Stock Markets
Chip stocks shed $480 billion on China trade fears, Trump’s Taiwan comments
By Arsheeya Bajwa
(Reuters) -Wall Street’s semiconductor index lost over $480 billion in stock market value on Wednesday and headed for its worst session since 2022 after a report said Washington was mulling tighter curbs on exports of advanced semiconductor technology to China.
Remarks from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump saying key production hub Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense deepened selling in chip stocks.
The U.S. has told allies it is considering using the most severe trade curbs available if companies continue giving Beijing access to advanced semiconductor technology, Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday.
U.S.-listed shares of Dutch chipmaking equipment provider ASML Holding (AS:) slumped 11% following the report even though it beat second-quarter profit estimates.
AI heavyweight Nvidia (NASDAQ:) fell almost 7%, losing more than $200 billion in market capitalization.
Smaller rival AMD (NASDAQ:) dropped 8%. Qualcomm (NASDAQ:), Micron (NASDAQ:), Broadcom (NASDAQ:) and Arm were all down more than 5%.
However, companies with chip manufacturing operations in the U.S. gained, with Intel (NASDAQ:), GlobalFoundries (NASDAQ:) and Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:) up between 0.3% and 8.5%. Some analysts believe Intel could benefit from the geopolitical tensions as it is building several plants in the country.
“Market reactions are likely short-lived because the fundamental factors driving these markets haven’t changed. Yes, U.S. restrictions on shipments to China will likely increase somewhat – regardless of the U.S. election outcome – but they’ve already been in place for a while,” said Bob O’Donnell, chief analyst at TECHnalysis Research.
The Biden administration has moved aggressively to curb Chinese access to cutting-edge chip technology, including sweeping restrictions issued in October to limit exports of AI processors designed by firms including Nvidia.
The curbs have dented U.S. chipmakers’ sales to China. Nvidia’s revenue from China stood at about 18% of its total revenue in the quarter ended April 28, compared with 66% in the year-ago period.
Former U.S. President Trump told Bloomberg Businessweek that Taiwan should pay the U.S. for its defense as it does not give the country anything. That sent U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan’s TSMC – the world’s largest contract chip maker – down 6%.
Taiwan plays an outsized role in the global chip supply chain and analysts have warned that any conflict over the island may shatter the global economy.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index was down more than 5% in afternoon trading, on track for its biggest one-day percentage decline since October 2022.
The index still remains up 32% for 2024, outperforming the ‘s 17% gain, thanks to the AI boom.
INTEL COULD BENEFIT
Intel has been investing heavily to restore the manufacturing edge it lost to TSMC. It is also one of the biggest beneficiaries of the U.S. Chips Act signed by President Joe Biden in August 2022 with $52.7 billion in subsidies.
Several policy experts said Washington’s focus on semiconductors will likely continue, even if Trump returns to power, with potentially more curbs on exports to China and support for domestic chipmakers such as Intel.
But they warned questions remain over Intel’s ability to revitalize its manufacturing business, with the company’s foundry segment recording an operating loss of $2.47 billion for the quarter ended March 30.
“It’s likely President Trump would not only continue export restrictions, but strengthen them,” said Michael Sobolik, a senior fellow at the American Foreign Policy Council.
“He initiated many semiconductor export controls during his first administration, including the powerful ‘foreign direct product rule’ that limited foreign parties from enabling Huawei’s access to semiconductors.”
By Maggie Fick and Ahmed Aboulenein
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Members of Donald Trump’s presidential transition team are laying the groundwork for the United States to withdraw from the World Health Organization on the first day of his second term, according to a health law expert familiar with the discussions.
“I have it on good authority that he plans to withdraw, probably on Day One or very early in his administration,” said Lawrence Gostin, professor of global health at Georgetown University in Washington and director of the WHO Collaborating Center on National and Global Health (NS:) Law.
The Financial Times was first to report on the plans, citing two experts. The second expert, former White House COVID-19 response coordinator Ashish Jha, was not immediately available for comment.
The Trump transition team did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The plan, which aligns with Trump’s longstanding criticism of the U.N. health agency, would mark a dramatic shift in U.S. global health policy and further isolate Washington from international efforts to battle pandemics.
Trump has nominated several critics of the organization to top public health positions, including Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine skeptic who is up for the post of secretary of Health and Human Services, which oversees all major U.S. health agencies including the CDC and FDA.
Trump initiated the year-long withdrawal process from the WHO in 2020 but six months later his successor, President Joe Biden, reversed the decision.
Trump has argued that the agency failed to hold China accountable for the early spread of COVID-19. He has repeatedly called the WHO a puppet of Beijing and vowed to redirect U.S. contributions to domestic health initiatives.
