US Stocks Close: Nasdaq Composite Index Rises 1.3% as Fed Rate-Hike Expectations Cool; Memory Stocks Sold Off While Software Gains; SpaceX Soars 15.83%

SpaceX (SPCX) closed up 15.83% at $133.11, surging 22.94% over two days.

On August 6, SpaceX's first batch of 911.5 million insider restricted shares were officially unlocked, potentially releasing approximately $100 billion in market value. However, the market sell-off that had been widely priced in did not materialize. Morgan Stanley's Adam Jonas, meanwhile, noted that he views this lock-up expiration as an entry opportunity rather than a warning sign, calling SpaceX 'a potential generational compounder that can convert energy into networked/clustered intelligence at scale.'

Among mega-cap tech stocks, SpaceX (SPCX) rose 15.83%, Tesla (TSLA) rose 2.83%, Nvidia (NVDA) rose 2.27%, Broadcom (AVGO) rose 1.71%, Amazon (AMZN) rose 0.82%, Meta Platforms (META) rose 0.37%, Apple (AAPL) rose 0.29%, and Microsoft (MSFT) rose 0.03%; on the downside, Google (GOOGL) fell 0.96%.

[Source: FutuBull]

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.56% to close at 12,356.79 points. Of its 30 constituents, 26 rose and 4 fell.

Among software stocks, Atlassian (TEAM) rose 35.31%, Twilio (TWLO) rose 24.94%, Palantir (PLTR) rose 10.32%, and ServiceNow (NOW) rose 6.4%.

Among memory stocks, Seagate Technology (STX) fell 4.71%, SK Hynix (SKHY) fell 3.92%, Western Digital (WDC) fell 3.81%, SanDisk (SNDK) fell 3.68%, and Micron Technology (MU) fell 0.44%.

OpenAI Pauses Development of New Model Astra Over Concerns It Possesses Critical Cyber Capabilities

According to an Axios report, OpenAI stated that it cannot rule out that its upcoming model, Astra, possesses "critical" cyber capabilities, prompting the company to expand the scope of its safety testing and pause internal activities that do not meet more stringent safety requirements. This is the latest sign of the rapid advancement in the cyber capabilities of artificial intelligence models. OpenAI said that after an internal evaluation of Astra, one of its upcoming models, "we cannot rule out that it possesses critical cyber capabilities." Prior to releasing Astra, OpenAI will expand testing and safety measures for the model and slow down Astra's development process in accordance with the requirements of the company's "Preparedness Framework" (first released in 2023) until appropriate safety guardrails are established. OpenAI also stated that Astra was not involved in the Hugging Face vulnerability exploit incident. This represents what may be the first instance of a frontier AI lab committing to slowing down its own AI model development due to cybersecurity concerns.

SK Hynix to Build Two New Memory Chip Plants

SK Hynix will invest approximately 54.3 trillion won (about $38.282 billion) to build two new wafer fabs in Yongin and Cheongju, South Korea, to expand HBM, next-generation DRAM, and NAND capacity. Adopting an "infrastructure-first, equipment-on-demand" strategy, the company expects production to start successively between late 2028 and 2029, and stated that it will increase capacity based on customer demand to flexibly respond to the growing memory market demand in the AI era.

AAOI Q2 Revenue Increases 86.4% YoY

U.S. optical communications manufacturer AAOI reported second-quarter revenue of $191.9 million, a surge of 86% year-over-year, with its data center business crossing the $100 million mark for the first time, and revenue from 800G products doubling quarter-over-quarter. More importantly, its 1.6T products are nearing the completion of customer qualification and are set to begin shipping. The mid-2027 path outlined by management suggests that monthly revenue from data center transceivers could reach $471 million.

US July Nonfarm Payrolls Unexpectedly Turn Negative

Data released by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics showed that nonfarm payrolls unexpectedly decreased by 23,000 last month, missing market expectations of an 80,000 increase. As the labor force participation rate continued to slide, the unemployment rate fell to 4.1%, its lowest level in two years, while year-on-year growth in average hourly earnings slowed to 3.2%, below the market expectation of 3.5%. In addition, the increase in nonfarm payrolls for May was revised down from 129,000 to 63,000, and the June figure was revised down from 57,000 to 20,000. Following the revisions, the combined job gains for May and June were 103,000 lower than previously reported.

JPMorgan Raises 2026 TMT Bond Issuance Forecast to $540 Billion

JPMorgan Chase expects bond issuance from technology, media, and telecom (TMT) companies to surpass $500 billion this year as tech giants continue to ramp up AI infrastructure. The bank has raised its 2026 bond issuance forecast for the sector to $540 billion from $450 billion, citing the ongoing surge in capital expenditure by cloud computing giants in the AI race. JPMorgan strategists noted that relying on external financing, such as debt, to fund AI buildouts will likely become the norm of this investment cycle over the next few years. Within this, hyperscalers are projected to contribute about $317 billion in bond issuance, while data center project financing is expected to reach around $85 billion. If most currently planned projects proceed smoothly, data center financing could easily exceed $100 billion.

US Treasury Secretary Bessent: Strait of Hormuz Will Gradually Lose Importance

Speaking about the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said, "This strait will never return to what it was because Iran has utilized it, or attempted to utilize it, as a choke point. Over the next two years, we will see this strait gradually lose its importance. It will become just another body of water. I believe that more than 50% or even 70% of the energy currently shipped through this strait will be redirected through underground pipelines."

Trump Moves to Dismiss Fed Governor Cook, Formally Initiating Removal Process Over "Severe Dereliction of Duty"

Sources say Donald Trump is moving forward with plans to remove Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. According to sources familiar with the correspondence, the White House sent a letter to Cook this week stating that Trump is "considering" removing her from her position on the Fed Board and giving her three weeks to respond to the allegations. The move follows a Supreme Court ruling in June that upheld restrictions on a president's power to dismiss Fed board members. Trump stated after the ruling that he would "take immediate appropriate action" to remove Cook. He appeared to follow through on that promise this week, formally initiating removal proceedings based on unadjudicated mortgage fraud allegations, citing "severe dereliction of duty." The letter was signed by White House Deputy Chief of Staff Dan Scavino, who argued that even if the allegations do not amount to a crime, Cook's conduct constitutes a failure of duty. Cook's attorney, Lowell, issued a statement saying: "These allegations are baseless, and we will challenge this latest pretext."

This content was translated using AI and reviewed for clarity. It is for informational purposes only.