Market
July 15, U.S. stocks opened mixed but positive as investors digested a fresh batch of earnings and awaited this week’s retail-sales report. The Dow Jones inched up 0.1%, the S&P 500 gained 0.4% to flirt with another record, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite outperformed, rising 0.6% on strength in large-cap technology and semiconductor names.
Key movers: Fintech led early gains with PayPal surging 15.4% after unveiling a new AI-driven payments platform. Alibaba advanced 4.4% as China’s e-commerce giant topped sales forecasts, and Applied Materials added 2.1% on an upbeat capital-spending outlook from chipmakers. IBM climbed 2.6% on a $6 billion cloud-services contract, while Oracle rose 2.4% following a bullish analyst upgrade. On the downside, SK hynix slid 7.2% on profit-taking after a recent rally, and SanDisk Corp. dropped 3.9% as reports of NAND price cuts weighed on memory suppliers.
Broader action: China ADRs extended momentum: MINISO Group jumped 8.2%, United Microelectronics rallied 7.8%, and XPeng advanced 3.0% alongside gains in electric-vehicle peers. Semiconductor ETFs such as Direxion Daily Semiconductors Bull 3x Shares added 1.9%, while bearish counterpart Direxion Daily Semiconductors Bear 3x Shares fell 1.6%. In fintech, LexinFintech Holdings rose 4.2% and X Financial climbed 4.3%. Conversely, Zhongchao Inc tumbled 8.1% after a weak revenue outlook, and MOGU Inc. slipped 5.2% amid soft e-commerce data.
News
PayPal soars after AI payments launch. The company introduced “PyGen,” a generative-AI checkout assistant, driving expectations of higher merchant adoption and fee growth.
Alibaba beats revenue estimates. Strong domestic e-commerce sales and improving cloud margins lifted shares, signaling resilience amid China’s uneven recovery.
IBM wins $6 billion U.S. government cloud contract. The multiyear deal bolsters IBM’s federal business and supports management’s target for mid-single-digit revenue growth.
Applied Materials lifts chip-equipment guidance. Management cited record orders from AI data-center customers, sending the stock to fresh highs and boosting semiconductor peers.
Oracle upgraded to “buy” at major brokerage. Analysts see accelerating cloud momentum and expanding profit margins, sparking a 2% pre-market pop and sector-wide optimism.
SK hynix drops on reports of memory price cuts. Traders worry about a supply glut in DRAM, pressuring shares and weighing on memory-focused ETFs.
United Microelectronics rallies on strong Q2 results. The foundry beat earnings forecasts and guided for robust 3Q demand, benefiting from AI chip shortages.
MINISO jumps after record quarterly sales. The discount retailer’s U.S. ADR gained on better-than-expected same-store growth and aggressive overseas expansion plans.
Palmantir lands new Pentagon contract. A $400 million deal to deploy AI-driven battlefield analytics reinforces the company’s defense revenue pipeline and lifted shares over 2%.
SanDisk slips on analyst downgrade. Concerns over plunging NAND prices prompted a cut to “underperform,” dragging the stock more than 3% lower at the open.
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