, according to Bank of America Corp. strategist Michael Hartnett. In a note, he said there are signs investors are positioning for presidential victory by Donald Trump, moving into banks, small-cap stocks and the dollar, assets that rallied in November 2016 in the wake of his last successful run.
Bitcoin, another Trump Trade, closed in on a fresh record.
A broadening out of the stock rally beyond tech megacaps would be a development that Gene Salerno, chief investment officer at SG Kleinwort Hambros Ltd., said he’d welcome.
“It’s something frankly we’ve wanted to see for some time,” he said.
Key events this week:
-
US housing starts, Friday
-
Fed’s Christopher Waller, Neel Kashkari speak, Friday
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
-
S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% as of 8:22 a.m. New York time
-
Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%
-
Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1%
-
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3%
-
The MSCI World Index was little changed
Currencies
-
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2%
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The euro rose 0.2% to $1.0848
-
The British pound rose 0.3% to $1.3045
-
The Japanese yen rose 0.1% to 150.03 per dollar
Cryptocurrencies
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Bitcoin rose 1.1% to $67,693.99
-
Ether rose 0.9% to $2,620.52
Bonds
-
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.10%
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Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.20%
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Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.09%
Commodities
-
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.1% to $70.77 a barrel
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Spot gold rose 0.7% to $2,711.98 an ounce
This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Meg Short and Tatiana Darie.
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