Payrolls Fell 23,000, Yet Stocks Hit a Record — Can Wednesday’s CPI Keep the Rally Going? The U.S. unexpectedly lost 23,000 jobs in July, but the S&P 500 still closed at a record high. Why? Investors interpreted weaker employment as reducing the likelihood of another Federal Reserve rate hike. Wednesday’s July CPI will now determine whether that “bad news is good news” rally can continue. Recent Economic Data: Cooling Inflation, Weakening Jobs July 14 — June CPI * Headline CPI: -0.4% MoM, +3.5% YoY * Core CPI: 0.0% MoM, +2.6% YoY * Gasoline: -9.7% MoM * Shelter: +0.1% MoM Inflation cooled sharply, although much of the improvement came from lower energy prices. July 30 — June PCE * Headline PCE: -0.1% MoM, +3.7% YoY * Core PCE: +0.1% MoM, +3.3% YoY * Real consumer spending: +0.4% The Fe
10 August 2026 Weak US employment data lowered expectations for a rate hike, driving a rebound in US equities and Treasuries last Friday. Over the weekend, Berkshire Hathaway’s strong earnings and AAOI’s results boosted interest in optical networking stocks. However, renewed uncertainty surrounding the Strait of Hormuz negotiations and an attack on a Saudi Aramco refinery raised energy-supply risks. S&P 500 rose 0.62% Dow Jones rose 0.28% Nasdaq rose 1.30% US 2-year Treasury yield fell approximately 5 basis points to around 4.20% US 10-year Treasury yield fell approximately 2 basis points to around 4.64% All three major US indices advanced last Friday, mainly because US nonfarm payrolls unexpectedly fell by 23,000 in July, significantly weaker than expectations for an increase of 80,00
Record Earnings—So Why Did Memory Stocks Fall Together? Recently, $SNDK$，$WDC$，$MU$，$SKHY$，$STX$ all experienced sharp pullbacks. Strictly speaking, Micron, SK hynix, and Sandisk are producers of DRAM, HBM, or NAND memory chips, while Western Digital and Seagate mainly focus on enterprise hard disk drives. However, under the broader AI data-center investment theme, the market often treats all five companies as part of the same “AI storage trade.” This selloff does not mean that demand for AI storage has suddenly disappeared. Instead, it appears to be a broad repricing of the sector as elevated valuations, high expectations, and excessive leverage cooled simultaneously. 1. Macro Environment: Lower Rate Pressure, but Capital Rotated Out of Memory Stocks U.S. nonfarm payrolls unexpectedl
#Reward: Tech Stocks — Buy the Dip or Run for the Exit? My answer: I would buy the dip selectively—but I would not blindly chase every AI stock. This does not necessarily mean that the AI story is ending. Now the market has moved from asking, “Is AI real?” to asking, “Which companies can convert AI spending into sustainable revenue, profit and cash flow?” AI investment is finally producing measurable returns The latest results from the major cloud companies provide strong evidence that AI capital expenditure is beginning to generate real commercial returns. Microsoft reported quarterly Microsoft Cloud revenue of $59.3 billion, up 27% year on year, while Azure and other cloud-services revenue increased 43%. More importantly, its commercial remaining performance obligations reached $678