Top 20 in US Stock Trading Volume: The European Union fines Apple and Meta 700 million euros
On Wednesday, Tesla topped the list of trading volumes on the US stock market. It closed 4.60% higher, with a trading volume of $37.771 billion.
Despite a sharp 40% year-on-year decline in its first-quarter profit, which was far below expectations, the company still plans to start producing new vehicles, including low-priced models, in the first half of the year. In addition, the easing of tariff pressure and the statement by the company's CEO, Elon Musk, that he would reduce his involvement in government affairs activities also boosted the stock price.
Elon Musk said that he would increase the time he spends working in the company and "significantly" reduce his time engaged in political activities. Moreover, the softening of Donald Trump's stance on tariffs has also boosted the optimism of a large number of investors.
Tesla's first-quarter results showed that automotive revenue decreased by 20% year-on-year, and net income dropped by 71%. Tesla also said that when providing the second-quarter update, it would "re-evaluate" its guidance for 2025.
Both the revenue and profit figures were also lower than expected. The company reported adjusted earnings per share of 27 cents and adjusted revenue of $19.34 billion. Analysts had expected adjusted earnings per share of 39 cents and revenue of $21.11 billion.
Nvidia ranked second, closing 3.86% higher with a trading volume of $25.399 billion. Bank of America conducted a detailed analysis of Nvidia's current situation and future prospects, stating that Nvidia's long-term value is still promising and reaffirmed its "buy" rating. Bank of America believes that the current stock price fluctuations present a better buying opportunity and lowered its target price for Nvidia from $160 to $150.
Amazon ranked third, closing 4.28% higher with a trading volume of $11.38 billion. Wells Fargo lowered Apple's target price from $275 to $245.
Palantir ranked fourth, closing 7.27% higher with a trading volume of $11.352 billion. AI concept stocks on the US stock market performed strongly on Wednesday.
Apple ranked fifth, closing 2.43% higher with a trading volume of $10.835 billion. The European Union issued its first fines under the Digital Markets Act, imposing a total fine of 700 million euros on Apple and Meta.
The EU announcement stated that Apple failed to prove the necessity and appropriateness of the above-mentioned restrictions, thus violating the EU's Digital Markets Act and was fined 500 million euros. Subsequently, Apple still needs to carry out "rectification" and cancel the relevant technical and commercial restrictions; otherwise, the EU will impose additional fines.
The EU also said that Meta's "consent or pay" model launched in November 2023 did not comply with this regulation. Users of Facebook and Instagram who refused to pay could neither reduce the personalization of push advertisements nor filter the personal data integrated by Facebook's parent company.
The announcement stated that Facebook's parent company has carried out "rectification" and launched a new model in November 2024, which is currently under evaluation by the European Commission. For the sake of fairness, the period of Facebook's parent company's violation is calculated from the full implementation of the EU's Digital Markets Act in March 2024 to the launch of the new model in November 2024, and the fine is 200 million euros.
Meta Platforms, which was punished by the EU, closed 4% higher with a trading volume of $9.511 billion, ranking sixth in terms of trading volume on the US stock market on Wednesday.
Microsoft ranked seventh, closing 2.06% higher with a trading volume of $7.709 billion. Microsoft recently updated the health console logs of Windows 10, providing mitigation measures for the "0x80070643" error that occurred in previous system updates. This means that users will no longer encounter this error prompt when installing the KB5057589 update in the future.
Alphabet's Class A shares ranked tenth, closing 2.56% higher with a trading volume of $4.78 billion.
On Tuesday, Eastern US time, an executive of OpenAI testified in Google's antitrust trial in Washington that if the antitrust enforcement agencies successfully force Google to sell Chrome, OpenAI would be interested in acquiring it. If the court orders Google to sell its Chrome browser, this would be the first time since the breakup of AT&T in the 1980s that a US court has ordered the breakup of a major American company.
AMD ranked twelfth, closing 4.79% higher with a trading volume of $3.751 billion. Bank of America conducted a detailed analysis of AMD's current situation and future prospects, lowering the company's sales and earnings per share expectations, and gave the stock a "neutral" rating, lowering the target price from $110 to $105.
Alibaba ranked fifteenth, closing 2.67% higher with a trading volume of $3.091 billion. According to reports, including Taobao, multiple e-commerce platforms will fully cancel the "refund only" policy.
This means that in the future, consumers' applications for refunds without returning the goods after receiving them will be handled by merchants independently. This policy adjustment is regarded by the industry as an important step for e-commerce platforms to return to healthy competition and is expected to reshape the competitive landscape of the e-commerce market.
Market analysts pointed out that canceling the "refund only" policy will effectively reduce the operating pressure on merchants, increase their business enthusiasm, and thus promote the healthy development of the entire e-commerce industry. This is undoubtedly a major positive for leading e-commerce platforms like Alibaba.
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) ranked nineteenth, closing 4.23% higher with a trading volume of $2.779 billion. TSMC plans to start manufacturing chips using the A14 technology in 2028, aiming to maintain its leading position in the chip industry.
This technology will enable the world's largest chip manufacturer to surpass its current most advanced 3-nanometer process and the 2-nanometer process that will be launched later this year. TSMC also plans to introduce the intermediate A16 process by the end of 2026.