Category: Corporate Earnings

Micron Technology reported a sharply higher fiscal third-quarter revenue on Wednesday, well above year-ago levels, sending shares up as much as 19% in Thursday morning trading before the stock pared gains to around 10%, CNBC’s Sawdah Bhaimiya reported. At the intraday peak, Micron’s market cap briefly pushed above those of Meta and Tesla, placing it among the most valuable U.S. companies. The quarterly print landed well above the LSEG consensus estimate of roughly $36 billion.

The scale of the revenue jump — a more than fourfold increase in a single year — reflects what Micron described as a structural supply imbalance in the memory market. AI data centers run by hyperscalers are absorbing memory at a pace that has squeezed supply available for smartphones, PCs, and other consumer devices, pushing memory prices higher across the board.

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Long-Term Deals Lock In $22 Billion in Commitments

Micron’s quarter wasn’t built on spot demand alone. The company disclosed 16 long-term supply agreements covering customers from data centers to automakers, with financial commitments of $22 billion expected from those deals, according to CNBC. RBC Capital Markets analysts, cited in the same report, said approximately 40% of Micron’s revenue will flow through long-term contracts with a minimum price floor built in — a structure they said should help limit margin risk if demand cools within the typical five-year contract window.

RBC reiterated its Outperform rating and raised its price target, with analysts writing that their base case is for the current upcycle to continue through 2027, and that the supply commitment agreements add conviction on sustainability.

For the current quarter, Micron guided revenue substantially higher than the prior-year period, per CNBC.

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The $700 Billion Buildout Behind the Print

The demand story runs back to the hyperscalers. Alphabet, Microsoft, and Amazon have collectively allocated $700 billion to AI data center buildouts, CNBC’s Liz Napolitano reported — and those construction pipelines require dense NAND and DRAM deployments that Micron supplies. NAND, a storage memory format, has seen demand surge as AI workloads scale, tightening industry conditions that Micron says have supported pricing 

Capital.com Senior Market Analyst Daniela Hathorn described the results as fresh reassurance that the AI investment cycle remains firmly intact, adding that robust memory demand from data centers and AI infrastructure customers reinforces the view that capital spending on AI is continuously accelerating.

“That has helped lift sentiment across the semiconductor sector after recent weakness in high-growth names, suggesting investors remain willing to look through short-term volatility as long as the earnings outlook continues to justify elevated valuations,” Hathorn said, in a note cited by CNBC.

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Sandisk Climbs 12% on the Coattails

The read-through to other memory names was immediate. Sandisk added 12% on Thursday, and Citigroup analyst Asiya Merchant hiked her 12-month price target on the stock significantly — implying 31% upside from Wednesday’s close — maintaining a buy recommendation, CNBC’s Liz Napolitano reported.

“SNDK should continue to be a beneficiary of this structurally favorable environment… serving as a competitive moat, and with increasing mix to data center further benefiting its margins through the longer-term,” Merchant wrote in a note to clients Thursday.

The Citi call sits with the broader consensus: 20 of 23 analysts covering Sandisk rate the stock a buy or strong buy, per LSEG data cited by CNBC. Sandisk’s shares have climbed sharply since the company began trading as an independent public company following its spin-off from Western Digital in early 2025, according to Factset data in the same report — reflecting the significant changes seen across the memory sector during that period. 

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Chip Stocks Reverse Earlier Week Losses

Micron’s print arrived after a sharp sector selloff earlier in the week that hit Intel, Nvidia, and AMD, per CNBC. Qualcomm, Intel, and AMD all climbed in early Thursday trading before giving back some gains. The MarketWatch characterisation of Micron as one of the world’s most important stocks reflects how far the company’s fortunes have shifted — from a cyclical commodity chipmaker to a core infrastructure supplier for the AI buildout.

That repositioning may influence how some market participants interpret the quarterly results. . When memory was a commodity cycle, a revenue quadrupling would have been met with scepticism about the mean-reversion to come. Micron has stated that its long-term supply agreements with minimum price provisions support its view that the current cycle differs from previous memory cycles. .

The counter to that argument is straightforward: supply eventually responds to price. Memory manufacturing capacity is being expanded across the industry, and if AI capex growth flattens or hyperscalers defer planned data center spending, the same supply imbalance that drove Micron’s print could reverse. Consumer device markets — smartphones and PCs — are already supply-constrained as a side effect of AI demand absorbing capacity, which compresses Micron’s ability to serve those segments. Any demand softening in AI without a corresponding consumer recovery would leave Micron caught between markets.

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Risk Disclaimer: Trading CFDs involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You may lose some or all of your invested capital. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax, or trading advice, nor a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any financial instrument.

Global equity markets extended Monday’s tech-driven losses on Tuesday, with South Korea’s Kospi closing 10% lower and Nasdaq 100 futures dropping 2.7% in pre-market trading, CNBC’s Chloe Taylor reported. The session marked a second consecutive day of heavy selling in chip and mega-cap technology names, with losses spreading from Wall Street’s Monday close through Asian markets and into European trading.

