01 Stock Market
The U.S. major indexes closed as follows: Dow Jones up 0.27% at 52,487.41; S&P 500 up 0.81% at 7,543.64; NASDAQ up 1.30% at 26,206.89.
A strong session for semiconductor names helped all three gauges finish in positive territory, with the tech-heavy NASDAQ outperforming its peers.Standout movers were led by semiconductor and AI-linked names. Micron Technology (MU) up 4.52% at $991.64, Direxion Daily Semiconductors Bull 3x Shares (SOXL) up 10.08% at $192.45, and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) up 5.67% at $546.72 paced the gainers. Optical specialist Lumentum (LITE) jumped 11.13% at $785.77, while Tesla (TSLA) rose 3.17% at $406.55 amid optimism about autonomous-vehicle regulation. On the downside, NVIDIA (NVDA) declined 0.66% at $202.78, and Palantir Technologies (PLTR) fell 2.41% at $129.04 after a volatile session.Broader chip-equipment and tech hardware names also rallied. Intel (INTC) added 2.09% at $112.54, Marvell Technology (MRVL) climbed 4.99% at $243.27, and Western Digital (WDC) advanced 5.04% at $578.05, reflecting upbeat sentiment around AI infrastructure demand. Meta Platforms (META) gained 4.70% at $631.48 following fresh AI chip news, while Alphabet (GOOG) slipped 0.69% at $356.24 as investors rotated toward hardware beneficiaries of the semiconductor upswing.
02 Other Markets
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was flat, unchanged at 4.54%. USD/CNH fell 0.01%, at 6.80; USD/HKD was flat, at 7.84. U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.02%, at 100.91. WTI crude futures fell 0.36%, at $71.82 USD/bbl; COMEX gold futures fell 0.22%, at $4,131.60 USD/oz.
03 Top News
1. OpenAI unveiled “ChatGPT Work” to automate cross-app tasks for professionals. Powered by the GPT-5.6 model, the agent drafts documents, spreadsheets and websites by drawing data from multiple sources. The rollout to Pro, Enterprise and Edu users broadens competition in enterprise AI solutions.
2. Meta Platforms will begin producing its in-house AI chip “Iris” in September, boosting chip-equipment suppliers. Reuters reported the plan, sending shares of wafer-fab equipment makers higher amid expectations of increased capital spending. Analysts see the move benefiting companies across the semiconductor supply chain.
3. New York State sued 3M and DuPont over alleged contamination from “forever chemicals.” The lawsuit claims the companies knowingly sold toxic PFAS products that polluted water supplies, seeking damages for cleanup costs. The action heightens legal risks for chemical manufacturers.
4. South Korea’s SK Hynix set a landmark $26 billion ADR listing on Nasdaq to tap U.S. capital. Ten ADRs will equal one local share, with an indicative price near $149 each. The debut will give U.S. investors direct exposure to the world’s leading high-bandwidth memory supplier for AI chips.
5. The U.S. NHTSA signaled it may allow fully driverless cars to omit steering wheels and pedals. The regulator’s chief said manual controls are unnecessary for vehicles designed without human drivers, following recent updates that dropped the requirement for a brake pedal. The policy shift could speed deployment of robotaxis and autonomous delivery fleets.
6. Micron Technology committed to investing over $250 billion in U.S. fabs by 2035. The memory maker aims to produce 40% of its DRAM domestically and will spend up to $3 billion on building a local supply chain. The expansion underscores soaring demand for AI-grade memory chips.
7. Weekly U.S. initial jobless claims edged down to 215,000, underscoring ongoing labor-market resilience. Economists view the modest decline as evidence of a “slow hiring, slow firing” environment. The data may temper expectations for aggressive Federal Reserve rate hikes.
8. MARA Holdings agreed to buy a 1,200-acre powered site in Texas to develop up to 2 GW of high-performance computing capacity. The project could lift the firm’s total potential power portfolio to nearly 4.8 GW, supporting expansion into Bitcoin mining and other compute-intensive services. The stock jumped over 19% on the announcement.
9. Meta released Muse Spark 1.1 and opened public-preview API access to developers. The upgraded multimodal model handles coding, tool integration and multi-step tasks, with usage priced at $1.25 per million input tokens. Developers receive trial credits before shifting to pay-as-you-go plans.
10. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the timing of a potential 2026 IPO remains “unclear.” Addressing reports about U.S. government equity, Altman cited inaccuracies but confirmed ongoing regulatory discussions. He added Microsoft is expected to remain a key customer as the firm refines its latest model’s token efficiency.
Sources: Reuters, Dow Jones, Tiger Newspress, MT Newswires Live, public market data Disclaimer: This content is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice.
