US equity markets closed higher on Tuesday, with the S&P 500 index bouncing back after three consecutive days of losses. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged more than 5%, leading a broad rally in chip stocks.
In terms of the major US indices, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 385.56 points, or 0.74%, to close at 52,224.82. The Nasdaq Composite gained 329.13 points, or 1.29%, finishing at 25,837.21. The S&P 500 index added 65.92 points, or 0.89%, to settle at 7,509.20.
Among individual stocks, SK Hynix Inc (SKHY.US) jumped 13.7%, Micron Technology Inc (MU.US) surged 12%, and SanDisk Corporation (SNDK.US) climbed 14%. NVIDIA Corp (NVDA.US) advanced nearly 2%, while SpaceX (SPCX.US) gained 3%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index closed down 0.69%.
SUPER MICRO COMPUTER INC (SMCI.US) provided an update, expecting its fiscal fourth-quarter revenue to be near the lower end of its guidance range of $11 billion to $12.5 billion. The company anticipates its gross margin for the quarter to be between 15% and 17%, significantly higher than its previous guidance of 8.2% to 8.4%. At the end of the fiscal year, its backlog reached a record high, with over $60 billion in new orders received during the quarter. Shares of Super Micro Computer soared more than 20% in after-hours trading.
Turning to European markets, the German DAX 30 index increased by 152.88 points, or 0.61%, to 25,014.55. The UK's FTSE 100 index rose 58.24 points, or 0.55%, to 10,583.00. The French CAC 40 index added 23.03 points, or 0.28%, to 8,363.14. The Euro Stoxx 50 index gained 55.75 points, or 0.90%, to 6,283.15. Spain's IBEX 35 index advanced 173.57 points, or 0.90%, to 19,380.47. Italy's FTSE MIB index climbed 439.21 points, or 0.85%, to 52,302.00.
In Asian trading, Japan's Nikkei 225 index surged over 3%, while South Korea's KOSPI index jumped more than 3.5%.
The US Dollar Index, which measures the greenback against a basket of six major currencies, rose 0.21% to settle at 101.172. In late New York trading, one euro bought $1.1403, down from $1.1415 in the previous session. One British pound was worth $1.3381, down from $1.3436. The dollar traded at 163.18 Japanese yen, up from 162.50. It also rose to 0.8129 Swiss francs from 0.8100 and to 1.4107 Canadian dollars from 1.4059. The dollar strengthened to 9.7035 Swedish kronor from 9.6856.
In the cryptocurrency market, Bitcoin broke through the $66,000 level, trading at $66,352 at the time of writing. Ethereum gained over 1.4% to trade above the $1,924 mark.
For commodities, the August delivery contract for West Texas Intermediate crude oil on the New York Mercantile Exchange rose by $1.68, or 2.02%, to settle at $84.91 per barrel. The September delivery contract for Brent crude on the London ICE Futures Europe exchange increased by $1.79, or 2.01%, to close at $91.01 per barrel.
Spot gold rose 1.7% to $4,077.89 per ounce, while spot silver was at $58.802.
Key Macroeconomic Developments
US House Speaker Mike Johnson stated that the war with Iran needs to end and space should be left for negotiations. When asked about potentially pushing for a vote related to the War Powers Act, Johnson did not give a clear response but emphasized that the conflict needs to conclude and the US should secure other forms of support to facilitate its end. He suggested that politicians should "give the administration space" to negotiate an end to the war, noting the current administration is working around the clock to resolve the issue in a way that avoids further American casualties. However, Johnson reiterated that the US must ensure Iran does not obtain nuclear weapons.
According to South Korean media reports, affluent investors have recently been purchasing single-stock leveraged ETFs tied to Samsung and SK Hynix. High-net-worth individuals with financial assets exceeding 10 billion won are also actively buying leveraged ETFs linked to these two companies. Among retail investors, those in their 40s purchased the largest amount of these Samsung and SK Hynix single-stock leveraged ETFs. An analysis commissioned by a Seoul-based newspaper of 25,000 high-net-worth individuals' portfolios from May 27 to July 10 found that three of the top five securities by net purchases were these single-stock leveraged ETFs. They net purchased 178.1 billion won worth of "KODEX SK Hynix Single Stock Leveraged ETF," 140.1 billion won of "TIGER SK Hynix Single Stock Leveraged ETF," and 116.6 billion won of "KODEX Samsung Electronics Single Stock Leveraged ETF." Given that the other two items in the top five were also ordinary shares of Samsung and SK Hynix, this indicates wealthy investors are adopting a strategy of heavily concentrating their bets on these two South Korean market giants.
Analysts at the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce stated that the new US tariffs announced by former President Trump signal the beginning of difficult negotiations over the US-Mexico-Canada Agreement. The White House announced on Monday it would impose 50% tariffs on certain Canadian goods, citing unfair treatment of US alcohol, automobiles, and dairy products. These new tariffs, set to take effect in 30 days, come as discussions begin on the future of the USMCA, which was signed during Trump's first term. CIBC analysts noted that the selection of goods for these tariffs is "largely political." The bank stated the US government is implementing these measures under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930, which allows the president to impose tariffs of up to 50% on countries deemed to discriminate against US commerce.
Notable Company News
Alphabet Inc (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) released a series of lower-cost Gemini AI "Flash" models on Tuesday, all focused on improving efficiency. This launch comes as the use of open-source models that can run at lower cost surges. The focus of AI competition has shifted from leading benchmark scores to who can provide the best-performing models at the lowest cost. The new models released include: 1) Gemini 3.6 Flash: A faster, lower-cost upgrade to 3.5 Flash, which Google says improves code writing, reasoning, and multimodal performance while reducing output tokens by up to 17%. 2) Gemini 3.5 Flash-Lite: A lower-cost model designed for high-frequency AI agent and document processing tasks. 3) Gemini 3.5 Flash Cyber: A cybersecurity-focused model for identifying and fixing software vulnerabilities, currently available only to government agencies and select partners via Google's CodeMender platform.
Apple Inc (AAPL.US) plans to launch a device leasing program called "Apple Upgrade" in partnership with Klarna to boost sales, marking one of the biggest changes ever to its device sales model. According to informed sources, the service is expected to launch on July 28, initially in the US market, supporting most iPhone, Mac, iPad, and Apple Watch models. Apple will collaborate with the Klarna Group, which will provide financing for the project. The program will first launch in the US and be available both in Apple's physical retail stores and online. The service will adopt a subscription-like model, allowing users to pay for devices upfront during the lease period, upgrade to new models early, or keep the device after the lease ends. In some cases, early trade-ins may incur additional fees. Similar to car leasing, users can also return the device at the end of the lease term. The lease period will be 24 months for iPhones and Apple Watches, and 36 months for Macs and iPads.
NVIDIA Corp (NVDA.US) stated that deliveries of its new Rubin architecture chips to customers are progressing smoothly, helping to solidify its industry leadership. NVIDIA Vice President and General Manager Ian Buck said computing systems based on the Vera Rubin technology are already being delivered to major AI companies and are entering the deployment phase. "We are in full production mode, and all major customers are deploying related systems," he stated.
Major Brokerage Ratings Updates
HSBC Holdings adjusted its ratings and price targets for several financial firms. The bank raised its price target for Morgan Stanley (MS.US) from $190 to $215. For Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.US), HSBC upgraded its rating from Reduce to Hold and increased its price target from $834 to $995.
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