“Apple Inc. and U.S. President Donald Trump are going head-to-head for influence over one of Asia’s key export economies,” Ese Erheriene reports for Wall Street Journal. “And so far, Apple is winning.”
“Taiwan’s stock market has been on a roll the past few months, undeterred by Mr. Trump’s ascent to the U.S. presidency and his harder line on China and trade. On Tuesday, the market ended at a fresh 23-month high,” Erheriene reports. “The benchmark Taiex index has risen 11% since mid-September, according to FactSet. This would make it the 10th best-performing stock market globally during the period, in U.S. dollar terms.”
“Apple’s share price has jumped nearly 25% over the past six months.. [and] number of Taiwan’s technology stocks are along for the ride,” Erheriene reports. “Among them, Largan Precision Co., which manufactures dual casings for the iPhone, added 30% since mid-September. Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., or Foxconn, which assembles the iPhones, was up 18%. Catcher Technology Co., which supplies casings, gained 12%. Taiwanese tech stocks that supply Apple make up more than 25% of the Taiex’s weighting, with Apple accounting for up to 50% of the companies’ revenues. The gains have helped drive the index back toward the 10000-point level that it hasn’t been able to solidly break through for two decades.”
“‘There’s a move to own Apple supply stocks,’ said Randy Abrams, a semiconductor analyst at Credit Suisse. Many emerging-market funds can’t buy directly into Apple, so they look to the supply chain for alternatives, he said,” Erheriene reports. “Meanwhile, Mr. Abrams called Taiwan’s strong stock gains noteworthy given Mr. Trump’s tough talk on trade tariffs. The country’s stock market is typically more affected by trade issues as exports make up around 70% of Taiwan’s economy.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Note: After touching a new all-time intraday high of $142.80 in morning trading — $142.86 per share equals $1000 per share pre-split (2014’s 7:1 split) — Apple has since pulled back to trade around $140.28.