Andy Chen

Tradingkey - On July 15, Eastern Time, Microsoft (MSFT) shares saw a strong rebound in early trading. As of press time, the stock rose 3.2% to $397.26, approaching the $400 milestone. Microsoft and 3M (MMM) have announced a strategic partnership focusing on artificial intelligence data center infrastructure and enterprise transformation. According to the statement, Microsoft's Azure cloud platform and AI infrastructure will be the first hyperscale cloud provider to deploy 3M's Expanded Beam Optical (EBO) technology. 3M will also leverage Microsoft's AI and digital platforms to drive enterprise transformation across its key business functions.

Tradingkey - U.S. June CPI was lower than expected across the board, and the probability of a Federal Reserve rate hike in July fell below 20%. Additionally, Trump's decision to cancel fees in the Strait of Hormuz further boosted market sentiment. The three major U.S. stock indices closed higher across the board, with memory and chip stocks leading the gains, while a slump in IBM weighed on software stocks. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.02% to 52,508.27; the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.90% to 26,107.01; and the S&P 500 Index rose 0.38% to 7,543.59.

TradingKey - Apple (AAPL) is further increasing its investment in edge AI, aiming to enable large AI models to run locally on iPhones. The CEO of PrismML, a Silicon Valley AI startup, stated that Apple is in talks for technical cooperation to leverage extreme model compression technology. The goal is to run high-performance large models directly on iPhones, overcoming the hardware bottlenecks of edge AI. PrismML officially announced a compressed version of Alibaba's Tongyi Qianwen (Qwen) model, reducing the original 27-billion-parameter model from 54GB to under 4GB, allowing it to run fully on iPhone 15 and newer models. This technology will achieve a more than 90% reduction in memory footprint, a 6-8x increase in inference speed, and a 3-6x reduction in power consumption.

Tradingkey - U.S. June CPI inflation slowed more than market expectations, but Fed Chair Wash delivered hawkish remarks, emphasizing that the current primary task is to restore price stability and ensure the high inflation of the past five years becomes a thing of the past. On July 14, Eastern Time, inflation data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that the unadjusted June CPI increased by 3.5% year-on-year, significantly lower than the market expectation of 3.8%; the CPI decreased by 0.4% month-on-month, also exceeding the expected 0.1% decline. In terms of core inflation, the core CPI monthly rate recorded 0%, the smallest increase since January 2021, compared to market expectations of 0.2%. Overall, while the slowdown in June CPI exceeded expectations due to falling energy prices, significant inflationary pressures remain, as the current 3.5% year-on-year increase is still a considerable distance from the Federal Reserve's 2% inflation target.

TradingKey - On July 14, ET, AMD (AMD) regained upward momentum. As of press time, the stock rose 6.05% to $566.73. According to people familiar with the matter, a subsidiary of the Chinese telecommunications equipment maker ZTE and Kingsoft Cloud have received approval to purchase AI chips from Nvidia (NVDA) and AMD, further expanding the list of Chinese companies known to have obtained U.S. licenses.

TradingKey - On July 14, Eastern Time, SK Hynix ADR (SKHY) shares rose sharply, recouping losses since its listing. As of publication, the stock was up 15.19% at $175.44. It is reported that options for the stock began trading on U.S. options exchanges today. The most active contracts in the market are currently the $185 strike calls, with a volume of approximately 2,900 contracts, followed by the $145 strike puts. Meanwhile, August calls with a $200 strike price also saw high interest, with volume exceeding 1,500 contracts. Daniel Kirsch, head of options at Piper Sandler, noted that traders are expected to actively position for short-term trades betting on further gains for SK Hynix ADR this week. Demand for short-dated calls is anticipated to rise significantly, and calls expiring this Friday may attract a swift influx of retail investors.

