Daily Briefing – July 10: The AI Trade Revives as Chips Rebound and SK Hynix Prepares a Record Nasdaq Debut

Executive summary: the AI trade revives as chips rebound

Wall Street turned risk-on on Thursday, unwinding much of the early-July semiconductor sell-off. A rebound in chips carried the broad tape higher despite renewed U.S.-Iran hostilities, as investors reengaged with the AI-hardware theme that had led the market lower for several sessions. The Nasdaq Composite rose about 1.3% to 26,206.89, the S&P 500 added 0.81% to 7,543.64, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 139.02 points, or 0.27%, to 52,487.41.

With a light U.S. data slate into Friday, the market’s attention now centers on SK Hynix’s record Nasdaq debut, the durability of the chip rebound, and the path of crude as the Iran situation evolves.

1. Wall Street: chips rebound and the Nasdaq leads

After several sessions in which a deepening chip reset dragged on sentiment, Thursday brought a clear reversal. Semiconductors and AI leaders paced the advance, and breadth improved as the energy-supply premium narrowed. The Nasdaq Composite’s roughly 1.3% climb to 26,206.89 outpaced the S&P 500’s 0.81% gain to 7,543.64 and the Dow’s 0.27% rise to 52,487.41.

The move came even as the U.S. launched airstrikes on Iranian targets and Iran retaliated against sites in U.S.-allied Middle East countries. That equities could rally through such headlines underscored how much the recent drawdown had been about chip-sector positioning and AI-capex doubts rather than the macro backdrop alone.

2. The semiconductor rebound: Micron, Sandisk and the AI-memory bid

The day’s leadership came from the group that had led the market lower. The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed about 2.5%, with Micron Technology up roughly 4.5% and Sandisk popping about 7.6%. Memory names were the standouts, buoyed by the approaching SK Hynix listing and by signs that institutional demand for the AI-memory theme remains intense.

The rebound steadied a sector that had shed more than $1 trillion in value since an early-July call that AI-chip valuations had grown stretched. The pullback had blended several worries — the return on record AI infrastructure spending, dot-com-style valuation concerns, and a memory-pricing cycle complicated by softer smartphone demand.

3. SK Hynix: a record Nasdaq debut

The marquee catalyst is SK Hynix’s U.S. listing, expected to begin trading today on the Nasdaq under the ticker SKHY. The South Korean memory maker priced its American depositary shares at $149 each and raised about $26.5 billion, ranking as the largest-ever U.S. listing by a foreign company and among the biggest initial public offerings on record.

Demand was reported to be more than seven times the shares on offer, a signal of how eager institutions remain to gain direct exposure to high-bandwidth memory, where SK Hynix is a leading supplier for AI accelerators. The debut doubles as a market stress test: a strong open would reinforce the AI-memory bid that lifted chips on Thursday, while a soft reception could revive questions about stretched valuations.

In Asia, SK Hynix’s Seoul-listed shares rose about 5.3% ahead of the U.S. debut, and the enthusiasm spilled across the regional tech complex.

4. Oil, Iran and the Strait of Hormuz

Crude eased on Thursday despite the second day of U.S. strikes on Iran, as traders focused on evidence that tanker traffic continued to move through the Strait of Hormuz. That relieved some of the supply-disruption premium that had spiked oil earlier in the week and had pressured fuel-sensitive corners of the equity market.

The de-escalation in energy prices, at the margin, took pressure off inflation expectations and helped Treasury yields steady — a supportive backdrop for the rate-sensitive groups that had lagged during the oil spike. The situation remains fluid, and any disruption to Hormuz shipping would quickly re-price the risk.

5. Rates, the dollar and Japan’s yen

Treasury yields steadied as the energy-supply premium narrowed, easing the pressure that surging oil had placed on homebuilders and other rate-sensitive equities earlier in the week. With the June FOMC minutes already digested, the near-term rates story is driven more by oil and growth signals than by fresh policy news.

In currencies, the yen strengthened after Tokyo signaled a push for Japan’s Government Pension Investment Fund (GPIF) to allocate more toward domestic assets, a move that lifted long-dated Japanese government bonds and weighed on the dollar-yen cross. A firmer yen is a crosscurrent for Japanese exporters and for dollar-priced commodities.

6. Overnight: Asia extends the rally; U.S. futures dip

The risk-on tone carried into the overnight session. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed about 1.4% higher, with SoftBank surging roughly 11% on the AI-tech bid, while mainland China’s CSI 300 jumped about 2.5% and South Korea’s Kospi added around 0.62%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng was the regional laggard, slipping about 0.7%.

Against that firmer Asian backdrop, U.S. stock futures dipped modestly into Friday, suggesting consolidation after Thursday’s chip-led surge rather than a fresh leg higher. The tone remains constructive but headline-sensitive, with the SK Hynix debut the session’s focal point.

7. Biotech and catalysts: Corcept’s July 11 PDUFA

The biotech calendar carries a near-term decision worth watching: Corcept Therapeutics faces a July 11 FDA action date for relacorilant in platinum-resistant ovarian cancer. The application is supported by the Phase 3 ROSELLA program, in which relacorilant plus nab-paclitaxel improved progression-free and overall survival versus nab-paclitaxel alone, without the need for biomarker selection.

Platinum-resistant ovarian cancer remains a high-unmet-need setting, with limited options once disease returns within six months of platinum chemotherapy; roughly 20,000 U.S. patients are candidates for new therapies each year. On the Merlintrader watchlist, POET Technologies and Ondas firmed on Thursday while Palantir and Palladyne AI eased, and GERN, RYTM, ALDX, ETON and SLS remain in focus for their own clinical and regulatory milestones.

8. Global markets and the week ahead

With the economic calendar light into Friday and the June Fed minutes already in hand, the market’s attention narrows to three levers: the reception of SK Hynix’s Nasdaq debut, whether the semiconductor rebound holds, and the direction of crude as the Iran situation develops. The breadth of Thursday’s advance suggests a market willing to re-engage with risk once the energy premium fades.

For the days ahead, the key questions are whether the AI-memory bid broadens beyond the memory names, whether oil stays contained as Hormuz traffic continues, and whether steadier yields keep supporting rate-sensitive groups. Firmer Asian markets offer an encouraging signal, but the backdrop stays headline-driven.

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