U.S. stocks on Friday (September 18) faced “quadruple witching,” as a large volume of derivatives expired simultaneously, amplifying trading volume and intraday volatility. Supported by buying interest in artificial intelligence (AI) and semiconductor stocks, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 2.78%, with Micron (MU-US) up 3.92%; the Nasdaq and S&P 500 also closed slightly higher. Taiwan ADRs rose in tandem, with TSMC ADR (TSM) up 1.02% and UMC ADR (UMC) up 0.57%.
However, U.S. Treasury yields approached 5% again, and international oil prices remained above $100 per barrel, keeping lingering concerns over inflation and further Federal Reserve (Fed) rate hikes alive.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 95.40 points, or 0.18%, to close at 51,682.64.
- The Nasdaq Index rose 104.25 points, or 0.40%, to close at 26,522.55.
- The S&P 500 Index gained 12.74 points, or 0.17%, to close at 7,650.50.
- The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 322.19 points, or 2.78%, to close at 11,921.69.
Among individual stocks, the five big tech giants showed mixed results. Meta (META-US) fell 2.43%; Apple (AAPL-US) dropped 0.26%; Amazon (AMZN-US) rose 1.00%; Alphabet (GOOGL-US) gained 0.64%; Microsoft (MSFT-US) slipped 0.80%.
Taiwan ADRs all moved higher. TSMC ADR (TSM-US) rose 1.02%; UMC ADR (UMC-US) gained 0.57%; ASE ADR (ASX-US) surged 4.10%; Chunghwa Telecom ADR (CHT-US) rose 0.39%.
AMD (AMD-US) climbed 2.70%; Applied Materials (AMAT-US) soared 6.51%; Qualcomm (QCOM-US) tumbled 5.82%; Broadcom (AVGO-US) rose 2.97%; Nvidia (NVDA-US) gained 1.34%. Among closely watched memory stocks, Micron (MU-US) rose 3.92%; SanDisk (SNDK-US) jumped 10.99%; Seagate (STX-US) surged 6.93%; SK Hynix ADR (SKHY-US) rose 2.46%.
