Stock Market
The U.S. major indexes closed as follows: Dow Jones declined 0.59% at 51,839.26; S&P 500 declined 0.19% at 7,443.28; NASDAQ declined 0.05% at 25,508.07. A soft finish for all three gauges capped a choppy session marked by mixed earnings expectations and cautious positioning ahead of key tech results.
Stand-out movers were concentrated in the semiconductor, big-tech and thematic ETF space. Micron (MU) rose 1.94% at $865.46 on brisk memory-chip demand, while NVIDIA (NVDA) added 0.23% at $203.28.
Traditional silicon names also gained, with Intel (INTC) up 2.13% at $97.06 and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) up 1.58% at $503.57.
Software titan Microsoft (MSFT) advanced 2.15% at $402.29, whereas handset heavyweight Apple (AAPL) fell 2.14% at $326.59. Among thematic products, the leveraged semiconductor fund SOXL rose 0.99% at $136.81, while its inverse counterpart SOXS fell 1.57% at $53.99.
Cloud-computing play IREN surged 19.57% at $40.20 after clinching major AI contracts, and memory giant SanDisk (SNDK) climbed 2.67% at $1,390.95. Electric-vehicle bellwether Tesla (TSLA) declined 2.96% at $369.57.
Behind the tape: resilience in AI-linked chipmakers contrasted with profit-taking in select megacaps. Positive brokerage calls and fresh cloud-infrastructure deals underpinned semiconductor names, helping to cushion broader market weakness. Meanwhile, rotational flows and pre-earnings caution pressured several heavyweight technology stocks, keeping the major averages narrowly mixed despite the tech sector’s heightened volatility.
Other Markets
U.S. 10-year Treasury yield was unchanged, latest at 4.60%.
USD/CNH fell 0.01%, at 6.79; USD/HKD rose 0.00%, at 7.84.
U.S. Dollar Index fell 0.01%, at 100.98.
WTI crude futures rose 0.21%, at 82.65 USD/bbl; COMEX gold futures fell 0.27%, at 4,005.00 USD/oz.
Top News
1. Morgan Stanley Reiterates Overweight Ratings on Nvidia and Broadcom, Citing Data-Center Momentum. The bank said the memory cycle is unusual, with data-center demand driving strength even as other end-markets soften. It views Nvidia and Broadcom as offering superior risk-reward versus pure-play memory names.
2. IREN Signs $2.8 Billion Multi-Year AI Cloud Contracts, Raising 2026 ARR Target Above $4 Billion. About 85% of the new revenue goal is now under contract, with customers prepaying roughly 45% of GPU capital expenditure. The stock jumped after management highlighted reduced funding needs and stronger visibility.
3. AMD and Microsoft Expand Strategic Partnership to Deploy “Helios” Rack-Scale AI Platform on Azure. The agreement integrates next-generation Instinct MI455X GPUs and 6th-gen EPYC “Venice” CPUs into new Azure virtual-machine series. Microsoft expects the hardware to boost frontier-model inference and cloud networking performance.
4. Micron Rebounds After SK Hynix Flags “Abnormal” Memory Prices but Predicts Demand Growth Through 2027. Investors welcomed expectations for sustained tight supply despite calls for price normalization, helping Micron shares snap a three-day slide below the $1 trillion mark.
5. Alphabet Develops “Frozen V2” Server Chip to Embed GEMINI Blueprint, Aiming for 6-10× Efficiency Gains. Sources say the in-house silicon targets deployment as early as 2028 to relieve compute bottlenecks in Google Cloud. Alphabet shares rose on prospects of enhanced AI service margins.
6. Crypto Miners Rally as AI-Driven Cloud Demand Lifts Sector Revenues. IREN gained over 16%, while Cipher Mining, Hut 8 and CleanSpark climbed double-digits amid new contracts for data-center capacity. Investors see diversification beyond bitcoin mining into AI infrastructure.
7. AI Application Software Names Slide on Profit-Taking, Led by Tempus AI’s 9% Drop. ServiceNow, Braze, SoundHound AI and others fell more than 2% as traders rotated from software to hardware beneficiaries of AI spending.
8. Mediators Propose 10-Day Pause in Iran-U.S. Strikes, Lifting U.S. Equity Futures and Pressuring Oil Prices. A senior Iranian source said the initiative seeks to revive a dormant nuclear accord, prompting risk-on sentiment and a swift pull-back in crude benchmarks.
9. Houthi-Aligned Forces Impose Immediate Maritime Navigation Ban on Saudi Arabia. The group cited alleged Saudi blockade and recent airstrikes, escalating regional shipping risks and adding a new layer of geopolitical uncertainty for energy markets.
10. Barclays Upgrades Lumentum to Overweight, Encouraging Investors to “Buy the Dip.” The brokerage highlighted robust demand for optical transceivers and lasers, maintaining a $1,000 price target and noting attractive risk-reward after recent share-price weakness.
Sources: Reuters, Dow Jones, Tiger Newspress, public market data Disclaimer: This content is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice.