The immediate epicentre was Seoul. Samsung and SK Hynix both fell more than 12%, dragging the Kospi — South Korea’s tech-heavy benchmark — to a 10% single-session loss, Taylor’s report showed. For context, those two names alone account for a substantial portion of the index’s market capitalisation, which meant their double-digit declines had an outsized mechanical effect on the headline number.

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Chip Stocks Lead Declines  Across Every Time Zone

The iShares Semiconductor ETF was down 6.2% in pre-market trading on Wall Street, according to CNBC. Micron led individual-stock losses at 8.5% lower, Intel fell 7.6%, and AMD shed 6.2%. Nvidia, the largest chip name by market cap, was 3% lower. The losses were not confined to memory or logic — the sell-off was broad across the semiconductor complex.

Europe tracked the damage. The pan-European Stoxx 600 fell around 1% by afternoon trading, paring steeper morning losses, while the Stoxx 600 Technology sub-index dropped 3%, CNBC reported. STMicroelectronics and Dutch semiconductor equipment maker ASMI were both down more than 7%, ranking among the index’s largest single-session movers.

Reports of sharp valuation losses at SpaceX coincided with broader weakness across technology-related assets.

. After a steep decline during Monday’s session — a move CNBC’s reporting described as a significant valuation wipeout — SpaceX was said to have extended those losses further in secondary market activity on Tuesday, Taylor noted. That back-to-back decline made SpaceX one of the more visible anchors on the broader Magnificent Seven conversation, even as Amazon and Meta posted comparatively modest pre-market losses of just over 0.7% each.

Asset / Index	Move	Session / Timing
South Korea Kospi	–10%	Tuesday close
Samsung	>–12%	Tuesday close
SK Hynix	>–12%	Tuesday close
Stoxx 600	~–1%	Tuesday afternoon
Stoxx 600 Technology	–3%	Tuesday afternoon
STMicroelectronics	>–7%	Tuesday
ASMI	>–7%	Tuesday
Nasdaq 100 futures	–2.7%	Pre-market Tuesday
iShares Semiconductor ETF	–6.2%	Pre-market Tuesday
Micron	–8.5%	Pre-market Tuesday
Intel	–7.6%	Pre-market Tuesday
AMD	–6.2%	Pre-market Tuesday
Nvidia	–3%	Pre-market Tuesday
SpaceX	Extended losses	Secondary market activity Tuesday (after sharp Monday decline)
Amazon	>–0.7%	Pre-market Tuesday
Meta	>–0.7%	Pre-market Tuesday

Source: CNBC

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Micron Earnings on Wednesday Are the Next Live Wire

Wedbush analyst Dan Ives addressed the sell-off directly in a Tuesday morning note. “Clearly this [downturn] will cause selling pressure and white knuckles for tech stocks in the U.S. this morning as investors worry the overheated KOSPI sell-off has a spillover impact to U.S. tech stocks,” he wrote, per CNBC. He flagged Micron’s earnings report, due Wednesday, as an amplifier of the current nervousness — a print that now carries considerably more weight given where Micron’s stock is trading ahead of it.

Ives, who manages Wedbush’s AI Revolution ETF — a fund with Micron, TSMC, and Nvidia among its top holdings — framed the session as one of several stress points he expects the AI trade to absorb. “Taking a step back we continue to believe that in this market we will continue to go through a number of ‘gut check moments’ in the tech trade as the AI Revolution remains in the 3rd inning… this morning is just another one of those moments,” he said, according to CNBC.

According to Ives, the long-term investment thesis surrounding AI-related spending remains unchanged, while he characterised the recent sell-off as being driven primarily by market sentiment and positioning. .

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The Bull Case Gets a Stress Test

Not everyone was rattled. Tom Hulick, CEO of Strategy Asset Managers, told CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe on Tuesday that he saw no systemic threat in the price action. “I don’t think we’re anywhere near some type of catastrophic failure in the markets. There’s too much liquidity out there, and the earnings momentum is very strong right now,” he told the programme, per CNBC.

Hulick acknowledged that trillion-dollar AI capital expenditure cycles could push valuations to elevated levels — “stratospheric,” in his word — for names like SpaceX or Anthropic, but stopped short of calling those valuations a problem. Markets, he said, are “very fluid” right now.

The comments came after a session marked by significant declines across several technology-related assets. . A sharp single-session decline in SpaceX’s reported valuation, combined with the Mag 7 rotation that pulled the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite lower, underscored the scale of the recent market move. . . 

Market participants will be closely monitoring Micron’s upcoming earnings release for additional information regarding conditions in the semiconductor sector. .

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What’s Next

• Micron Technology earnings report — scheduled for Wednesday, 24 June 2026, after the U.S. market close. Given Micron’s 8.5% pre-market decline on Tuesday and its prominence in Wedbush’s AI Revolution ETF, the print carries elevated market significance. Check Investing.com for the confirmed time.
• U.S. market open, Tuesday 23 June — Nasdaq 100 futures were indicating a 2.7% lower open as of the pre-market window captured in CNBC’s reporting. The U.S. cash session will provide additional insight into how markets respond following the declines observed in futures trading 

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Risk Disclaimer: Trading CFDs involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You may lose some or all of your invested capital. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax, or trading advice, nor a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any financial instrument.

