Luke Kawa4/16/25

US stocks slump, with tech heavyweights cratering on fresh semiconductor export restrictions

US stocks slid, with tech leading the way down as chipmakers face additional curbs on what they can sell to China. Major indexes extended losses after Fed Chair Jerome Powell reiterated the message that the central bank is in no hurry to respond to the hit to growth from tariffs because these levies will also put upward pressure on inflation.

The S&P 500 ended down 2.2%, the Nasdaq 100 fell 3%, and the Russell 2000 gave back 1%.

Tech was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector ETF, with all besides energy finishing in the red.

After the close on Tuesday, Nvidia said it was taking a $5.5 billion charge in its upcoming earnings report because the chip designer is no longer allowed to sell its H20 chips to China. Shares tumbled on the news, with analysts rushing to figure out how much these exports restrictions will dent earnings. That wasn’t the only bad news for semis on the day, as Dutch chip equipment manufacturer ASML slumped on lower-than-expected sales and orders.

Elsewhere in pain for Magnificent 7 stocks, Apple gave back all of the gains it made following the tariff exemptions announced Friday after the close, while Tesla slumped hard on a string of bad news.

United Airlines initially soared after reporting better-than-expected earnings after the close on Tuesday, but gave back that advance to finish flat. The airline provided two sets of guidance, and the numbers for the recessionary scenario look very optimistic relative to history.

Car rental company Hertz was a standout performer, spiking more than 50% after Pershing Square, run by Bill Ackman, revealed a 4% position in the stock.

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Tasha Matsumoto

Stocks trade higher as tech rebound continues

Tech was the best-performing sector for the second consecutive session.

Chicago Bulls Mascot Benny the Bull dunks the ball during the halftime show of the Missouri Valley Conference college basketball game between the Loyola-Chicago Ramblers and the Illinois State Redbirds on February 2, 2019.

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Matt Phillips6h

Sandisk and Micron slip as Samsung rushes new product into production

Sandisk and Micron, which have boomed along with prices for the memory chips needed for the AI data center build-out, are limping behind the broader market Monday after a weekend report that South Korean chip giant Samsung is beginning “mass production” of its latest memory product, HBM4, slightly earlier than expected.

US memory chip maker Micron also makes HBM (high-bandwidth memory), which is essentially a large memory product designed for AI applications.

Sandisk doesn’t make HBM. But it is developing a kind of high-bandwidth flash NAND memory product that is intended to function as an HBM option for AI data centers.

More broadly, signs that Asian production giants are responding to high prices by ramping up supply means that the nosebleed pricing of memory chips that quintupled Sandisk’s profit over the last year might not last forever.

Samsung to begin mass production of HBM4 chips later this month: sources | Yonhap News Agency

Samsung moves first on HBM4 in bid to regain AI memory edge

US memory chip maker Micron also makes HBM (high-bandwidth memory), which is essentially a large memory product designed for AI applications.

Sandisk doesn’t make HBM. But it is developing a kind of high-bandwidth flash NAND memory product that is intended to function as an HBM option for AI data centers.

More broadly, signs that Asian production giants are responding to high prices by ramping up supply means that the nosebleed pricing of memory chips that quintupled Sandisk’s profit over the last year might not last forever.

Novo Nordisk has lost most of its post-Wegovy market cap gains

A weak sales outlook and a copycat scare capped a brutal week for Europe’s one-time most valuable company.

Still life of a bottle of the new Wegovy semaglutide tablets on a womans hand.

markets

Matt Phillips9h

Oracle rises as DA Davidson gives it a “buy” rating because of OpenAI positivity

Oracle rose after receiving an upgrade to start the week. Analysts at DA Davidson bumped up their view on the stock from “neutral” to “buy” and kept their $180 price target on the shares. That’s about 27% higher than Friday’s close.

Their shift isn’t so much about Oracle but about OpenAI, which Davidson folks now think is increasingly likely to be able to make good on billions of dollars’ worth of planned spending on computing power at Oracle and other hyperscalers. They wrote:

“We are now more positive on OpenAI, based on changes in strategy, new frontier models, the pressure on Google’s competitors from its recent ascent, and progress on its fundraising efforts. Most importantly, we believe OpenAI already has as much as $40B of cash on hand and may be raising as much as another $100B by the end of the quarter, which should help pay for the data centers Oracle is building for OpenAI. Since the market is currently assigning the OpenAI relationship a negative value, we believe the fundraise will serve as a catalyst for outperformance.”

For OpenAI’s part, CEO Sam Altman just told employees that the company was “back to exceeding 10% monthly growth,” according to CNBC reporting.

markets

Max Knoblauch9h

Roblox rises following upgrade and price target hike from Roth Capital as growth in older players boosts optimism

Shares of Roblox are up in early trading on Monday following a price target hike and an upgrade from “neutral” to “buy” from Roth Capital.

Roth bumped its price target up from $78 to $84, with analyst Eric Handler citing the company’s “sustainable virtuous circle where continuously improving creator/development tools are producing higher quality games, which enhances the user experience, and drives higher engagement.”

Handler also noted Roblox’s success in growing its 18-plus player base, which increased 50% last year and, per Roth, “monetized 40% higher than under-18-users.”

The platform surged after reporting its fourth-quarter earnings last week, with stronger-than-expected full-year bookings guidance. Still, the stock remains below levels in January, before the debut of Google’s AI interactive worlds generator, Project Genie.

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