[New York Stock Market Briefing] Major Tech Stocks Surge After a Long Time...NASDAQ·S&P500 'New High'

The three major indices of the New York Stock Exchange showed mixed trends. As the market focused on tech stocks, which had recently been sluggish, stocks related to semiconductors and artificial intelligence (AI) gained momentum, leading to a strong performance across the board.

On the 2nd (local time), the Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 34,782.00, down 128.65 points (0.29%) from the previous day at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The S&P500 index rose 14.77 points (0.24%) to 4,607.15, and the NASDAQ Composite Index ended at 14,403.95, up 185.78 points (0.97%).

Recently, tech stocks, which had been relatively weak compared to traditional industrial stocks, showed a strong upward trend. The S&P500 and NASDAQ indices both set new record highs on this day.

In particular, the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 2.61%. Although the major stock of the Philadelphia Index, NVIDIA, was strong, TSMC surged 5.27%, followed by Broadcom (2.73%), ASML (3.62%), AMD (3.56%), Qualcomm (2.84%), and Arm (4.51%), showing strong gains.

As tech stocks formed an upward trend overall, major NASDAQ stocks also rose. The Magnificent Seven (M7), which includes seven major tech companies, all rose, with Meta Platforms and Tesla rising more than 3%.

The reason for the surge in semiconductor and AI-related stocks on this day was due to the U.S. Department of Commerce's announcement of restrictions on China's export of high-bandwidth memory (HBM). The U.S. Department of Commerce's Bureau of Industry and Security (BIS) announced in a statement that it added specific HBM products to the list of export-controlled items, saying, "China's production capacity for advanced semiconductor devices that can be used in artificial intelligence and high-performance computing will be restricted."

The Department of Commerce applied the Foreign Direct Product Rules (FDPR) to this export restriction. The FDPR requires compliance with this export restriction even if the product is made in a country other than the U.S., as long as U.S.-origin software, equipment, or technology was used.

This is a clear threat to the semiconductor export restrictions on China, but it cannot be seen as a definite advantage for tech stocks. However, as the U.S. government exempted the Netherlands and Japan from this restriction, companies related to semiconductors in those countries are expected to see even greater profit growth.

ASML, a Dutch semiconductor equipment maker, stated on its website after the U.S. government's announcement of the restriction that it does not expect any impact on its business. As a result, ASML's stock price rose as investors focused on semiconductor stocks.

However, in response to this restriction, China's Ministry of Commerce stated that it "strongly opposes this economic oppression and non-market behavior" and that "it will respond resolutely," raising the possibility of a trade conflict.

Server manufacturer Supermicro Computer stated that "the audit on accounting fraud suspicions has been completed, and no evidence of any fraudulent activities was found," causing the stock price to surge by over 28%.

The U.S. manufacturing index improved in November. The Institute for Supply Management (ISM) announced that the U.S. manufacturing purchasing managers' index (PMI) recorded 48.4 in November. The S&P Global's U.S. manufacturing PMI for November was 49.7. Both figures exceeded market expectations.

Officials from the Federal Reserve (Fed) are cautious about the new policy direction after Trump's election.

Christopher Waller, a member of the Federal Reserve Board, said at a speech at the American Institute for Economic Research (AIER) event on this day, "Currently, we are leaning towards supporting a rate cut at the December meeting," but also said, "That decision will depend on whether the inflation path before the meeting is higher than expected."

Reporter Shin Min-kyung radio@hankyung.com