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Claire Yubin Oh3h

TSMC rises after reporting that sales grew 17% in October, the slowest pace since February 2024

TSMC shares are up on Monday after the company reported a 16.9% rise in sales for October.

That was the slowest pace since February 2024 — adding to the debate on whether the global AI complex can continue its breakneck growth — but it broadly matches analyst expectations.

Last month’s revenue came at $11.9 billion (NT$367 billion). For the current quarter, analysts are expecting sales to increase 16% year-on-year (estimates compiled by Bloomberg), down from the whopping 41% growth in Q3.

Despite last week’s slump in Asian tech shares that mildly affected TSMC, the chip supplier has been riding an AI- and semiconductor-powered rally, up more than 40% so far this year. The firm counts a swathe of big tech names on its client list, including Nvidia, AMD, and Qualcomm, with Jensen Huang saying over the weekend that he has asked TSMC for more chip supplies, as demand remains strong.

TSMC’s Slowing Monthly Sales Fuel AI Sustainability Debate

TSMC’s Slowing Monthly Sales Fuel AI Sustainability Debate

Last month’s revenue came at $11.9 billion (NT$367 billion). For the current quarter, analysts are expecting sales to increase 16% year-on-year (estimates compiled by Bloomberg), down from the whopping 41% growth in Q3.

Despite last week’s slump in Asian tech shares that mildly affected TSMC, the chip supplier has been riding an AI- and semiconductor-powered rally, up more than 40% so far this year. The firm counts a swathe of big tech names on its client list, including Nvidia, AMD, and Qualcomm, with Jensen Huang saying over the weekend that he has asked TSMC for more chip supplies, as demand remains strong.

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Max Knoblauch53m

Airlines climb with end of shutdown in sight, despite widespread flight cancellations

Shares of major US airlines are rising Monday as investors react optimistically to the Senate getting closer to a deal to end the government shutdown.

Delta Air Lines, American Airlines, United Airlines, and JetBlue were all up about 2% in premarket trading, despite hundreds of flight cancellations and delays across the US.

Nearly 1,600 flights within, into, or out of the US have been canceled on Monday, data from Flight Aware shows, and more than 1,400 have been delayed. According to a CNN analysis, this weekend was the worst for air traffic control staffing since the beginning of the shutdown 40 days ago.

The Senate just advanced a deal that could end the government shutdown

The Senate just advanced a deal that could end the government shutdown

Nearly 1,600 flights within, into, or out of the US have been canceled on Monday, data from Flight Aware shows, and more than 1,400 have been delayed. According to a CNN analysis, this weekend was the worst for air traffic control staffing since the beginning of the shutdown 40 days ago.

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J. Edward Moreno1h

Health insurers slide after Trump targets them in social media posts

Major health insurers are down in pre-market trading on Monday, after President Trump took aim at them over the weekend in a series of antagonizing social media posts, as lawmakers make progress on a deal to end the government shutdown.

Affordable Care Act tax credits, which subsidize plans provided by private insurers, have been a major point of contention among lawmakers as they inch toward a deal to reopen the government. Over the weekend, Trump suggested in a Truth Social post that: "THE MONEY MUST NOW GO DIRECTLY TO THE PEOPLE, TAKING THE 'FAT CAT' INSURANCE COMPANIES OUT OF THE CORRUPT SYSTEM OF HEALTHCARE."

The Senate voted on Sunday to advance a proposal to end the shutdown — now the longest in history — a proposal which reportedly does not include an extension of the ACA tax credits. The market-implied probability of ACA tax credit extensions making it to the first funding bill fell from over 60% on Sunday to 4% on Monday morning, according to data from Polymarket.

The biggest providers of ACA marketplace plans like UnitedHealthcare, Elevance Health, Oscar Health and Molina Healthcarefell by Monday morning.

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Plug Power soars on planned collaboration with US data center developer, highlighting its “growing presence in the rapidly expanding” sector

Shares of Plug Power are jumping double-digits as of 7:30 a.m. ET after the hydrogen fuel cell company announced that it “has signed a non-binding Letter of Intent to monetize its electricity rights in New York and one other location and collaborate with a US data center developer.”

Access to energy has emerged as the key bottleneck in the US AI boom, as recently highlighted by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

Management highlighted that expanding its footprint in the “rapidly expanding data center sector” by offering back-up power solutions is a priority for the company.

In October, HC Wainwright analyst Amit Dayal spotlighted Plug’s potential role in providing power to data centers, upping his price target to $7 from $3, the highest on Wall Street, which set off record call activity in the stock.

Amid rising energy demand, Plug’s offerings begin to look “increasingly price-competitive and case for adoption becomes stronger,” he wrote. Peer Bloom Energy has also cashed in on the AI boom, striking a deal to deliver power to some of Oracle’s data centers, which accelerated the stock’s surge.

In the press release, Plug also noted that it expects to generate more than $275 million in “liquidity improvement” through monetizing assets (like the aforementioned electricity rights in New York and elsewhere), the release of restricted cash, and lower maintenance expenses. Management added that they are suspending activities related to the Department of Energy loan program (which was going to be used to increase hydrogen production), saying that its July announcement for hydrogen supply reduced its need to produce more itself.

The company is slated to deliver its Q3 results today.

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Chip stocks jump as Nvidia’s Jensen Huang asks TSMC to boost chip output

Talking about what’s coming out of Taiwan is a lot better for Nvidia than talking about what isn’t going into China.

On Saturday in Taiwan, CEO Jensen Huang said its flagship Blackwell chips are seeing “very strong demand” — in case those $500 billion in orders he recently touted didn’t make that clear.

TSMC CEO and Chairman Dr. CC Wei, which just released its October sales numbers, added that his counterpart “asked for wafers” in light of of this hot demand, declining to provide any further details.

Shares of Nvidia are up more than 3% in premarket trading on this seeming reaffirmation of the chip designer’s robust sales pipeline.

Optimism over a potential end to the government shutdown is buoying stocks this morning and chip stocks in particular are in the green. In addition to Nvidia’s gains, Micron and Advanced Micro Devices are also up strongly as of 6:40 a.m. ET ( 5% and 3.6%, respectively).

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives believes last week’s downturn among tech stocks was a “short lived white knuckle moment,” and expects the cohort to more than repair those losses through year-end.

“We believe Nvidia's earnings next week will be another major validation moment for the AI Revolution and be a positive catalyst for tech stocks into year-end as investors continue to underestimate the scale and scope of this transformational spending trend over the next few years,” he writes.

The government shutdown certainly didn’t stop OpenAI from announcing more spending commitments. But, as was the case in March, when higher-beta AI momentum stocks bore the brunt of the market damage despite not being as sensitive to tariffs, this group had also lagged as of late despite not having much direct exposure to federal spending.

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