Analysis

TradingKey - As of Thursday (August 6) ET, futures for the three major US stock indices showed mixed performance in pre-market trading. Dow and S&P 500 futures edged higher, while Nasdaq 100 futures remained under pressure as the market continued to digest pullback pressures following AI capital expenditures, chip stock valuations, and earnings reports in the memory sector. Investors are also awaiting data on initial jobless claims, Q2 non-farm productivity, and unit labor costs to assess the latest shifts in US employment and inflationary pressures.

SpaceX’s revenue rose 92% to $7.8B in its first public quarter, but heavy AI capex and an Aug 6 lockup of ~911M shares have pushed SPCX below $135 to near $110.

SanDisk and Western Digital reported earnings that exceeded expectations, but weak guidance led to a sharp decline in their share prices, weighing on other storage stocks.

TradingKey - On August 5, ET, OpenAI filed a motion in federal court to dismiss a trade secret theft lawsuit filed by Apple (AAPL), calling the allegations "baseless." In court documents, OpenAI's attorneys stated that the company "did not use, nor did it need to obtain, any of Apple's trade secrets."

TradingKey - SoftBank Group reported a net profit of 347.33 billion yen (approximately $2.2 billion) for the first fiscal quarter ended June 30, down about 18% year-on-year but well above the market expectation of approximately 166 billion yen.

TradingKey - Due to persistent global DRAM memory supply constraints, market reports indicate that TSMC (TSM) is facing packaging delays for Apple processor orders valued at approximately $1 billion. The primary cause is a shortage of supporting memory supply, which has prevented some chips from completing final packaging as originally scheduled. This news once again underscores how the supply-demand imbalance in memory chips driven by the AI wave is spreading across the entire semiconductor supply chain.

Strong demand for Nvidia's chips continues to drive a rally in its stock price, which is poised to challenge all-time highs in August.

TradingKey - As of August 5, Eastern Time, SanDisk (SNDK) released its fourth-quarter fiscal results after the U.S. market close. Although the company’s fourth-quarter performance significantly exceeded market expectations and its AI data center business maintained high-speed growth, SanDisk's shares experienced profit-taking, plunging 8% in after-hours trading. The decline follows a period where the market had already priced in expectations for AI storage growth, leading to excessive cumulative gains, while next-quarter guidance failed to fully meet the expectations of some investors.

TradingKey - On August 5 ET, South Korean memory giant Samsung Electronics and memory module manufacturer Netlist (NLST) reached a strategic alliance, ending a nearly decade-long patent dispute and establishing a new business partnership. Boosted by the news, Netlist's share price surged over 60% intraday and closed up 58.32%, marking the largest single-day gain since the company's listing.

TradingKey - The continuous expansion of AI data centers is driving the storage industry into a new upcycle. Benefiting from robust demand for enterprise hard drives, Western Digital (WDC) delivered an almost impeccable quarterly earnings report. However, the stellar results failed to translate into stock price gains, as Western Digital fell nearly 12% in after-hours trading.

TradingKey - On August 6, Japanese and South Korean stock markets closed lower, with SK Hynix closing down 10%, Samsung Electronics falling 6%, and Kioxia dropping by more than 10%.

TradingKey - According to a report by the Korea Economic Daily on August 5, Solidigm, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SK Hynix (SKHY), has formally initiated its pre-IPO financing process in preparation for a listing on Nasdaq. The company has set a target valuation of 50 trillion KRW (approximately $35.15 billion) for this funding round and plans to raise between 5 trillion and 10 trillion KRW (approximately $3.5 billion to $7 billion).

TradingKey - SanDisk (SDNK) delivered its strongest financial results since its spin-off listing, but the capital market's reaction was the exact opposite.

TradingKey - During the Asian session on August 6, South Korean stocks experienced panic selling, with the KOSPI Index plunging as much as 5%, triggering the exchange's "sidecar" mechanism to suspend programmatic sell orders.

TradingKey - Palantir (PLTR) stock jumped 30% after blockbuster Q2 earnings, record AI-driven commercial growth, and raised 2026 guidance. Here's what's next.

TradingKey - Intel (INTC) stock jumped nearly 11% after strong Q2 earnings. Here's what drove the rally, analyst targets, and key price levels to watch next.

TradingKey - On August 5, Eastern Time, U.S. stocks closed mixed at the close of trading, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average rising while the Nasdaq and S&P 500 closed lower. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.49% to 54,349.12; the Nasdaq Composite fell 0.83% to 26,363.44; and the S&P 500 fe

TradingKey - On August 6, Japanese and South Korean stock markets opened lower across the board. Following a broad pullback in the U.S. semiconductor sector overnight, Asian chip stocks came under pressure, weighing on major indices in both markets.

On August 5, Eastern Time, SanDisk (SNDK) released its fourth quarter fiscal year 2026 earnings report during US after-hours trading. Following the results, SanDisk's stock price at one point fell more than 8%. As of press time, the gain narrowed to around 4%, trading at $1,287.67.

U.S. private sector employment increased by 44,000 in July, the lowest level since the beginning of the year. Meanwhile, following a four-day strong rebound, a retracement in some technology stocks weighed on indices. The three major U.S. stock indices closed mixed, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average continuing to hit record highs and gold stocks strengthening. At the close, the Dow Jones rose 0.49% to 54,349.12; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.83% to 26,363.44; and the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.17% to 7,723.55.