A WHO spokesperson declined to directly comment but referred Reuters to comments by WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a press briefing on Dec. 10 in which he was asked whether he was concerned that the Trump administration would withdraw from the organization.
Tedros said at the time that the WHO needed to give the U.S. time and space for the transition. He also voiced confidence that states could finalize a pandemic agreement by May 2025.
Critics warn that a U.S. withdrawal could undermine global disease surveillance and emergency response systems.
“The U.S. would lose influence and clout in global health and China would fill the vacuum. I can’t imagine a world without a robust WHO. But U.S. withdrawal would severely weaken the agency,” Gostin said.
U.Today – MicroStrategy has made headlines again by purchasing 5,262 BTC for approximately $561 million at an average price of $106,662 per BTC. The company now holds a staggering 444,262 BTC, accumulated at a total cost of approximately $27.7 billion, with an average purchase price of $62,257 per BTC.
Despite impressive returns of 47.4% since the beginning of the quarter and 73.7% since the beginning of the year, skepticism about the company’s strategy is growing.
It is believed that to sustain its purchases, MicroStrategy raises capital through methods such as issuing convertible and corporate bonds, securing credit lines and selling shares.
This cycle appears to operate as follows: shares are sold to acquire the cryptocurrency, and the rising price per BTC increases asset value, enabling further loans, which are then reinvested in more purchases.
Some observers warn that a significant decline in Bitcoin’s price or MicroStrategy’s stock could trigger a cascade effect. A sharp fall in MSTR shares would weaken the collateral backing its loans, potentially leading to forced asset sales, including BTC.
This scenario could exert downward pressure on the broader cryptocurrency market, as the company holds 2.2% of the global Bitcoin supply now.
Thus, while some view Michael Saylor’s approach as a bold bid to cement the cryptocurrency’s role in the financial system, others see it as unsustainable. History offers a cautionary note: in 2000, MSTR shares surged to $333 before plummeting 99%, a collapse that took 24 years to recover from.
National homebuilder ranked No. 12 on inaugural list ranking companies based on trust
SCOTTSDALE, Ariz., Dec. 23, 2024 /PRNewswire/ — With a longstanding reputation for trust, national homebuilder and land developer Taylor Morrison (NYSE:) (NYSE: ™HC) has been recognized by Forbes on their inaugural list of the Most Trusted Companies in America. The homebuilder ranked No. 12 out of 300 companies across all industries.
“There are few things more powerful than trust and it’s something we strive to earn amongst all company stakeholders, from our customers to our team members, our shareholders, and our local communities,” said Taylor Morrison Chairman and CEO Sheryl Palmer. “To be included on this esteemed list in its inaugural year is especially meaningful and these awards are important reminders of the relationships we’re building across all aspects of our business.”
Fueled by hundreds of millions of data points, the Most Trusted Companies in America list combines data on a wide range of factors across four categories: employee trust, customer trust, investor trust and media sentiment. The ranking was created in partnership with research companies HundredX, Signal AI and Glassdoor.
Taylor Morrison also earned the No. 67 spot on Forbes’ inaugural America’s Best Companies list. The ranking is Forbes’ most comprehensive company ranking to date and factored in ratings for financial performance, customer and employee satisfaction, cybersecurity, sustainability, companies’ remote work policies, media coverage and more. Forbes’ America’s Best Companies list assessed more than 60 metrics across 11 primary categories to identify which organizations excel across the board. Of the more than 2,000 U.S.-based publicly traded companies that were eligible, only 300 qualified for each list.
In addition to being named among the Most Trusted and Best Companies in America by Forbes, Taylor Morrison holds several additional accolades including being named on Newsweek’s America’s Most Responsible Companies and America’s Greenest Companies lists, U.S. News & World Report’s Best Companies to Work For list, the American Opportunity (SO:) Index, America’s Most Trusted ® Home Builder for nine years, Hearthstone’s 2021 BUILDER Humanitarian Award, and inclusion on the Fortune 500 list since 2021.
About Taylor Morrison
Headquartered in Scottsdale, Arizona, Taylor Morrison is one of the nation’s leading homebuilders and developers. We serve a wide array of consumers from coast to coast, including first-time, move-up, luxury and resort lifestyle homebuyers and renters under our family of brands”including Taylor Morrison, Esplanade and Yardly. From 2016-2024, Taylor Morrison has been recognized as America’s Most Trusted ® Builder by Lifestory Research. Our long-standing commitment to sustainable operations is highlighted in our annual Sustainability and Belonging Report.
For more information about Taylor Morrison, please visit www.taylormorrison.com.
CONTACT:
media@taylormorrison.com
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