SMH

The Week

SMH.US fell 2.33% this week to close at $527.20, underperforming the S&P 500 by about 1.86 percentage points. The week swung widely, with an amplitude of 6.94%. The ETF opened Monday at $556.73 and touched a weekly high of $559.19 early in the week, but the bias shifted lower from there. Thursday (Oct 22) saw the steepest selling, with the price bottoming at $520.53, its lowest since Oct 6, before a small bounce on Friday back to $527.20. Volume picked up noticeably: average daily volume of about 9.2 million shares ran roughly 42% above the median, and Thursday alone printed about 15.3 million shares, suggesting heavy turnover on the way down. The latest close sits well below both the 20-day and 60-day moving averages, near the lower end of its 60-session range.

The Week Ahead

A batch of US macro data arrives early next week. On Monday (Oct 26), the Dallas Fed manufacturing business activity index is due, with a prior reading of 9.8. Tuesday (Oct 27) brings durable goods orders alongside the ex-transport and ex-defence versions; the headline print is expected at 1.5 and ex-transport at 0.6. FHFA house prices, the Case Shiller 20-city index, new home sales, the Richmond Fed composite index and consumer confidence are also on the slate. For semiconductor sentiment, the durable goods readings that cover electronics and capital spending are the ones to watch, since they serve as a real-time check on corporate investment appetite.

In Short

This week’s pullback came after a relatively strong stretch for the semiconductor complex. The ETF remains well off its early-October peak and has slipped below both main moving averages, pointing to profit-taking from earlier highs as the main drag. On the latest trading day, large-lot money was a net buyer while medium and small-lot flow turned net seller, so the flow picture is mixed rather than one-way, though there is no multi-week series to confirm a trend. Combined with above-median volume, the week looks more like heavy churn in a high-volatility tape than a sustained one-way sell-off. The next test is whether next week’s macro data, especially the capital-spending-related components of durable goods orders, can steady the risk tone and help determine whether semis stay rangebound or resume their earlier upward path.

This article is generated by LongbridgeAI from market data, for information only and not investment advice.