TradingKey - Trump announced that the U.S. will take control of the Strait of Hormuz and collect "tolls," which, combined with a plunge in the South Korean stock market, dampened market sentiment. The three major indices fell across the board, with SpaceX and SK Hynix ADRs dropping close to their offering prices. Memory stocks slumped, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell more than 5%. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.26% to 52,498.64; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.55% to 25,873.18; and the S&P 500 Index fell 0.79% to 7,515.34.

TradingKey - The two major crude oil futures benchmarks surged nearly 10%. As of writing, WTI crude rose 9.22% to $78.09, and Brent crude rose 9.39% to $83.15. Reportedly, the U.S. Navy-led Combined Maritime Information Center stated that the U.S. military will begin implementing a maritime blockade of all Iranian ports and coastal areas starting at 20:00 GMT on July 14. The blockade applies to all vessels, regardless of their flag, and covers the entire Iranian coastline, including but not limited to all Iranian ports and oil terminals. The blockade will not impede the transit of neutral vessels through the Strait of Hormuz to and from non-Iranian destinations. Shipments of humanitarian supplies will be permitted, subject to inspection.

Tradingkey - On Monday, SpaceX (SPCX) fell more than 5% intraday to a low of $137.5, nearing its $135 offering price. The stock has declined nearly 40% from its June 16 peak of $225.64. Following Apple's recent lawsuit against OpenAI, SpaceX founder Elon Musk and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman traded barbs on social media. Musk first posted on the X platform, addressing Altman by saying, "After stealing an open-source AI charity, now you've stolen Apple's mobile technology! What are you going to do next?" Altman retorted by mocking Musk, saying, "You're the one actually peddling a short-term space data center concept to public market investors."

TradingKey — Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller’s latest remarks sent a clear hawkish signal, stating that if core inflation remains elevated, the Fed does not rule out tightening monetary policy in the near term, directly disrupting previous market expectations of a policy pivot toward rate cuts. Waller stated that if subsequent economic data shows inflation remains significantly above the 2% policy target, the Fed may need to implement further rate hikes in the short term, noting that monetary policy is currently at a critical "crossroads." He pointed out that the policy direction will be determined by the latest economic data, such as the CPI report to be released on Tuesday. While he does not advocate for hiking rates prematurely to avoid triggering a recession, he emphasized that the labor market is currently stable and the Fed must avoid repeating its mistake from several years ago—reacting too slowly as price pressures intensified.

Tradingkey - On July 13, Eastern Time, the memory stock sector suffered a broad decline. As of press time, SanDisk (SNDK) fell 12.32%, SK Hynix (SKHY) dropped 8.97%, Western Digital (WDC) declined 6.97%, Seagate Technology (STX) slipped 5.86%, and Micron Technology (MU) decreased 4.99%. It is noteworthy that the downturn in the memory sector is inextricably linked to the sell-off in the South Korean stock market—South Korea's KOSPI plunged over 8%, triggering a circuit breaker, while SK Hynix plummeted 15% and Samsung fell more than 10%.

TradingKey - On July 13 (ET), Intel (INTC) shares fell to a nearly one-month low, dropping 4.29% to $105.13 as of press time. Intel's competitor TSMC (TSM) released its June revenue data, showing that monthly consolidated revenue reached NT$442.68 billion, a significant year-on-year increase of 67.9%. For the first six months of the year, TSMC’s cumulative consolidated revenue totaled approximately NT$2.40 trillion, up 35.6% compared to the same period last year.

TradingKey - On July 13, Eastern Time, spot gold fell by more than 2%, trading at [price] as of press time. According to reports, U.S. President Trump stated on social media: "We are going to take over the Strait of Hormuz, and Iran has nothing." Specifically, President Trump stated that the Strait of Hormuz is open and will remain open with or without Iran. He announced the resumption of the "Blockade Iran" operation, so named because it only prevents Iranian vessels or customers from entering or exiting. All other countries will have fair and open use of the strait. From now on, the United States will be known as the "Guardian of the Strait of Hormuz." As the guardian, and based on the principle of fairness, the U.S. will charge a 20% fee on all cargo shipments to compensate for all costs required to provide safety and security for this volatile region of the world. Relevant procedures and organizational work will commence immediately. Thank you for your attention to this matter!

