Analysis

On Friday, October 16, Eastern Time, U.S. stocks moved lower as technology and artificial intelligence (AI)-related shares extended their weekly decline. Investor concerns persisted regarding Chinese semiconductor competition and debt-fueled expansion in AI infrastructure, while rising oil prices also drew attention to the inflation outlook. Energy stocks bucked the trend to gain ground, partially mitigating the Dow's losses. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.34% to 52,002.41; the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 2.14% to 26,140.03; and the S&P 500 Index declined 1.09% to 7,659.44.

SanDisk's stock price has plunged 15% over the past five days and may continue to fall, potentially retesting the $1,000 psychological mark in an extreme scenario.

TradingKey - Ahn Hyun, head of R&D at SK Hynix (SKHY), stated at the 2026 Semiconductor Exhibition in Seoul on October 14 that as demand for AI inference grows, the performance scale of AI infrastructure could expand approximately 20-fold by 2030.

On October 16 ET, crude oil prices surged again, with Brent crude (UKOIL) approaching $110 and rising more than 3.3% intraday, while WTI crude (USOIL) neared $99, gaining over 2% intraday. Meanwhile, Representative Gregory W. Meeks, the Ranking Member of the U.S. House Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a bipartisan bill today, the "No Corrupt Russian Oil Deals Act," aimed at blocking what he described as a corrupt deal between Trump and Putin to purchase and import Russian diesel.

On October 16, Eastern Time, Nvidia (NVDA) shares bucked the trend to move higher against a 1.4% decline in the Nasdaq Composite Index. Despite a volatile week for the semiconductor sector as investors weighed the pace of AI investments amid concerns over rising infrastructure costs and the sustainability of demand, Jensen Huang addressed market doubts on Thursday, noting that demand for AI computing infrastructure remains strong. He stated: "Nvidia receives AI chip orders from customers almost every day. We continue to increase supply, yet order volumes keep growing."

On October 16, memory stocks suffered another setback on Friday: SK Hynix (SKHY) fell over 5%, while SanDisk (SNDK) and Micron (MU) both dropped more than 4%, bringing their weekly pullbacks to 18%, 15%, and 13%, respectively. Market concerns grew that progress on the 4F2 architecture announced by ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) could ease the memory chip shortage, thereby dragging down prices and manufacturer profits. Behind this pullback lie two questions spanning different time horizons: whether immediate supply remains tight, and how much impact CXMT's future capacity expansion will bring.

TradingKey - On Friday (October 16) US Eastern Time, futures on the three major U.S. stock indices were mixed in pre-market trading. Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh gave no clear signals regarding the October and December interest rate decisions, causing the U.S. Dollar Index to weaken. Meanwhile, concerns over AI enterprise valuations and financing costs continued to weigh on tech stocks, while the market awaited the release of economic data, including U.S. industrial production.

TradingKey - FMC stock forecast: shares crash 30% after a $650 million channel reset slashes Q3 revenue. Covenant talks and October 29 results now decide the next move.

Selling pressure on tech stocks re-emerged as memory chip stocks tumbled in unison, with SK Hynix plunging 3%.

TradingKey - Rocket Lab stock forecast: RKLB tests $55 support after Neutron slips to 2027, while the $8 billion Iridium deal raises financing risk before Q3 results.

SpaceX has overcome Bromo-related headwinds, with its stock price strongly reclaiming the $150 mark and potentially rising toward its previous high of $170.

TradingKey - As of the close on October 15, Eastern Time, Micron (MU) snapped a five-day losing streak, closing up 1.87% at $931.24. The stock dropped to an intraday low of $858 before rapidly rebounding to near $931, with a trading volume of approximately 39.1 million shares. Technical analysis indicates that the head-and-shoulders bottom pattern remains intact, suggesting that Micron's stock price is expected to stabilize and rebound.

TradingKey - Anthropic’s credit rating has surfaced for the first time. According to documents reviewed by the Financial Times, credit rating agency Kroll Bond Rating Agency (KBRA) assigned Anthropic a "BB+" rating with a stable outlook in June this year. This represents the highest tier within the speculative-grade category, standing just one notch below the investment-grade threshold.

TradingKey - Dell stock forecast: DELL tests $452 support after a 17% two-day drop on a Barclays downgrade, while a $95 billion AI backlog keeps the bull case alive.

TradingKey - CoreWeave shares plunged about 15% on Wednesday, and its corporate bond prices fell in tandem, as the market feared that high interest rates and massive debt could weaken its ability to continue expanding AI data centers. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang stated publicly in Stockholm on Thursday that CoreWeave is growing stronger, its cost of capital has actually declined, and Nvidia has no need to provide a financial backstop for the company.

TradingKey - Airbus, Italy's Leonardo, and France's Thales are advancing a space business consolidation plan codenamed "Project Bromo."

TradingKey - Tesla stock forecast: TSLA defends $355 support after a Q3 delivery beat, but margins, cash flow and robotaxi scrutiny decide the October 21 earnings test.

TradingKey - On October 16, Japanese and South Korean stock markets rebounded following a sharp recent correction. Japan's Nikkei 225 Index closed up 1.39% at 65,324.24 points, but fell 5.37% for the week, marking its largest weekly decline since July 17. South Korea's KOSPI index gained 2.05% to close at 5,668.06 points, but dropped 14.46% on the week, recording its biggest weekly drop since October 2008.

The Roadster launch event sparked buying interest, sending Tesla shares up by more than 3%, but the likelihood of a direct breakthrough above the $400 mark remains low.

TradingKey - On October 15, Eastern Time, Tesla (TSLA) unveiled and demonstrated the next-generation Roadster in Waco, Texas. Repeatedly delayed since its initial announcement in 2017, the vehicle was demonstrated on-site performing maneuvers such as briefly holding position on an inverted ramp using a fan suction system, executing mid-air flips with cold-air thrusters, and jumping over Tesla's entire vehicle lineup. Tesla stated that mass production of the new car is planned to begin in 2028. Unveiling [Source: Tesla official website] The new Roadster features a two-seater sports car design. The event revealed that the vehicle is equipped with a steer-by-wire system and showcased a cold-air thruster mechanism related to SpaceX technology. The vehicle completed a brief off-ground demonstration in a controlled environment. Live demonstrations showed that the Roadster accelerates from 0 to 60 mph in approximately 0.81 seconds. However, this figure stems from an on-site demonstration rather than a full production performance test.