US Stocks Surge as AI Frenzy Overshadows Middle East Tensions; SOX Jumps Over 3%, SK Hynix's US IPO Draws Attention

US stocks closed sharply higher on Thursday (9th), as investor focus shifted back to artificial intelligence (AI) themes, overshadowing concerns over escalating US-Iran tensions. South Korea's memory giant SK Hynix is preparing for a US listing, boosting semiconductor stocks. The Nasdaq Composite rose 1.3%.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 140.98 points (0.27%) to close at 52,175.89; the S&P 500 rose 60.24 points (0.81%) to 7,541.78; the Nasdaq Composite added 336.24 points (1.30%) to 26,206.89.

International oil prices gave back some of Wednesday's gains as investors gradually absorbed the impact of Middle East developments.

The US and Iran exchanged large-scale military strikes, with US forces hitting around 90 Iranian-linked targets, and Iran retaliating against US allies' Middle East bases. However, President Trump claimed Iran had contacted the US seeking a deal, leading to a relatively calm market reaction. According to officials from Qatar and Pakistan, mediators from both countries are working to bring the US and Iran back to the negotiating table.

Market attention turned back to AI. SK Hynix is set to list on the Nasdaq on Friday, with its American Depositary Shares (ADS) priced on Thursday. Reports suggest subscription demand reached seven times the available shares, signaling strong investor confidence in AI memory demand and boosting chip stocks like Micron, Marvell (MRVL-US), and SanDisk (SNDK-US).

On the economic front, US initial jobless claims last week were little changed from the prior week, indicating a stable labor market and providing fresh data for assessing the Federal Reserve's future rate policy.

Major US indices on Thursday (9th):

Dow Jones Industrial Average: +139.02 points (+0.27%), 52,487.41 Nasdaq Composite: +336.24 points (+1.30%), 26,206.89 S&P 500: +60.93 points (+0.81%), 7,543.64 Philadelphia Semiconductor Index: +385.04 points (+3.06%), 12,960.00 NYSE FANG+ Index: +187.17 points (+1.08%), 17,511.28

Key Individual Stocks

Tech giants in the NYSE FANG+ Index mostly rose. Meta (META-US) surged 4.70%; Apple (AAPL-US) gained 0.90%; Amazon (AMZN-US) rose 1.40%; Microsoft (MSFT-US) added 0.27%; Alphabet (GOOGL-US) fell 0.84%.

Philadelphia Semiconductor stocks rallied strongly. AMD (AMD-US) jumped 5.67%; Micron (MU-US) soared 4.52%; Broadcom (AVGO-US) rose 3.20%; Applied Materials (AMAT-US) gained 3.18%; Qualcomm (QCOM-US) climbed 2.44%; while Nvidia (NVDA-US) dipped 0.66%.

Taiwan ADRs mixed. ASE (ASX-US) surged 8.31%; UMC (UMC-US) rose 0.53%; TSMC (TSM-US) was nearly flat; CHT (CHT-US) fell 0.90%.

Company News

Micron (MU-US) rose over 4% to $991.64. The company announced up to $3 billion in investments to strengthen the US semiconductor supply chain ecosystem.

Paramount Skydance (PSKY-US) fell over 4% to $9.33. Reuters cited sources saying multiple US state governments are preparing antitrust lawsuits against the entertainment group's proposed acquisition of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD-US).

Salesforce (CRM-US) dropped over 2% to $162.50 after KeyBanc Capital Markets downgraded its rating from 'Overweight' to 'Hold' and withdrew its price target. Analyst Jackson Ader noted a lack of evidence for future upside momentum.

PepsiCo (PEP-US) reported mixed Q2 results: adjusted EPS of $2.20 missed LSEG's $2.21 estimate, but revenue of $24.18 billion exceeded the $23.95 billion forecast. The stock fell over 3% to $137.86.

Costco (COST-US) dropped over 4% to $912.97 after reporting slowing same-store sales growth: June's 8.8% year-on-year increase lagged May's 12.5%.

Qiagen (QGEN-US) surged over 10% to $41.99. Bloomberg cited sources indicating potential buyers including EQT, AllianceBernstein (AB-US), and KKR (KKR-US) are considering acquiring the molecular diagnostics firm. Some bidders may offer at least $50 per share.

Wall Street Analysis

Megan Horneman, Chief Investment Officer at Verdence, described the situation as "highly inflationary and highly uncertain," which could end quickly or escalate. She advised investors to maintain diversified global equity exposure.

Horneman expects continued volatility, noting investors may be becoming numb to the back-and-forth US-Iran tensions. She warned current market levels may not yet reflect the risk of at least one Fed rate hike in the second half of the year.

She emphasized that the conflict is exacerbating inflation pressures beyond just oil prices. While long-term AI investment may suppress inflation, short-term factors like massive AI spending, strong economic growth, and sustained consumer spending could fuel inflationary pressures.

(All figures are pre-publication updates; actual prices may vary)