On October 15th Eastern Time, the market was filled with risk aversion, and a significant drop in chip stocks dragged the market down, leading to a collective decline in the three major U.S. stock indices.

Performance bombs, the global photolithography giant ASML plummeted by more than 16%! Semiconductor stocks collectively "collapsed," with NVIDIA falling by over 4%.

International oil prices continued to plummet, at one point dropping by more than 5%.

The three major U.S. indices closed lower collectively.

On October 15th Eastern Time, the three major U.S. stock indices experienced a significant decline, with a strong market sentiment for risk aversion.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average touched a new high during the session before sliding down, ultimately closing 324.80 points lower at 42,740.42, a decrease of 0.75%; the S&P 500 index closed 0.76% lower at 5,815.26; the Nasdaq Composite closed 1.01% lower at 18,315.59.

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Federal Reserve Governor Waller indicated that future rate cuts may not be as aggressive as the substantial cuts in September. San Francisco Fed President Daly stated that as inflation declines and the labor market cools, the Federal Reserve must remain vigilant, but she is optimistic that officials can maintain the current momentum of economic expansion.

According to Wind Information, to date, about 40 companies in the S&P 500 index have reported third-quarter earnings. Data shows that 80% of these stocks have exceeded analysts' expectations.

Terry Sandven, Chief Equity Strategist at U.S. Bank Wealth Management, said that the U.S. stock market has not yet emerged from difficulty.

However, according to Sina, Barry Bannister of Stifel, Nicolaus & Co., expects the S&P 500 index to climb another 10%, then change course next year and fall to levels seen at the beginning of 2024. The strategist said that despite the market's optimism about the U.S. economy and the Federal Reserve's rate cuts, this benchmark index, which has risen by nearly 40% since last October, has become too overbought. He said that an analysis of the century-old market frenzy indicates that the S&P 500 index may rise to around 6,400 points, then fall back to around 4,700 points by 2025, a decline of 26% from the expected peak to the level at the beginning of this year. He is one of the few who predicted the U.S. stock market's performance in the first half of 2023, but his bearish forecast has not been realized since then.Performance Bombshell Leads to Over 16% Plunge for Global Lithography Giant

On October 15th, Eastern Time, the global lithography giant ASML saw a plunge of over 16%, marking the largest single-day drop since 1998. It closed at $730.43, with a latest total market value of $290.127 billion.

In terms of news, the Dutch global lithography giant ASML was originally scheduled to release its third-quarter financial report on Wednesday. However, due to a "technical glitch," the report was prematurely disclosed during the early morning of Tuesday's U.S. stock market. Consequently, the poor performance triggered a significant drop in stock prices. The report showed that although revenue exceeded expectations, orders were only half of what the market anticipated, while also lowering next year's sales targets and gross margin guidance.

The company stated that the net bookings for the quarter in September were €2.6 billion ($2.83 billion), significantly lower than the LSEG's expected €5.6 billion. However, net sales exceeded expectations, reaching €7.5 billion.

The company also indicated that the proportion of ASML's third-quarter system sales in the Chinese market was 47%, down from 49% in the previous quarter, remaining ASML's largest market. It is expected that the Chinese market's contribution to the company's total revenue in 2025 will be around 20%.

Many analysts have expressed that ASML's pessimistic outlook is "obviously disappointing" and will exert pressure on semiconductor stocks. However, they added that "the company's updated outlook does not indicate any changes to the artificial intelligence growth story."

Financial media ZeroHedge believes that ASML's bleak financial report and downward revision of its outlook may suggest that the AI bubble is deflating.

Semiconductor Stocks Collectively "Collapsed"

ASML's performance shocked the market, and almost the entire U.S. semiconductor sector collectively "collapsed." The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell by more than 5%.

Nvidia fell by 4.6%, KLA fell by 14.7%, Applied Materials fell by more than 10%, Intersil fell by nearly 8%, Lattice Semiconductor fell by 6.16%, and AMD fell by more than 5%.International Oil Prices Continue to Plunge

On October 15th, Eastern Time, international oil prices continued to plummet, with a drop of over 5% at one point during the trading session.

The WTI November crude oil futures price closed down by $3.25, a decrease of 4.40%, settling at $70.58 per barrel, currently hovering around $71.11 per barrel; the Brent December crude oil futures price fell by 4.14%, closing at $74.25 per barrel, currently hovering around $74.68 per barrel.