01 Stock Market
Wall Street's main indexes closed higher on Wednesday as oil prices fell while Iran reviewed a U.S. proposal to end the war in the Middle East, feeding investor hopes for de-escalation in the fourth week of a war that has disrupted global energy flows and stoked inflation concerns.
While Abbas Araqchi, Iran's foreign minister, said that authorities were reviewing the U.S. proposals, he added that Tehran has no intention to hold talks with Washington.
Dow Jones up 0.66% at 46,429.49; S&P 500 up 0.54% at 6,591.90; NASDAQ up 0.77% at 21,929.83. The trio notched fresh gains as investors absorbed a wave of technology‐sector headlines and looked past lingering geopolitical risks, leaving all three gauges higher for a second straight session. Chipmakers and China tech names dominated the day’s unusual moves. AMD up 7.26% at $220.27 after unveiling new AI partnerships, while ARM up 16.38% at $157.07 surged on its first in-house data-center CPU. Semiconductor proxy SOXL up 3.78% at $57.04 and INTC up 7.08% at $47.18 also rallied. In contrast, memory peer MU down 3.40% at $382.09 and storage rival SNDK down 3.50% at $677.86 slid after Micron’s debt-tender announcement. Chinese e-commerce star PDD up 4.61% at $102.61 recouped early earnings jitters, while big-cap compatriot BABA up 3.50% at $129.87 joined the rebound. Electric-vehicle bellwether TSLA up 0.76% at $385.95 and powerhouse NVDA up 1.99% at $178.68 extended recent climbs; AAPL up 0.39% at $252.62 and MSFT down 0.46% at $371.04 were mixed. Rocket Lab’s momentum continued, sending RKLB up 10.31% at $72.88.
02 Other Markets
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose by 0.10%, latest at 4.33%. USD/CNH rose 0.01% at 6.90; USD/HKD fell 0.01% at 7.82. U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.00% at 99.63. WTI crude futures rose 0.72% at $90.97 USD/bbl; COMEX gold futures fell 0.92% at $4,510.60 USD/oz.
03 Top News
AMD, Intel Lead Chip Stocks Higher Amid Reports of Price Hikes
Semiconductor stocks were largely higher on Wednesday, buoyed in part by easing tensions between the U.S. and Iran and reports of price hikes coming from AMD (AMD) and Intel (INTC).
AMD shares rose more than 7% in Wednesday trading, while Intel added nearly 7% after Nikkei Asia reported the two semiconductor companies recently told clients they will raise the prices for all series of CPUs from March and April. The price hikes stem from a shortage of CPUs that is due to rising demand for agentic artificial intelligence usage in data centers. Some PC manufacturers, such as HP (HPQ) and Dell (DELL), discovered a meaningful “gap” started appearing at the end of February and has only worsened since then, people familiar with the matter told the news outlet.
Super Micro Sued by Shareholders over China-Related Criminal Case Against Co-Founder, Others
Shareholders of Super Micro Computer sued the Silicon Valley server maker on Wednesday, accusing it of committing securities fraud by concealing its dependence on sales to China that violated U.S. export laws, leading to criminal smuggling charges involving Nvidia chips against a co-founder and two others linked to the company.
In a proposed class action filed in San Francisco federal court, shareholders said Super Micro overstated its business prospects and inflated its stock price by knowingly failing to disclose that a significant portion of server sales went to companies in China, and the company had material weaknesses in its compliance with export control laws.
Arm Stock Rockets 16% Following AI Chip Debut
Arm (ARM) stock rocketed more than 16% higher on Wednesday after the company unveiled its first production data center processor, the Arm AGI CPU (central processing unit).
Arm has traditionally licensed its intellectual property to other companies to develop their own chips, including Apple and Nvidia (NVDA), which uses Arm’s capabilities in its Grace and Vera CPUs.
Sources: Reuters, Dow Jones, Tiger Newspress, public market data
Disclaimer: This content is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice.
