Jay Qian

TradingKey - After a frenzied rally in its early listing stage, the premium on SK Hynix (SKHY) ADRs is rapidly receding. During U.S. trading on Wednesday, July 15, SK Hynix ADRs closed down 9% at $176.46, with the premium over its South Korean underlying shares narrowing to approximately 26%. This figure had reached as high as 51% on Tuesday, July 14.

TradingKey - On June 12, Eastern Time, SpaceX (SPCX) debuted on the Nasdaq at $135 per share. In the following trading sessions, the stock price surged to a high of $225.64, with its market capitalization approaching $3 trillion. However, on July 15, the stock price fell below its $135 IPO offering price for the first time during intraday trading, reaching a low of $132.15, before closing at $135.27 to narrowly hold the level.

TradingKey - On July 15, ET, New York Fed President John Williams stated while speaking to local business leaders in New York State that he sees multiple signs indicating inflation has peaked. Consequently, the central bank will keep interest rates unchanged despite market expectations for rate hikes in the coming months.

TradingKey - On July 15 ET, data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the U.S. Producer Price Index (PPI) for June rose 5.5% year-on-year, lower than the market expectation of 6.2% and the previous value of 6.5%. On a month-on-month basis, the June PPI fell 0.3%, compared to market expectations for it to remain flat and a previous increase of 1.1%. Core PPI, which excludes food and energy, rose 4.7% year-on-year, lower than the expected 5.1% and the previous 4.9%. Core PPI rose 0.2% month-on-month, below the expected 0.3% and the previous 0.4%.

TradingKey - On July 15 Eastern Time, the three major US stock index futures edged higher in pre-market trading, as the market sustained the optimism following yesterday’s cooler-than-expected CPI data. As of press time, Nasdaq 100 Index futures rose 0.44%, S&P 500 Index futures gained 0.13%, and Dow Jones Index futures edged up 0.01%.

TradingKey - On July 15 ET, an announcement from the Cyberspace Administration of China (CAC) revealed that "Apple Intelligence" has passed the generative AI service filing. Alibaba (BABA) subsequently confirmed that Tongyi Qianwen will be integrated into Apple Intelligence as an AI capability, providing services for iOS, iPadOS, macOS, and visionOS users in China. Boosted by the news, Alibaba's US-listed shares rose more than 6% at one point in pre-market trading to $119.3, compared to the previous session's closing price of $112.32. As of publication, Alibaba's pre-market gain stood at 4.32%.

TradingKey - On July 14, ET, Reuters reported, citing sources familiar with the matter, that payments processor Stripe and private equity firm Advent International have jointly submitted a takeover bid to PayPal (PYPL) at $60.50 per share, valuing the payments pioneer at over $53 billion. Boosted by the news, PayPal shares surged in pre-market trading on July 15, rising more than 15% as of press time.

TradingKey - During the Asian session on July 15, the IT sector of the Japanese stock market experienced a widespread sell-off. As of press time, NEC (6701) fell 4.44%, Fujitsu (6702) dropped 5.42%, Nomura Research Institute (4307) declined 2.94%, and BayCurrent Consulting (6532) fell 6.7%.

TradingKey - On July 14, Eastern Time, data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics provided a positive surprise to the market. The unadjusted CPI rose 3.5% year-on-year in June, a significant decline from 4.2% in May and lower than the market expectation of 3.8%. The seasonally adjusted CPI fell 0.4% month-on-month, marking the largest single-month drop since April 2020 and far exceeding the market forecast of -0.1%.

TradingKey - On July 14, Eastern Time, the three major US stock index futures showed mixed performance in pre-market trading. As of press time, Nasdaq 100 Index futures rose 0.49%, S&P 500 Index futures edged down 0.12%, and Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell 0.69%.

TradingKey - On July 10, Eastern Time, SK Hynix (SKHY) ADRs were listed on Nasdaq, raising $26.5 billion and setting a new record for the largest IPO by a foreign company in the U.S. The ADRs closed up 12.76% on their first day of trading.

TradingKey - During Asian trading hours on July 14, SoftBank Group CEO Masayoshi Son predicted at an annual corporate conference in Tokyo that the artificial intelligence sector will require an annual investment of $5 trillion (approximately 800 trillion yen) by 2040. He flatly dismissed market concerns regarding an AI bubble, calling the question itself "ridiculous."

TradingKey - During Asian trading hours on July 14, South Korea's ruling Democratic Party is pushing for an amendment to the "Act on Special Measures for Strengthening and Protecting the Competitiveness of National Strategic Industries." The move aims to pave the way for semiconductor companies such as SK Hynix to introduce external investors when constructing wafer fabs in regions outside the capital area.

TradingKey - Over the past week, the focus of competition in the AI industry has shifted from "performance" to "price." From Elon Musk's SpaceXAI (SPCX) to OpenAI and Meta (META), the three giants released their next-generation AI models in quick succession. This time, however, the competition is not just about who is "smarter," but also about who is "cheaper."

TradingKey - On July 13, Eastern Time, the three major US stock index futures fell collectively in pre-market trading. As of press time, Nasdaq 100 Index futures were down 0.83%, S&P 500 Index futures dropped 0.26%, and Dow Jones Index futures declined 0.03%.

TradingKey - On July 12, ET, as mainstream investment banks raised their 2026 S&P 500 price targets to the 7,500–8,100 range, James E. Thorne, Chief Market Strategist at Wellington-Altus Private Wealth, issued an even bolder long-term forecast: the S&P 500 is expected to hit the 14,000-point mark within the next five years (by 2031), nearly doubling from its current level of approximately 7,500.

TradingKey - Seoul, July 13: The South Korean government officially released its fiscal year 2027 budget plan today, with total fiscal expenditure surpassing 800 trillion won (approximately $530 billion) for the first time. This represents a significant jump from this year's 727.9 trillion won and marks the largest spending record in South Korean history. The confidence behind this "super budget" stems primarily from better-than-expected tax revenue dividends generated by the nation's semiconductor industry amid the global artificial intelligence wave.

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on July 13, the South Korean stock market experienced a "Black Monday." Despite reports that Samsung Electronics has completed the tape-out of Tesla's AI5 chips and is preparing for production, the company's share price still closed down over 10%, leading the decline in the KOSPI Index. The Korea Exchange (KRX) urgently activated its "Sidecar" mechanism during the session to suspend program trading sell orders.

TradingKey - TSMC's (TSM) earnings call serves as a bellwether for the global semiconductor industry. As the world's most advanced foundry, TSMC's capacity utilization, capital expenditure plans, and AI chip demand guidance directly impact the supply chain expectations of tech giants like Nvidia, AMD, and Apple. For the upcoming earnings call on July 16, the market will search for key signals on whether AI demand can continue to exceed expectations. Less than two weeks before the earnings call, Citigroup (C) released a research report on July 6, raising its price target for TSMC's Taiwan-listed shares from NT$2,875 to NT$3,800 while maintaining a "Buy" rating. Based on the current share price of approximately NT$2,500, this target price implies an upside of about 57%.

TradingKey - On June 24, Eastern Time, OpenAI, in collaboration with Broadcom (AVGO), released its first self-developed AI inference chip, Jalapeño. The chip took only nine months from design to tape-out and is regarded by the industry as the "most aggressive move" yet by a major tech company to reduce its reliance on Nvidia.