US Stocks Close: Nasdaq Falls for Second Day, SOX Rises 0.87%; Memory Stocks Buck Trend as SK Hynix Rises 4.7%, SpaceX Drops About 4%

SpaceX (SPCX) fell 3.93% to $133.29, snapping a three-day winning streak, with its latest market capitalization standing at $1.76 trillion.

SpaceXAI announced the launch of a new product, Grok Bot, further doubling down on the enterprise AI agent market. The product is positioned as a collaborative team of AI agents capable of logging into applications and websites, retaining previous task information, and sharing context across different agents to help users continuously handle work tasks. SpaceXAI stated that Grok Bot can cover various scenarios including sales, finance, engineering, growth, and marketing. The company has already trialed the product internally: sales teams can use it overnight to screen leads and draft emails, while finance teams can have it extract reimbursement vouchers from email inboxes. Through this, the company hopes to lower the barrier for users to orchestrate multiple AI agents.

Among mega-cap tech stocks, Meta Platforms (META) rose 0.71%, and Tesla (TSLA) gained 0.58%; decliners (from largest to smallest drop): SpaceX (SPCX) fell 3.93%, Alphabet (GOOG) fell 3.61%, Amazon (AMZN) fell 2.09%, Broadcom (AVGO) fell 1.50%, Eli Lilly (LLY) fell 1.37%, Apple (AAPL) fell 1.09%, Microsoft (MSFT) fell 0.44%, and Nvidia (NVDA) fell 0.02%.

[Source: TradingView]

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 0.87% to close at 12,098.47 points. Among its 30 constituent stocks, 24 advanced and 6 declined.

Among memory stocks, SK Hynix (SKHY) rose 4.70%, SanDisk (SNDK) gained 2.68%, Seagate Technology (STX) rose 2.44%, and Micron Technology (MU) rose 0.87%.

SK Hynix Plans to Increase NAND Capacity in China by 50%

Solidigm, SK Hynix's NAND subsidiary, restarted construction on Phase 2 of its NAND flash manufacturing base in Dalian, China, in the first half of this year. Once operational, SK Hynix's local production capacity will expand by about 50%. Construction of the plant began four years ago but was halted for an extended period due to a slump in the memory market. SK Hynix plans to start bringing in semiconductor manufacturing equipment as early as November, with official production expected to commence in the first half of next year. It is reported that the new production line will have a wafer input capacity of around 50,000 wafers per month. Driven by a surge in demand for enterprise solid-state drives (eSSDs) fueled by the proliferation of AI data centers, NAND prices have surged nearly tenfold within a year.

Manus: To Resume Operations as an Independent Company, Certain User Data Will Be Deleted

Manus stated that it will soon resume operations as an independent company. As part of resuming independent operations and to comply with regulatory requirements in certain jurisdictions, data generated by certain users on or after December 29, 2025, will be deleted between August 23, 2026, 08:00 and August 24 (SGT). Affected users can back up their data from now until August 23, 2026, 07:59 (SGT), and can restore their data starting August 25, 2026, 08:00 (SGT). Unaffected users can continue using Manus as usual during this period without taking any action. The article also mentioned that to comply with regulatory requirements in certain jurisdictions, data generated by certain users on or after the day Meta acquired Manus must be deleted.

Intel Expands Stock Offering Size to $20 Billion

Intel has expanded its previously announced common stock offering to $20 billion, priced at $95 per share. Intel stated that the offering is expected to close on August 12, raising estimated net proceeds of $19.7 billion after deducting underwriting discounts, commissions, and estimated offering expenses. Intel noted that it plans to use the net proceeds for "general corporate purposes," including, but not limited to, capital expenditures and working capital.

SpaceXAI Launches Grok Bot Enterprise Agent

SpaceXAI announced the launch of its new product, Grok Bot, further doubling down on the enterprise agent market. The product is positioned as a collaborative team of AI agents capable of logging into applications and websites, retaining previous task information, and sharing context across different agents to help users continuously execute work tasks. SpaceXAI stated that Grok Bot covers multiple scenarios including sales, finance, engineering, growth, and marketing. The company has already trialed the product internally: sales teams can use it overnight to screen leads and draft emails, while finance teams can have it extract expense receipts from inboxes. The company hopes to lower the barrier for users to orchestrate multiple AI agents.

EIA Raises Price Forecasts for WTI and Brent Crude for This Year and Next

EIA Short-Term Energy Outlook report: The WTI crude oil price is expected to be $80.88/barrel in 2026, compared with the previous expectation of $76.26/barrel. The WTI crude oil price is expected to be $65.39/barrel in 2027, compared with the previous expectation of $60.76/barrel. The Brent crude price is expected to be $86.81/barrel in 2026, compared with the previous expectation of $81.91/barrel. The Brent crude price is expected to be $69.39/barrel in 2027, compared with the previous expectation of $64.76/barrel.

Iran's Supreme National Security Council: The Strait Will Not Open Unless the U.S. Accepts Iran's Conditions

Rezaei, Secretary of Iran's Supreme National Security Council, issued a statement: "The U.S. is the source of insecurity in the Persian Gulf, the Strait of Hormuz, and the Gulf of Oman, putting the entire region at risk by imposing an illegal war on Iran. As long as the U.S. does not change its behavior and accept Iran's conditions, the Strait of Hormuz will not reopen. The U.S. must end the war, pay frozen Iranian funds, and end wars across the region, including in Lebanon and Gaza, in addition to satisfying other conditions communicated to the U.S. side through intermediaries. If Iran reaches an agreement with Oman regarding a transit corridor in the Strait of Hormuz, that agreement will be handled separately from the issue of the strait blockade."

Nick Timiraos: Warsh Dismisses "Data Dependence," but Old System Still Dominates

Wall Street Journal reporter Nick Timiraos said that the market will focus on month-over-month changes in July inflation data to be released on Wednesday, as a growing number of FOMC members indicate that inflation readings in the coming months will determine whether they believe the forecast of "inflation falling back to 2% over the next two years" remains achievable without further rate hikes. However, new Fed Chair Warsh recently dismissed this framework linking policy-sensitive forecast revisions to high-frequency data. He previously stated that he does not see much practical value in the Fed's current "data-dependent" policy. In addition, Nick stated that part of the purpose of the task force set up by Warsh appears to be helping build a framework to replace the old one. But until the new framework is clarified, the old framework seems to remain in operation.

Goldman Sachs: AI Investment Focus Shifting to Humanoid Robots, Scaled Deployment Expected from 2027 to 2029

Goldman Sachs' latest report shows that as investment in AI computing infrastructure continues to expand, the AI investment theme is shifting from a computing power race to end-user applications, with humanoid robots expected to become the next growth engine. Goldman Sachs believes labor shortages and automation demand will provide long-term structural support for the robotics industry. Goldman Sachs expects humanoid robots to remain in a transition phase from technology validation to commercialization, with large-scale deployment likely to unfold gradually from 2027 to 2029. The bank expects global humanoid robot shipments to reach 76,000 units in 2027 and rise to 502,000 units in 2032.

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