Stock Market
As of Jun 24, U.S. stock index futures performed as follows: Dow Jones futures were modestly higher, gaining 0.07%; S&P 500 futures advanced 0.30%; and Nasdaq 100 futures outperformed with a 0.58% rise. The uptick follows last week’s sharp technology-led pullback and suggests bargain-hunting is emerging in growth names even as investors digest the prospect of stickier inflation and renewed rate-hike speculation.
Notable Stock Movers: Memory specialist Micron Technology up 5% at $1,098.51 led early gainers after bullish expectations for its evening earnings release.
Mega-cap chip names steadied: NVDA up 0.65% at $201.35 and INTC up 1.71% at $134.54.
Social-media-powered fast-food chain Wendy's up 21% at $7.44 rallied on fresh turnaround hopes. Foundry player UMC up 3.74% at $27.18 benefited from order inflows tied to competitor capacity cuts. Video-platform operator BILI up 2.44% at $16.35 rose after unveiling a new buyback plan.
Sunrun Jumps Over 20%. Sunrun, Renew Home, Tesla Team up to Deliver 16 GW of Flexible Power for Data Centers.
Semiconductor momentum contrasted with continued caution in broader large-cap technology, leaving pre-bell trading highly selective. Traders focused on catalysts such as earnings, share repurchases, index rebalancing and strategic capacity shifts, reinforcing a rotation toward tangible corporate actions rather than broad thematic positioning.
Other Markets
• 10-year U.S. Treasury yield fell 0.62%, to 4.47%.
• U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.27% to 101.63.
• WTI crude oil futures fell 2.95% to 71.05 USD/barrel; COMEX gold futures fell 2.08% to 4,063.20 USD/ounce.
Key News
1. FuelCell Energy struck a deal with Fit Energy to supply up to 380 MW of on-site clean power for data centers. The agreement begins with a 30 MW tranche backed by an immediate deposit and includes warrants linked to future deployments. Management said the contract validates plans to scale production to 500 MW to meet surging AI-driven electricity demand.
2. SK Hynix unveiled plans to raise as much as $29 billion through an ADR listing on Nasdaq. Proceeds are earmarked for new fabrication facilities and advanced-packaging lines supporting high-bandwidth memory vital to AI servers. The offering could become the largest U.S. ADR float on record, expanding investor access to the memory leader.
3. Bilibili authorized a $300 million share-repurchase program covering ADSs and ordinary shares. The two-year mandate will be funded from existing cash and may use open-market or block transactions, underscoring management’s confidence in long-term growth and valuation.
4. TSMC reduced 28-nanometer wafer-start capacity by more than 25%, prompting customers to redirect orders to United Microelectronics. Industry sources said the node reallocation strategy is already lifting UMC’s utilization, bolstering revenue visibility amid mixed demand elsewhere in the supply chain.
5. S&P Dow Jones Indices will add Toast to the S&P MidCap 400, replacing TopBuild. The index inclusion is effective before the July 1 open and is expected to broaden institutional ownership of the restaurant-technology platform, which offers integrated SaaS and payments solutions.
6. Alibaba is exploring a sale of its gaming arm Lingxi Interactive Entertainment for up to $1.3 billion. Five potential buyers, including several listed Chinese game publishers, have been approached about acquiring the studios and related platforms. The move would streamline Alibaba’s portfolio amid its ongoing restructuring.
7. Cerebras Systems reported first-quarter revenue up 94% year-on-year but guided to a gross-margin range of 36%-38%, below peers. Shares fell in pre-market trade as investors weighed strong top-line growth against profitability concerns in the competitive AI-accelerator market.
8. Meta Platforms is developing “Arena,” a prediction-market smartphone app that could eventually enable real-money wagering. According to internal sources, an early version will award game-style points for forecasting outcomes, with plans to leverage Meta’s vast social-media user base to scale the standalone product.
9. Wendy’s appointed former Potbelly executive Steve Cirulis as Chief Financial Officer and Chief Strategy Officer. The leadership change supports the new CEO’s turnaround agenda, coinciding with heightened retail-investor interest in the stock and efforts to revive sales momentum.
10. The U.S. administration signaled it will unfreeze limited Iranian funds to finance purchases of American agricultural commodities. Officials said the humanitarian exception targets corn, wheat and soybeans and is contingent on Tehran refraining from imposing transit fees in the Strait of Hormuz, adding geopolitical nuance to commodity markets.
Sources: Reuters, Dow Jones, Tiger Newspress, public market data
Disclaimer: For informational purposes only; not investment advice.
