1. Bitcoin price rises to nearly US$70,000
After weeks of speculation, Bitcoin rose above its 200-day moving average late on Sunday evening (October 13) to US$62,640, fueled by optimism over China’s recently announced stimulus plan. Its gains extended into Monday (October 14) morning, eventually surpassing US$66,400 for the first time since late July. CoinGlass data revealed over US$100 million in liquidated short positions due to the sudden price jump.Prediction markets assigning higher victory odds to former president Donald Trump also played a role in Bitcoin’s weekend upswing. Later, at a campaign speech in Erie, Pennsylvania on Monday evening, Vice President Kamala Harris pledged to support a regulatory framework for crypto, although this announcement was somewhat dampened as it once again lacked a detailed plan. However, that didn’t stop Ripple Labs co-founder Chris Larsen from donating US$1 million worth of XRP tokens to Future Forward, a super PAC supporting Harris’ run.
Chart via CoinGecko.Bitcoin performance, October 12 to 18, 2024.Additionally, open interest in Bitcoin futures has surged to an all-time high, indicating strong institutional participation and raising expectations for a continued price rally.Bitcoin exchange-traded funds also saw record inflows of over US$250 million every day this week, further fueling the bullish sentiment.Market analysts are closely watching Bitcoin’s price action, with crypto analyst Omkar Godbole suggesting that the recent trendline breakout could signal a significant upswing. The US$70,000 mark is now being eyed as the next major resistance level for Bitcoin, while Ether’s next hurdle lies at US$2,770.Bitcoin closed the week at US$68,362, a nine percent increase on the week. Ether is currently priced at US$2,663, an increase of 8.7 percent over seven days.
2. Chip stocks stumble on export cap reports
A Monday afternoon report from Bloomberg revealed that the US government is considering capping sales of advanced AI chips from American companies to certain countries. Sources familiar with the matter reported that the move would be made in the interest of national security and that officials are focused on countries located in the Persian Gulf, including the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Saudi Arabia. Both nations have invested heavily in AI, including significant contributions from the UAE’s Mubadala Investment Firm to Anthropic and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia’s reported US$40 billion investment fund established in partnership with Andreessen Horowitz.
Chart via Google Finance.NVIDIA and AMD performance, October 14 to 18, 2024.Shares of NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA) fell by over 4 percent on Tuesday (October 15), the day after the report’s release. Only one day earlier, the company reached its highest closing value since June, driven by positive sentiment surrounding the chip industry. Shares of AMD (NASDAQ:AMD), one of NVIDIA’s top rivals in the CPU and GPU space, also fell by over 4 percent on Tuesday morning.According to Bloomberg, officials from the Bureau of Industry and Security, a spokesperson for the White House National Security Council, and representatives from Intel, AMD and NVIDIA all declined requests to comment.
3. ASML’s Q3 results fall flat
On Tuesday, ASML (NASDAQ:ASML) mistakenly its Q3 results one day ahead of schedule, revealing lowered sales expectations from around 40 billion euros to 35 billion in 2025.The company also missed revenue expectations for the quarter by more than half, prompting a nearly 16 percent decline in its share price for the week and erasing roughly 50 billion euros from its market cap.”While there continue to be strong developments and upside potential in AI, other market segments are taking longer to recover. It now appears the recovery is more gradual than previously expected. This is expected to continue in 2025, which is leading to customer cautiousness,” said ASML CEO Christophe Fouquet in a press release.
Chart via Google Finance.ASML performance, October 14 to 18, 2024.The impact of ASML’s results sent shockwaves through the semiconductor industry, as ASML is a key supplier to many of the world’s largest chipmakers. Shares of ASML’s major customer, TSMC, also fell about 3.3 percent in early trading on Tuesday, two days ahead of the company’s own Q3 release. Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), which has already seen its market share dwindle this year, and Samsung (KS:5930) also saw their share prices fall by over two percent each, contributing to a close 5.1 percent lower for the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.Analysts attributed ASML’s lowered sales expectations to several factors, including slower-than-expected demand for logic and memory chips and potential export controls in China. “Logic foundries are ramping up new nodes at a slower pace than expected, and ASML is seeing little capacity additions in memory so far,” Morningstar analyst Javier Correonero wrote on October 16 cutting ASML’s fair value estimate from 900 euros to 850 euros.
4. TSMC raises revenue growth target
TSMC (NYSE:TSM) posted better-than-expected Q3 results on Thursday (October 17), raising its target for revenue growth to around US$26 billion from US$22.4 billion – US$23.2 billion as reported in Q2.Third-quarter earnings increased by 39 percent year-on-year to roughly US$23.5 billion, representing growth of nearly 13 percent compared to the previous quarter. Net income also increased by an impressive 31.2 percent. Given the company’s strong revenue report for September, released last week, the market anticipated a positive report. Investors sent the company’s stock price above US$200 for the first time this year on Thursday morning ahead of the release.
Chart via Google Finance.TSMC and ASML performance, October 14 to 18, 2024.“Our business in the third quarter was supported by strong smartphone and AI-related demand for our industry-leading 3nm and 5nm technologies,” said Wendell Huang, Senior VP and Chief Financial Officer of TSMC. “Moving into (the) fourth quarter 2024, we expect our business to continue to be supported by strong demand for our leading-edge process technologies,” said the company’s CFO and Senior vice president, Wendell Huang.Shares of TSMC’s two biggest customers, NVIDIA and Apple, also received a boost following the release of the report. Apple’s (NASDAQ:AAPL) share price opened 1.75 percent higher when the markets opened on Friday (October 18) and is up 2.66 percent for the week. NVIDIA, which suffered a setback at the start of the week after reports surfaced that the US government potentially limiting exports of its GPUs to certain countries on the Persian Gulf, opened 2.63 percent higher ahead of the report’s release on Thursday morning. NVIDIA’s share price is up 1.11 percent for the week.
5. Google, Amazon sign nuclear power deals
Last month, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT) announced plans to source energy for its data centers from nuclear power, signing a multi-year agreement to purchase nuclear power from Constellation Energy (NASDAQ:CEG).Now, Google and Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) are the latest Big Tech companies to look to nuclear power as the solution to their carbon footprint and energy needs. On Monday, Google signed an agreement to purchase nuclear energy from several small modular reactors (SMRs) developed by nuclear power startup Kairos Power. The deal is part of Google’s efforts to reach its ambitious net-zero goals, which include utilizing 24/7 carbon-free energy, and will reportedly add up to 500 milliwatts of carbon-free electricity to the US grid once all SMRs are fully deployed. According to a press release from Google, the first SMR will come online by 2030, with additional deployments scheduled through 2035. Amazon made a similar announcement on Wednesday (October 16), signing three agreements with Energy Northwest, X-Energy and Dominion Energy (NYSE:D) to support the buildout of SMRs in Virginia and Washington.
Don’t forget to follow us @INN_Technology for real-time news updates!Securities Disclosure: I, Meagen Seatter, hold no direct investment interest in any company mentioned in this article.
Read more here
