A rebound in AI stocks pushed the S&P 500 up 0.7% on Monday, leaving it within 1% of its all-time high even as most of its members fell. The same nerves over stretched AI valuations sent Asian chip shares sharply lower, with South Korea’s Kospi shedding nearly 8%.
A narrow band of artificial-intelligence stocks did the heavy lifting on Wall Street, carrying the S&P 500 up 0.7% to 7,537.54 and to within 1% of its record, even though the majority of stocks in the index fell. The concentration was stark: the Nasdaq composite climbed 1.1% to 26,121.16, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.3% to a record 53,055.91.
Broadcom leads the AI advance
Broadcom was among the strongest forces behind the move, rising 3.7% after announcing long-term agreements to supply silicon products to Apple. The gain followed two straight losses of more than 2% on Wednesday and Thursday of last week, before the Fourth of July holiday.
The AI theme ran through the day’s other movers. SpaceX fell 1% in its last session before joining the Nasdaq 100, a move that will force index funds like the QQQ exchange-traded fund to buy the shares. TeraWulf climbed 4.9% after saying Anthropic agreed to a 20-year deal to use its Kentucky data center.
Asian chip shares slide on valuation nerves
The same enthusiasm cut the other way in Asia, where AI stocks have been gyrating on fears their prices have shot too high. In Seoul, the Kospi lost 7.6% to 7,444.13 as Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both slumped 8.7%. The drop came even after Samsung said its operating income surged 19-fold to 89.4 trillion won ($58.7 billion) last quarter.
One analyst framed the paradox directly. According to WTOP: “It may have arrived with Samsung posting an extraordinary quarter and the stock falling anyway”, Stephen Innes of SPI Asset Management said in a commentary. A Mirae Asset analyst instead attributed Samsung’s decline to foreign investors selling to lock in recent gains and rebalancing their portfolios.
What comes next
SK Hynix will test appetite for AI again this week, aiming to raise $28 billion through a share sale on the Nasdaq that would rank among the biggest U.S. offerings ever, behind SpaceX’s $75 billion IPO. Elsewhere in the region, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 declined 1.8% to 68,493.52, while European trading opened mixed, with Germany’s DAX down 0.5%. The company’s stock in Seoul has more than tripled so far this year on the AI boom, despite sharp losses in recent weeks.
Sources: WTOP, The Journal
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