SpaceX (SPCX) shares fell 4.27% in premarket trading on Tuesday, extending a decline that erased roughly $400 billion in market value on Monday alone, CNBC’s Kai Nicol-Schwarz reported. The stock has now fallen below its IPO-day closing price — meaning every investor who bought after the first session is carrying a loss.

The timing is stark. Eleven days ago, on June 12, SpaceX priced a record-breaking IPO and watched its shares rally more than 50% above the offering price in the days that followed, briefly lifting its market capitalisation above both Amazon and Microsoft, Nicol-Schwarz noted. By the end of last week, nearly all of those gains had disappeared. Monday’s 16% single-session drop — preceded by declines of 3.6% and 5% on the two prior trading days — left the market cap at $2 trillion at Monday’s close.

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Four Sessions, One Direction

The sequence matters. Monday’s 16% session loss was not a standalone shock; it was the acceleration of a trend that had been building since the post-IPO euphoria peaked. MarketWatch reported the stock had now slipped below the IPO-day close, crossing the threshold that puts the majority of the post-debut buyer base underwater.

Tuesday’s premarket print of -4.27%, recorded at 4:45 a.m. ET, adds to Monday’s damage. The cumulative draw-down from whatever intraday peak the stock reached in the days after the June 12 IPO is not specified in available sourcing, but the four-session direction — down 3.6%, down 5%, down 16%, down 4.27% pre-bell Tuesday — illustrates the extent of the recent decline in the share price. .

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Debt Issuance and the Reflection Deal Land in the Middle of the Sell-Off

SpaceX announced two material developments on Monday, the same session the stock dropped 16%. The company disclosed a senior unsecured notes offering — the structure and size of which were not detailed in available sourcing — and separately revealed it held $100.8 billion in cash and cash equivalents as of June 19, Nicol-Schwarz reported.

The cash figure is substantial.The combination of a substantial cash position and a debt issuance announcement attracted market attention, although the available sourcing did not include analyst commentary regarding its significance. .

Also Monday: SpaceX disclosed a computing power agreement with Reflection, an open-source AI startup, giving Reflection access to Elon Musk’s Colossus infrastructure, per CNBC. The announcement came on the same day the stock lost a sixth of its value. The announcements coincided with continued declines in the share price. 

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From Musk’s Ambitions to the Close of Last Week

The IPO narrative was built on scale. SpaceX briefly outpaced Amazon and Microsoft by market cap — two of the largest companies on any exchange — before sentiment cooled, Nicol-Schwarz reported. The initial rush was driven, in part, by investors wanting exposure to Elon Musk’s stated ambitions for the company across space and AI. By last Friday, the average buyer had seen nearly all of those gains erased. By Monday’s close, buyers at the post-IPO peak were sitting on losses measured in double-digit percentages.

Post-IPO distribution of this kind — where early buyers who chased the debut rally eventually reduce or exit positions  — is a documented feature of high-profile listings. What is specific to SpaceX is the speed: the round-trip from 50%-above-offer-price to below-IPO-close happened in under two full weeks.

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What Could Change the Picture

The $100.8 billion cash position, if confirmed and consistently reported, represents a significant balance-sheet anchor. A company with that level of liquidity is not operationally stressed by a stock decline, and the senior unsecured notes offering — whatever its eventual size — is not the financing structure of a distressed borrower. If the sell-off is driven primarily by post-IPO positioning and momentum reversal rather than any fundamental reassessment of the business.

The counter is just as straightforward. SpaceX’s market cap was $2 trillion at Monday’s close, after a 16% decline. The valuation remains a key point of discussion among investors and market participants as trading activity continues following the company’s public debut. .

The CNBC article also referenced Amazon (AMZN) and Microsoft (MSFT), which were frequently cited as valuation comparators during the IPO period after SpaceX briefly surpassed both companies by market capitalisation. No specific data on Monday’s AMZN or MSFT closes was available in the sourcing reviewed.

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Events Ahead: No specific scheduled SpaceX catalysts — earnings date, investor day, or regulatory filing deadline — were available in verified sourcing at the time of publication. Readers should monitor SpaceX investor communications and primary filings as they become available.

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Risk Disclaimer: Trading CFDs involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You may lose some or all of your invested capital. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax, or trading advice, nor a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any financial instrument.

Keir Starmer announced his resignation as UK Prime Minister and Labour Party leader outside 10 Downing Street on Monday morning, CNBC reported, ending a tenure of less than two years and triggering an immediate, if measured, reaction across sterling, gilts, and UK equities. A visibly emotional Starmer, speaking shortly after 9:30 a.m. London time, called entering Downing Street “the proudest moment of my life” before confirming he would remain in post until a leadership contest concludes.

GBP/USD fell 0.19% to $1.3207 in early Monday trading, according to CNBC. The yield on 10-year UK gilts held flat at 4.8452%, though that flatness follows a jump on Friday when Andy Burnham won the Makerfield by-election on June 18 — a result that, CNBC reported, had already partially repriced the market to a Burnham-leadership scenario before Monday’s formal announcement.

