After powerful equity relief rallies on a European debt crisis deal and stronger US economic growth, Wall Street investors are poised to refocus on the home front in the week ahead.
On Friday, US stocks piled up gains for the fifth straight week in volatile trade that has become the norm in recent months as the Greek sovereign debt crisis raged.
Investors around the world held their breath and then exhaled after EU leaders in the wee hours of the morning on Thursday agreed to a plan to rescue Greece, recapitalize banks and bolster the eurozone financial system.
Even without details on how the actions will be implemented, especially questions about the deal for the private sector to take a 50 percent loss on the face value of Greek debt, markets were ready to celebrate EU stabilization.
“We needed Europe to get out of the way, the day-to-day problems, conflicts and whether they are going to default or not default ... you’re not going to solve everything, but get a plan,” Marc Pado at Cantor Fitzgerald said.
Wall Street stocks jumped about 3 percent or more on Thursday on relief the EU finally had a solid plan and new numbers that showed the US economy grew 2.5 percent in the third quarter, quelling recession fears.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average surged 3.58 percent higher over the week to end at 12,231.11 points on Friday.
It was the Dow’s fifth straight week of gains, carrying the key stocks indicator back to its highest levels since July 28.
The tech-rich NASDAQ Composite added 3.78 percent over the week, to 2,737.15 points.
And the S&P 500 index, a broader measure of the markets, also increased 3.78 percent, to 1,285.08 points.
WEAKER ACTIVITY: The sharpest deterioration was seen in the electronics and optical components sector, with the production index falling 13.2 points to 44.5 Taiwan’s manufacturing sector last month contracted for a second consecutive month, with the purchasing managers’ index (PMI) slipping to 48, reflecting ongoing caution over trade uncertainties, the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research (CIER, 中華經濟研究院) said yesterday. The decline reflects growing caution among companies amid uncertainty surrounding US tariffs, semiconductor duties and automotive import levies, and it is also likely linked to fading front-loading activity, CIER president Lien Hsien-ming (連賢明) said. “Some clients have started shifting orders to Southeast Asian countries where tariff regimes are already clear,” Lien told a news conference. Firms across the supply chain are also lowering stock levels to mitigate
Six Taiwanese companies, including contract chipmaker Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list of the world’s largest firms by revenue. In a report published by New York-based Fortune magazine on Tuesday, Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), also known as Foxconn Technology Group (富士康科技集團), ranked highest among Taiwanese firms, placing 28th with revenue of US$213.69 billion. Up 60 spots from last year, TSMC rose to No. 126 with US$90.16 billion in revenue, followed by Quanta Computer Inc (廣達) at 348th, Pegatron Corp (和碩) at 461st, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) at 494th and Wistron Corp (緯創) at
NEW PRODUCTS: MediaTek plans to roll out new products this quarter, including a flagship mobile phone chip and a GB10 chip that it is codeveloping with Nvidia Corp MediaTek Inc (聯發科) yesterday projected that revenue this quarter would dip by 7 to 13 percent to between NT$130.1 billion and NT$140 billion (US$4.38 billion and US$4.71 billion), compared with NT$150.37 billion last quarter, which it attributed to subdued front-loading demand and unfavorable foreign exchange rates. The Hsinchu-based chip designer said that the forecast factored in the negative effects of an estimated 6 percent appreciation of the New Taiwan dollar against the greenback. “As some demand has been pulled into the first half of the year and resulted in a different quarterly pattern, we expect the third quarter revenue to decline sequentially,”
ASE Technology Holding Co (ASE, 日月光投控), the world’s biggest chip assembly and testing service provider, yesterday said it would boost equipment capital expenditure by up to 16 percent for this year to cope with strong customer demand for artificial intelligence (AI) applications. Aside from AI, a growing demand for semiconductors used in the automotive and industrial sectors is to drive ASE’s capacity next year, the Kaohsiung-based company said. “We do see the disparity between AI and other general sectors, and that pretty much aligns the scenario in the first half of this year,” ASE chief operating officer Tien Wu (吳田玉) told an
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