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Good morning. Taiwan Semiconductor reports before the open, and its numbers tend to move the entire chip sector. That matters this week, because chip stocks have been the one weak spot in an otherwise rising market.
The Market Gauge
Here is where the market finished on Wednesday:
S&P 500: 7,572.40, up 0.38%
Nasdaq: 26,269.23, up 0.62%
Dow: 52,658.64, up 0.29%
What drove it: A second cool inflation report in two days. Wholesale prices, which measure what producers charge before goods reach you, unexpectedly fell as gasoline prices dropped. Per Investor's Business Daily, that pulled the 10-year Treasury yield down to 4.545%.
Beginner note: The headline numbers hide a split worth seeing. The Nasdaq composite rose 0.62%, but the Nasdaq-100, which holds the 100 largest Nasdaq companies, actually fell 0.3%. Apple and Alphabet did the lifting while chip and memory stocks were sold hard: Dell closed down 9.8%, Micron 8%, Sandisk 8.1%. A green day on the surface was a painful one if you owned the wrong corner of tech. This is why "the market was up" is never the whole story.
On today's calendar
Two earnings reports shape the session, both before the open:
Taiwan Semiconductor reports: the world's largest contract chipmaker. It does not design chips, it manufactures them for companies that do, including Nvidia, Apple and Broadcom. Per IBD, its guidance and its capital spending plans are what matter most, because they signal how much chip demand the company sees coming and how much equipment it will buy from suppliers like ASML. One report, and the read-through touches most of the sector.
GE Aerospace reports: the first big aerospace name of this earnings season. It makes jet engines and services them for airlines, so its results say something about how much airlines are flying and spending.
Two more results landed after yesterday's close: J.B. Hunt, the trucking company, beat expectations and rose in extended trading, while United Airlines beat but said it expects an extra $6 billion in fuel costs for 2026. Watch whether that fuel warning follows through when the market opens.
On the radar: Taiwan Semiconductor
$TSM ( ▼ 0.22% ) is worth watching today for a reason beyond its earnings. It closed Wednesday at $419.48, barely changed on the day, but IBD notes it has now slipped below its 50-day moving average for the first time since early April. That line is the average closing price over the last 50 trading days, and traders watch it as a rough dividing line between a stock in good shape and one losing its footing.
How it has been acting: TSM's 52-week range runs from $223.70 to $479.00, so at $419.48 it sits about 12% below its high while remaining far above its low. It is a $2.2 trillion company on IBD's Long-Term Leaders watchlist. So this is not a broken stock. It is a leader that has drifted to a level where its recent trend is in question, and it is about to hand the market new information.
Why it is worth watching: Tonight's lesson is the stop-loss order, the rule that decides in advance what you will do if a stock keeps moving against you. TSM is a live example of why that decision belongs before the news, not after. A stock sitting below its 50-day line the morning it reports earnings can go either direction fast, and a plan made calmly at 9 AM is worth more than a decision made in a panic at 9:35. Notice today that you do not need to predict the report. You only need to know what you would do in either case.
ONE FOR THE ROAD
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Educational content only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not predict future results. Read the full financial disclosure.
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