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Market Focus Turns to Labour Leadership Contest

Burnham’s Makerfield by-election win last Wednesday cleared the parliamentary path for a direct leadership challenge. His return to Westminster was the catalyst the gilt market had been watching. Friday’s yield move meant Monday’s Downing Street statement arrived partly anticipated — but the confirmation of a full leadership contest still leaves markets to price an extended period of domestic political uncertainty.

One area of focus for investors is fiscal policy.. Kallum Pickering, chief economist at Peel Hunt, told CNBC‘s Squawk Box Europe shortly after Starmer’s statement: “The market now has to price in what a Burnham premiership looks like.” Pickering acknowledged that the UK is borrowing too much and that public debt levels are too high, while stressing the UK is not a “fiscal outlier” relative to other G7 countries. The harder fact he cited: the UK still carries the highest borrowing costs in the G7, and has been the most inflationary G7 economy on average for most of the past ten years.

“This is the thing that the market is concerned about. The market now has to price in what a Burnham premiership looks like.” — Kallum Pickering, Chief Economist, Peel Hunt, speaking to CNBC’s Squawk Box Europe, 22 June 2026

That framing matters for gilts. Analysts expect UK borrowing costs to rise over the longer term if Burnham assumes the leadership, MarketWatch reported. Burnham has taken steps to reassure bond investors — he recently distanced himself from earlier comments in which he suggested the UK was “in hock to the bond markets” — but those earlier statements remain part of the record that the gilt market is now discounting.

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Seven Leaders, Ten Years, One Structural Problem

Starmer’s departure will make his successor the UK’s seventh prime minister in a decade, a sequence that began when David Cameron resigned after the 2016 Brexit referendum he had campaigned against. The revolving door — Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak, Starmer, and now a successor to be determined — is itself a data point that CNBC’s Hugh Leask noted comes almost exactly ten years to the day since the Brexit vote.

The domestic pressures that forced Starmer’s hand were multiple. Labour suffered heavy losses in local elections in May. Intra-party rebellion over the welfare reform agenda had grown louder. The appointment of Peter Mandelson — described in the CNBC report as an associate of the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein — as US ambassador further damaged relations within the parliamentary Labour Party. By Friday, an Ipsos poll showed 52% of the British public thought Starmer should stand down, up five percentage points from May, with only 35% saying he should continue.

Starmer and Finance Minister Rachel Reeves had spent months managing fiscal discontent within their own ranks, while defending a spending framework that kept the UK’s borrowing costs elevated. The combination of a voter base that had turned against him and a parliamentary party that had heard his answer on the leadership question left him with little runway.

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Sterling’s Muted Move Tells Part of the Story

The 0.19% GBP/USD decline to $1.3207 is, on its face, a contained reaction. That restraint may reflect how much of the political risk had already been absorbed after Friday’s by-election result moved gilt yields before Starmer confirmed anything publicly. Sterling remained below earlier levels following the announcement — despite Starmer framing the transition as “orderly” — keeps the currency on watch through the duration of the leadership contest.

UK gilt yields at 4.8452% remain elevated in absolute terms, consistent with Pickering’s observation that the UK holds the highest borrowing costs in the G7. A prolonged leadership contest, or a Burnham victory accompanied by any softening of fiscal messaging, Market participants continue to monitor how future policy developments may influence UK government bond markets.

Asset	Level / Move	Source
GBP/USD	$1.3207, –0.19%	CNBC
10-Yr UK Gilt Yield	4.8452%, flat Monday	CNBC

The FTSE 100 and the iShares MSCI United Kingdom ETF (EWU) are both in focus given domestically exposed UK equities tend to carry a sterling and political-risk discount in periods of leadership transition — though no FTSE or EWU print as of the time of source publication was confirmed in the available material.

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The Transition Framework and Burnham’s Market Pivot he Counter: Orderly Transition, Burnham’s Market Pivot

Two factors have featured prominently in market commentary following Starmer’s resignation . First, Starmer’s explicit commitment to remain in post through the leadership contest reduces the likelihood of a governance vacuum during the transition period. . Second, Burnham’s own pivot — stepping back from his “in hock to the bond markets” remarks has been viewed by some observers as an effort to reassure investors as the leadership contest begins. . 

Whether those assurances hold once he is inside Downing Street is a separate question, and one the market cannot answer yet.

Pickering’s assessment that the UK is not a fiscal outlier among G7 peers provides additional context to the debate surrounding UK borrowing costs and fiscal policy. As the leadership contest unfolds, investors are likely to continue monitoring comments from leadership candidates alongside developments in the gilt and currency markets.

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What’s Next

The immediate calendar driver is the Labour Party leadership contest timeline, which Starmer said on Monday would be completed before he formally leaves office. No specific contest dates had been confirmed in the sourced material at the time of publication. For ongoing market developments and scheduled UK fiscal events, the Bank of England and UK government communications remain the primary reference points.

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Risk Disclaimer: Trading CFDs involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You may lose some or all of your invested capital. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax, or trading advice, nor a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any financial instrument.

SpaceX (SPCX) was down 4.31% in premarket trading at 6:17 a.m. ET on Monday, extending a two-session losing streak that has steadily eroded the gains built during the stock’s explosive debut, CNBC’s Kai Nicol-Schwarz reported. The slide marks the third session of selling pressure since the company’s record-breaking IPO on June 12, and has wiped out nearly all open-market gains for investors who bought shares after the initial listing.

