Micron stock and SK Hynix stock slipped lower on Friday, threatening to spoil an otherwise strong week for memory-chip companies.
Shares in Micron fell 6.72% on Friday after a 3.2% jump on Thursday -- they were up 17% so far this week through Thursday. SK Hynix's American Depositary Shares (ADRs), essentially the US-listed stock, were down 6.8% after a 2.5% gain in the previous session.
Micron and SK Hynix have both suffered in the last month -- Micron stock down 5.5% with SK Hynix's Seoul shares shedding almost a third through Thursday -- amid worries including the sustainability of chip prices. They have rebounded this week, even if some of the air comes out of the rally on Friday and pricing concerns linger to some extent.
Helping the stocks into the end of the week was the impact of earnings from Alphabet, which revealed that spending on data centers -- benefitting memory names -- is expected to continue expanding.
Alphabet's results and the implication that other Big Tech names may follow in spending have weighed on the largest technology stocks, with Google notching its worst stock slide ever in terms of market value. Both the wider Nasdaq and S&P 500 have also fallen, with rising oil prices adding more headwinds.
Next week could give beaten-down memory names another chance to beat the rest of tech and claw back some of their losses from recent weeks.
Microsoft is set to report earnings on July 29 with Amazon due to follow on July 30. After Alphabet's results, Wall Street has outlined expectations that these other companies may follow with higher spending, which should help the likes of Micron.
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