TradingKey - From late March to early June this year, tech stocks became the favored choice for investors. During this period, the Nasdaq Composite Index rose by as much as 28%, while the Nasdaq 100 Index surged by 33%. From an asset allocation perspective, investing in the Nasdaq Composite Index encompasses nearly all stocks listed on the Nasdaq, covering all industry sectors such as technology, finance, healthcare, and consumer goods. It includes leading tech giants like Apple, Microsoft, and Nvidia, as well as a large number of small and mid-cap emerging growth companies, offering a more balanced distribution across industries and market capitalizations. Therefore, investing in this index represents a bet on the long-term growth potential of the entire industrial chain of the U.S. new economy.

Tradingkey - Apple (AAPL) officially filed a lawsuit against OpenAI on Friday for the theft of trade secrets, coinciding with a critical window as the latter prepares for its IPO. This litigation has pushed the two former close partners into direct opposition and signals that global competition in the AI industry has expanded from model algorithms and ecosystem collaboration to intellectual property disputes over underlying hardware technology. The integration of ChatGPT into the iPhone operating system in 2024 was previously a benchmark event for the implementation of AI in consumer electronics. However, after OpenAI spent $6.4 billion to acquire IO Products and officially entered the consumer hardware sector—directly encroaching on the core stronghold Apple has cultivated for decades—the relationship cooled rapidly. Apple has confirmed that the new version of Siri set for release this autumn will abandon ChatGPT in favor of Google’s Gemini AI model, a strategic shift that was already becoming apparent.

TradingKey - The U.S. agreement to continue negotiations with Iran and the debut of SK Hynix today both buoyed market sentiment. The three major U.S. stock indices all closed higher, with the Nasdaq Composite Index rising for three consecutive days, though the rally in tech stocks slowed. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29% to 52,637.01; the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.29% to 26,281.61; and the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.42% to 7,575.39.

TradingKey - On July 10, Eastern Time, stablecoin leader Circle (CRCL) reported a major regulatory breakthrough. The company officially announced that it has received formal approval from the U.S. Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) to establish Circle National Trust, a national digital currency trust bank. Spurred by the news, Circle shares surged more than 16% intraday to a high of $72.85, marking its largest single-day gain in two months. At the time of writing, Circle's gain had narrowed to 4.4%, trading at $65.8.

TradingKey - SK Hynix - WI (SKHYV) opened at $170 in its debut, 14.09% higher than its offering price of $149. Its market capitalization reached $1.27 trillion, currently ranking 11th in the U.S. by market value, below Tesla but above Eli Lilly. Reportedly, when-issued trading was conducted on Friday under the temporary ticker SKHYV, and will officially switch to the regular ticker SKHY next Monday.

TradingKey - On July 10, ET, Marvell Technology (MRVL) shares retreated, falling 3.38% to $235 as of press time. Reportedly, SemiAnalysis founder Dylan Patel stated that the large-scale adoption of co-packaged optics (CPO) may be delayed until late 2028 or 2029. Patel pointed out that current manufacturing yields, chip designs, and supply chain maturity have yet to reach the standards for mass deployment. Furthermore, Nvidia's Rubin and its subsequent Feynman architectures will continue to utilize all-copper solutions, meaning CPO on the GPU side will have to wait for several more generations of chip iterations.

TradingKey - Donald Trump stated that Iran took the initiative to contact the U.S. seeking to reach a deal. The subsequent decline in oil prices boosted overall market sentiment. The three major U.S. stock indices all rose, with technology stocks extending their gains, led by chipmakers, memory chip stocks, and optical communication stocks. As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.27% to 52,487.41 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 1.30% to 26,206.89 points; and the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.81% to 7,543.64 points.