The pullback comes fast. SpaceX priced its IPO at $135 per share, surged on its first two full trading days as a public company, and briefly pushed its market capitalisation above both Amazon and Microsoft on the Tuesday following the debut — before falling back below both names, Nicol-Schwarz reported. Then came the reversal: the stock fell 5% on Wednesday and a further 3.6% on Thursday. By Thursday’s close — the last full session before the Juneteenth holiday on Friday — SPCX was still up 37% from its IPO price. Monday’s premarket drop, if sustained, chips further into that cushion.

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The Gap Between the Story and the Numbers

Some market participants have focused on the contrast between investor enthusiasm surrounding the IPO and the company’s reported financial results.. Bullish investors, per CNBC, are betting on CEO Elon Musk driving long-term returns at a company that is simultaneously a space launch provider and an artificial intelligence firm. The IPO delivered on spectacle: Musk became the world’s first trillionaire on the back of the listing, thousands of early employees and investors were minted as millionaires, and some stakeholders crossed the billion-dollar threshold in individual holdings.

The financials, however, run the other direction. SpaceX posted a $4.9 billion net loss in 2025, and followed that with a $4.28 billion loss in the first quarter of 2026, CNBC’s reporting showed. For a company valued at a premium to Amazon and Microsoft at its peak intraday print, those figures have prompted discussion among market participants regarding valuation expectations and future growth assumptions. .

. The recent decline has coincided with increased attention on the company’s valuation and financial performance, although market movements can be influenced by multiple factors.

The average investor who bought SPCX in the open market after the June 12 debut had seen nearly all of their gains disappear by the end of last week, according to Nicol-Schwarz. The IPO-price holder is still well in the money at 37% above the $135 entry — but the crowd that chased the opening pop is sitting on a very different position.

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A Debut That Moved Benchmark Comparisons

The brief moment when SpaceX’s market cap surpassed Amazon’s is worth holding for a second — not as a milestone, but as a data point about how aggressively the initial rally was priced. Both AMZN and MSFT are referenced in the CNBC article’s ticker list alongside SPCX, reflecting the direct benchmark comparison made during the debut week. SpaceX falling back below both by the time the first week closed tells the story of the post-IPO positioning unwind in one line.

The Juneteenth holiday on Friday compressed the trading week to four sessions, which means the two down days — Wednesday and Thursday — represented half of all available price discovery time since the debut. There was no Friday session to absorb or stabilise the move. Monday’s premarket print of down 4.31% suggests the selling has carried over a three-day weekend without a catalyst to reverse it.

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What Could Change the Picture

The bear case here is anchored in the loss figures: back-to-back years of multi-billion-dollar net losses, with Q1 2026 already at $4.28 billion, put the company on a pace that will test even patient capital. Some analysts and investors focus on the company’s reported losses and future path to profitability when assessing valuation. .

Supportive views of the company are often linked to expectations regarding future growth opportunities and the long-term development of its businesses. . Musk’s track record of converting loss-making ventures into category-defining businesses — and the scale of SpaceX’s launch manifest, Starlink subscriber base, and AI-related operations — gives longer-horizon holders a thesis that does not depend on near-term earnings..

What the current tape does show: open-market buyers from debut week are effectively flat or negative, and the stock entered Monday’s premarket session trading below recent levels following losses recorded during the prior week, CNBC reported.

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Risk Disclaimer: Trading CFDs involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You may lose some or all of your invested capital. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax, or trading advice, nor a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any financial instrument.

Markets appeared to respond positively to news of the proposed agreement between the United States and Iran, with equity futures moving higher in early trading.

Dow futures jumped 427 points, or 0.8%, at the open. S&P 500 futures climbed 1.2%. Nasdaq 100 futures popped 2%. The catalyst: President Donald Trump announced on Sunday via social media that a deal to end the war between the U.S. and Iran was “now complete,” with Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif confirming a formal signing ceremony is scheduled for Friday in Switzerland. Alex Harring and Justina Lee at CNBC had the detail first.

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Oil Down 5% — The Real Driver of the Margin Story

The market’s reaction isn’t purely about geopolitical relief. Trump also authorised the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday, and U.S. crude fell 5% in the immediate aftermath. Lower oil prices may influence economic activity through reduced transportation and energy costs. The extent of any impact will depend on whether oil prices remain at lower levels and how businesses and consumers respond over time. 

SpaceX’s Second Session Tests the $2 Trillion Floor

SpaceX added 6% in premarket trading Monday, building on a 19% surge on Friday that gave the company a market capitalisation above $2 trillion — the largest IPO debut in history. SpaceX extended its gains in premarket trading following its strong market debut on Friday. Investors continue to monitor post-IPO trading activity and broader market sentiment surrounding the company. . The fact that it has, with a geopolitical catalyst providing additional cover, continues to attract market attention.

“A successful SpaceX IPO is generally a positive signal for broader investor interest in innovation and technology. It’s a reflection of the demand, interest, and desire to invest in these types of companies.” — Evan Schlossman, Principal, SuRo Capital (CNBC)

Schlossman’s read is the bull case compressed into two sentences. Technology-focused indices outperformed broader benchmarks in futures trading, although the reasons for market movements may reflect a combination of factors including sector positioning, investor sentiment, and macroeconomic developments. ..

