Asian markets are mixed as investors weigh economic data from the region

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company reported a second-quarter drop in earnings and revenue on Thursday.

Second-quarter revenue fell 10% to NT$480.84 billion ($15.68 billion), while net income fell 23.3% from a year ago to NT$181.8 billion. This is TSMC’s first quarterly net income decline in 4 years.

TSMC said its business was impacted by macroeconomic headwinds “which dampened end-market demand and led to customers̵[ads1]7; ongoing inventory adjustment.”

Despite the declines, results beat market expectations of NT$478.83 billion in revenue and NT$172.55 billion in net income.

Read the full report here.

– Sheila Chiang

India’s smartphone market stabilized in the second quarter with 36.1 million units shipped, according to a Canalys report.

This figure represents a 1% decline from a year ago, far better than the 20% drop in the first quarter. Shipments also decreased by 27% and 6% in the fourth and third quarters of 2022, respectively.

Samsung continued to dominate in the second quarter, claiming about 18% market share with 6.6 million shipments, according to Canalys. Vivo followed closely with shipments of 6.4 million phones, while Xiaomi was third with 5.4 million shipments.

Read the whole story here.

— Charmaine Jacob

Australia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was unchanged at 3.5% in June, slightly lower than the 3.6% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics said in June that the employment-to-population ratio remained at 64.5%, with total unemployment falling from 1,600 to 505,500.

The employment rate is one of the key metrics the Reserve Bank of Australia considers when it meets to discuss interest rate decisions.

— Lim Hui Jie

China wants to shift to new advanced growth areas such as IT to stimulate the economy, said Herald van der Linde, head of equity strategy, Asia Pacific at HSBC.

“They don’t want to go back to the old growth model, which was real estate and infrastructure investment. They’ve had enough of that,” he told CNBC’s “Squawk Box Asia.”

Instead, they “want to move to a new growth model” that focuses on advanced technology, renewable energy and choice vehicles, he added. But there is no clear direction from Beijing’s policymakers on those specific details yet, he said.

“We have a new financial team that came in February of this year. They’ve probably met, they’ve come up with plans and probably in the next month or so we’ll get some more details on exactly what they’re going to do,” Linde noted.

“And I think that’s what the market is waiting for. It gives us an idea of ​​what direction they’re really going to go.”

– Sumathi Bala

China left its one-year and five-year prime rates unchanged at 3.55% and 4.2% respectively, days after it also left its medium-term lending rates unchanged at 2.65%.

This also comes after the country saw second-quarter GDP growth come in below expectations on Monday, registering a 6.3% year-on-year increase, compared with the 7.3% expected by economists polled by Reuters.

China cut prime lending rates last June, when the country lowered one-year and five-year prime rates by 10 basis points.

— Lim Hui Jie

Goldman Sachs named Chinese stocks it says are likely to benefit from developments in generative artificial intelligence – and two are on the bank’s conviction list of buy-rated names.

In two research notes dated July 16, Goldman outlined the opportunities and risks created by generative artificial intelligence and picked the stocks likely to benefit.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Lucy Handley

Japan posted a surprise trade surplus of 43.05 billion yen ($308.5 million) in June, marking the first time in 23 months that the world’s third-largest economy has run a surplus.

This was a sharp reversal from the 1.38 trillion yen deficit recorded in May, and the 1.37 trillion yen seen in June 2022.

Government data showed that the surplus was mainly due to a decline in imports. Imports fell 12.9% year-on-year in June, while exports rose by 1.5% compared to the same period last year.

— Lim Hui Jie

Major technology trends such as artificial intelligence dominate the headlines. But some niche plays like the Internet of Things (IoT) offer significant potential despite lower hype, according to tech investor Richard Clode.

Clode, fund manager at Janus Henderson Investors, named two IoT stocks he sees as long-term winners. He manages the $3.2 billion Horizon Global Technology Leaders Fund, which is invested in both stocks.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

– Ganesh Rao

Shares in ASML have rallied this year on the back of buzz around semiconductor firms and artificial intelligence – its Dutch-listed shares are up about 32% year-to-date, while its US-listed shares are up nearly 40%.

But it faces a number of risks, including tensions between the US and China.

Where will the stock go from here? CNBC Pro trawled through Wall Street research to find out.

CNBC Pro subscribers can read more here.

— Weizhen Tan

The second quarter earnings season is just getting underway, with 10% of S&P 500 companies posting results so far. Of the 50 companies that reported, 64% topped revenue estimates, while 80% beat EPS expectations, according to Refinitiv data.

Based on the blended growth rate, earnings are expected to decline more 8.2% from a year ago, and revenue is expected to decline 0.8% year over year. The rate combines data from firms that have already reported data and those that are waiting to report.

– Samantha Subin

Wall Street behemoth Goldman Sachs beat expectations for the second quarter on Wednesday, despite the firm trying to match expectations beforehand.

Goldman reported an adjusted $3.08 per share and $10.9 billion in revenue, while analysts polled by Refinitiv had forecast $3.18 and $10.84 billion, respectively. Goldman shares fell 0.4% in premarket trading.

-Brian Evans

Investors appear to be breathing a sigh of relief after the first wave of regional bank earnings.

The SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF ( KRE ) rose about 1% in early trade as investors and analysts shuffled through reports from Western Alliance, US Bancorp and others.

Shares of Phoenix-based Western Alliance rose more than 2% despite earnings per share of $1.96 a share, 2 cents below estimates, according to Refinitiv.

— Jesse Pound

Corn, wheat and soybeans jumped on Wednesday. Concerns over dry weather forecasts in the US Midwest and Russian airstrikes on the Black Sea port of Odessa after they withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Initiative led to higher wheat prices.

Wheat futures are up 5.4% on Wednesday and nearly 6% week to date, on track for their best week since June 23.

Soybean futures are up 1.7% on Wednesday morning, hitting a high of $437.4 a short ton.

Grain futures jumped 3.1% on Wednesday to 551.5 cents a bushel. Corn is up 7.2% in the week to date, on track for its best week since May 26.

– Hakyung Kim, Nick Wells