Asian Markets Didn’t Wait for New York

By the time U.S. futures opened, the Asia session had already delivered its verdict. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged to a record intraday high, closing 5% higher at 69,317.50. South Korea’s Kospi jumped 5.2% to 8,545.98. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.56%, mainland China’s CSI 300 gained 2.39% to 4,891.71, and Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 1.25% to 8,914. The Stoxx 600 in Europe gained 0.6%.

Equity markets across several regions moved higher following the announcement, although investor sentiment may continue to evolve as additional details emerge.

The Counter: One Signing Ceremony Away from Reversing

The bear case isn’t complicated. Trump announced the deal on social media on a Sunday night. The formal signing is pencilled in for Friday in Switzerland. That’s five days during which the exchange of fire between Israel and Tehran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon — which CNBC reported had raised “uncertainty over whether the deal would get across the finish line on Sunday” — could flare again. Market sentiment could change if developments surrounding the agreement differ from current expectations. 

Oil is particularly binary here. A 5% overnight drop on Hormuz reopening news could partially reverse just as fast if any party walks back commitments before Friday. 

What’s On the Calendar This Week

The Iran deal isn’t the only input this week. Housing and retail sales data are due, and the FOMC meets with Fed funds futures currently pricing a greater than 98% probability of no change, per CME’s FedWatch tool.Market expectations currently indicate a high probability that rates will remain unchanged.

. For the scheduled FOMC calendar, see the Federal Reserve’s official meetings page.

The Iran deal signing, if it proceeds as announced, is scheduled for Friday in Switzerland. Both the Federal Reserve meeting and developments relating to the proposed agreement may remain key areas of focus for market participants this week.

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Risk Disclaimer: Trading CFDs involves substantial risk and may not be suitable for all investors. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You may lose some or all of your invested capital. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Past performance is not a reliable indicator of future results. This article is provided for general informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute financial, investment, legal, tax, or trading advice, nor a recommendation, solicitation, or offer to buy or sell any financial instrument.

The crypto crowd is pricing in a 20% first-day pop for SpaceX. The fact that they peaked above $220 and have since retreated to $162 may indicate that initial enthusiasm has moderated compared with earlier trading activity.

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Crypto traders on Hyperliquid are pricing SpaceX pre-IPO perpetual futures at around $162, roughly 20% above the company’s fixed IPO price of $135 per share, according to CNBC’s Tanaya Macheel. The same contract launched in May and briefly exceeded $220 before pulling back sharply — a move that coincided with Bitcoin and Ether each declining 20% and 23%, respectively, in the same period. SpaceX perpetual futures on Binance were trading at a similar level to Hyperliquid. While perpetual futures may provide insight into market sentiment, they should not be viewed as indicators of future market performance.

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Crypto Perps as a Sentiment Gauge, Not a Price Target

The mechanics here are worth holding in mind. Perpetual futures let traders speculate on price with leverage and no expiry date, without owning the underlying asset. They account for more than 70% of all volume on centralised global crypto exchanges, according to CoinGecko. The participants are, by construction, high-velocity and risk-tolerant — not the passive-fund managers who will ultimately determine where SpaceX settles after index inclusion.

Eric Chen, co-founder and CEO of Injective Labs, put it plainly in a note cited by Macheel: “These markets are dominated by very active, risk‑tolerant traders, and they aren’t pricing in a massive premium versus other pre‑IPO names. It’s a useful signal, but not a guarantee of how the broader market will react once SpaceX actually lists.” His follow-on observation carries more weight: the most optimistic participants still aren’t extremely bullish, which raises questions about how durable that demand is once real liquidity and price discovery arrive.

SpaceX is reportedly running four times oversubscribed going into Friday’s Nasdaq debut. At the $1.77 trillion target valuation, the company would instantly rank as the seventh-largest public company in the United States, surpassing Tesla based on its current market capitalisation.

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The $135 Take-It-Or-Leave-It Price and What It Signals

SpaceX took the unusual step of setting a fixed price of $135 per share rather than offering a price range that adjusts with demand — the customary IPO mechanism. The company is also targeting a 30% retail allocation, amounting to approximately $22.5 billion directed toward individual investors, per CJ Haddad’s reporting for CNBC. Fidelity has already reduced its IPO eligibility threshold — normally set at $100,000 or $500,000 in household assets depending on the deal — to as low as $2,000 specifically for this offering.

The fixed-price structure removes one of the market’s usual pressure valves. In a conventional book-build, weak demand shows up in a cut to the range; here, the price is the price. The fixed-price structure differs from traditional IPO book-building processes and may influence how market participants interpret initial trading activity.

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Where the Money Comes From — and Who Feels the Drain

Market participants have been discussing whether the IPO could influence capital allocation across certain sectors.. Tobias Burns at CNBC reports that analysts aren’t unanimous, but the Magnificent Seven has become the focal point of reallocation speculation.

Jane Gibbons at Jefferies wrote in a June 5 note to clients: “Increasingly, attention has centered on the Mag 7 and [technology, media and telecom stocks] more broadly as the most likely pocket of the market to absorb selling pressure.” Viraj Patel, global macro strategist at analytics firm Vanda Research, flagged in the same piece that retail activity has recently been “a bit flat,” with his hypothesis being that some of that represents dry powder being held back for the SpaceX listing. “People [could be] holding back from buying things like Nvidia and Tesla,” Patel told CNBC (Source: CNBC).

Some analysts have highlighted potential effects arising from index inclusion and associated portfolio rebalancing activity. . SpaceX is being fast-tracked into major benchmarks, including the Nasdaq 100 and FTSE Russell indices. Index-tracking funds may adjust portfolio holdings in accordance with their benchmark methodologies following inclusion decisions. . That’s a structural flow, not a discretionary one.

VanEck product manager Nicholas Frasse was direct on the sector-level implications: “We could see interest shift to individual names such as SpaceX,” he told CNBC via email. Given VanEck’s exposure to both space-themed and semiconductor ETFs, that’s a relevant observation rather than a detached one (Surce: VanECK).

Some market commentators have suggested that sectors which have experienced strong recent performance could be closely monitored for signs of portfolio reallocation. . Some names in the space ran hard through April and May. Any changes in investor positioning could affect market activity across a range of sectors, although outcomes remain uncertain.

Recent market commentary has highlighted changes in trading activity among large-cap technology stocks ahead of the IPO. 

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The Warren Letter and the SEC Window

Senator Elizabeth Warren sent a 12-page letter to the SEC on Tuesday calling for a delay to the IPO, shared with CNBC’s CJ Haddad. Warren cited three concerns: potential “inaccurate or misleading accounting or valuation” around SpaceX’s acquisition of Elon Musk-owned xAI; conflicts of interest stemming from Musk’s “uniquely unchecked” power as majority shareholder; and the risk that fast-tracking the company into major indices would effectively force passive investors into SpaceX exposure without meaningful opt-out.

“For investors who pick and choose their specific investments, they at least are able to avoid investing in companies that engage in risky or unfair practices,” Warren wrote. “But the SpaceX IPO creates a new concern: that major stock market indexes are being rigged in a way that would force millions of investors in passive index funds … to invest in SpaceX and face exposure to SpaceX’s significant risks with no choice in the matter. Source: Yahoo FInance“

CNBC reports it has reached out to SpaceX and SEC Chairman Paul Atkins for comment. As of this article’s publication, no public response has been issued. The SEC could theoretically delay the registration statement’s acceleration — but with the IPO scheduled for Friday and the book reportedly four times oversubscribed, the political and commercial momentum is heavily against any last-minute intervention. The potential regulatory implications of the letter remain uncertain.

The xAI acquisition concern is distinct from typical governance risk. It goes to whether SpaceX’s disclosed financials accurately represent the terms of a related-party transaction with another Musk entity — a question auditors and the SEC’s review process are supposed to address, but which isn’t publicly resolved as of today. That’s the specific red flag MarketWatch has also flagged in its analysis of risks embedded in the offering.

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The Counterargument: Additive, Not Redistributive

Not everyone expects a meaningful reallocation. Paul Meeks, sell-side head of tech research at Freedom Capital Markets, told CNBC he doesn’t see a transfer out of the Mag Seven. His reasoning: AI infrastructure investment continues to be an important area of focus for many market participants.

.he hyperscalers executing that spend are almost entirely the same Mag Seven names, and SpaceX is more likely to attract incremental capital than to cannibalise existing tech positions. “I think money might come out of other investments to invest in those IPOs,” he said.

Patel at Vanda also raised the possibility that SpaceX becomes part of a Mag 10 — additive to overall tech volumes rather than a zero-sum rebalancing. With Anthropic and OpenAI reportedly expected to list later this year at valuations approaching $1 trillion each, that framing could shift quickly. Three multitrillion-dollar listings in a calendar year is a different market-structure problem than one.

The honest answer is that the distribution of retail-fund flows into an offering this size is genuinely uncertain. The perps are one signal. The four-times oversubscription is another. Neither provides certainty regarding future market performance following the IPO.

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What’s Next

• Friday, 13 June 2026 — SpaceX Nasdaq debut. The company is set to begin trading. The opening print, relative to the $135 fixed IPO price, will be the first hard data point on whether the perp market’s 20% premium call was directionally correct.
• Ongoing — SEC response to Warren letter. SEC Chairman Paul Atkins has been contacted for comment. Market participants may continue to monitor any regulatory developments relating to the IPO.
• Market participants may continue to monitor developments related to index inclusion and portfolio rebalancing following the listing. .

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The record highs across Seoul and Tokyo on Friday appeared to reflect strong AI-related optimism despite ongoing geopolitical tensions . South Korea’s Kospi jumped more than 3% to a fresh intraday all-time high, while Japan’s Topix climbed 1.86% to its own record, even as Iran’s armed forces were reportedly firing missiles at unspecified targets just hours earlier, according to CNBC’s Lee Ying Shan.

The session’s suggested that investors were placing greater weight on: Asia-Pacific investors decided that a White House-confirmed near-deal with Tehran — and a 36.5% single-day surge in Snowflake — outweighed any residual geopolitical fear premium.

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Samsung’s HBM Shipment Is the Ignition Switch

The Kospi’s 3%-plus move did not happen in a vacuum. Samsung Electronics surged as much as 6.51% after the company announced it had begun shipping samples of its latest high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chip to customers globally, per CNBC. That is the kind of operational milestone — actual product moving out the door, not a roadmap slide — that the memory-chip complex has been waiting on. Given that Samsung is the Kospi’s single largest constituent, the index’s record was effectively unlocked by one announcement.

The small-cap Kosdaq, notably, fell 3.17% on the same day — a divergence that suggests the bid was concentrated, not broad-based domestic retail enthusiasm. This is institutional money rotating into large-cap AI-adjacent names, not a rising-tide session.

The Nikkei 225’s 2.49% gain looks impressive in isolation, but it trailed the Topix’s record partly because the Topix’s broader sector composition captured more of the industrial and financial tailwind. Japan’s market has been watching its own inflation data closely — Tokyo CPI figures were reported to be in focus on the day, per Investing.com — meaning BoJ-watchers will be parsing today’s print for any further pressure on the central bank’s rate path alongside the equity euphoria.

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Wall Street’s Snowflake Moment Fed Asia Overnight

The direct catalyst for Asia’s optimism arrived in the U.S. session on Thursday. Snowflake posted its best day ever — shares up 36.5% — after the cloud-data platform beat on revenues and earnings and guided strongly for its fiscal second quarter, simultaneously announcing a multi-billion-dollar commitment to spend on Amazon Web Services over five years, CNBC reported. That combination — a beat, raised guidance, and a hyperscaler spend commitment in a single print — is exactly the kind of signal that reprices AI infrastructure demand expectations across the entire supply chain.

The S&P 500 closed at 7,563.63 (+0.58%) and the Nasdaq Composite at 26,917.47 (+0.91%), both hitting intraday all-time highs. Asia’s semiconductor and hardware names took that as permission to run.

Asset	Move	Level / Note
Kospi	+3%+	Fresh intraday all-time high
Topix	+1.86%	New all-time high
Nikkei 225	+2.49%	—
Kosdaq	-3.17%	Lagged; small-cap divergence
Hang Seng	+1.1%	—
CSI 300	Flat	Unchanged
S&P/ASX 200	+0.72%	—
Nifty 50	~flat	Near flatline
S&P 500 (prior close)	+0.58%	7,563.63 — record close
Nasdaq Composite (prior close)	+0.91%	26,917.47 — record close

Source: CNBC

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The Iran Discount Is Smaller Than the Ceasefire Premium

The geopolitical situation warrants some attention precisely because markets are largely dismissing it. Iran’s armed forces reportedly fired missiles at unspecified targets late Thursday, per state media outlet Fars — and that came hours after the Pentagon confirmed Tehran had fired a ballistic missile toward Kuwait and deployed attack drones in and around the Strait of Hormuz, CNBC reported.

Earlier on Thursday, a White House official confirmed an Axios report that the U.S. and Iran had “mostly agreed” on the terms of a deal to temporarily halt what appears to be a three-month conflict.

Market activity appeared to reflect greater focus on ceasefire developments than on the latest military headlines. That is a defensible read if the “mostly agreed” framing holds — but it is also a crowded trade. Any reversal of ceasefire optimism, particularly around the Strait of Hormuz, would move oil rapidly, and oil moves tend to reprice the energy-import-heavy economies of Japan and South Korea in opposite directions to Brent.

Japan runs a large energy import bill; Korea’s petrochemical and shipping complex has asymmetric exposure depending on whether crude spikes or fades. Today’s session has effectively left those tail risks on the table unhedged.

The CSI 300 going nowhere — flat while the rest of the region rallied — may reflect something other than indifference. Chinese equities have their own structural headwinds, and the AI-chip narrative that lifted Samsung and the broader Korean market does not translate directly into a bid for domestic Chinese tech names in the same way, given ongoing export-control constraints on the highest-end memory and logic chips.

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What Could Stall the Record Run

The Kosdaq’s 3.17% decline on the same day the Kospi hit a record is the one detail that deserves more scrutiny. In a genuinely broad-based rally, small-caps tend to participate — sometimes outperform. Their underperformance here could mean the session’s gains are concentrated in a handful of large-cap AI-linked names, leaving the rally structurally narrow. Narrow rallies at record levels have historically tended to require either a broadening or a catalyst for the next leg; without one, distribution tends to follow. Whether Samsung’s HBM shipment announcement is the start of a multi-quarter earnings upgrade cycle — or a sell-the-news moment once the sample-shipment details get stress-tested — will determine whether the Kospi’s record is a floor or a ceiling.

U.S. futures were trading near flat ahead of Friday’s open, per CNBC, suggesting Wall Street is not accelerating the move rather than following Asia higher. That is worth watching into the close.

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Risk Disclaimer: Trading CFDs involves substantial risk and may result in the loss of your invested capital. CFDs are complex instruments and come with a high risk of losing money rapidly due to leverage. You should consider whether you understand how CFDs work and whether you can afford to take the high risk of losing your money. Past performance is not indicative of future results. This content is for informational and educational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.