Analysis

US indices diverged as tech volatility dragged the Nasdaq down, while Micron and SMCI surged on AI expansions.

The decline in Japanese and South Korean stock markets at today's open was not driven by deteriorating fundamentals in a single country, but was rather the result of a confluence of multiple headwinds, including the overnight plunge in US tech stocks, sudden shifts in global political and geopolitical situations, and key domestic events in South Korea.

TradingKey - On June 22, Eastern Time, positive progress in US-Iran negotiations boosted market sentiment, but a sharp drop in SpaceX weighed on the market, leading to mixed performances among the three major US stock indexes. The Nasdaq Composite Index fell over 1%, while chip stocks bucked the trend to post gains. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.29% to 51,712.71 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 1.32% to 26,166.60 points; and the S&P 500 Index declined 0.37% to 7,472.79 points.

TradingKey - Following SpaceX's (SPCX) announcement of its inaugural investment-grade bond offering, rumors of an imminent merger with Tesla have dragged the company's stock price down once again. As of press time, SpaceX fell 15.45% to $156.41, on the verge of dropping below its listing-day debut price of $150, with its latest market capitalization standing at $2.05 trillion.

TradingKey - Google (GOOGL) saw up to $320 billion in market value wiped out today as its share price plunged over 7% intraday, hitting its lowest level since late April. Latest reports indicate that Google's AI division has suffered another loss of core research staff, marking the second departure of a top AI talent within a week. As of press time, Google was down over 6% at $346.47, with its latest market capitalization standing at $4.2 trillion.

TradingKey - Shares of SanDisk (SNDK) continued to hit fresh all-time highs following the disclosure of its new patent. As of press time, the stock rose 5.65% to $2,308.24, bringing its market capitalization to $342.5 billion, representing an astonishing year-to-date surge of approximately 50-fold. SanDisk plans to directly bond computing units with NAND flash memory, downgrading the role of HBM from core memory to an auxiliary tier.

TradingKey - US-Iran peace talks in Switzerland are currently advancing, with US Vice President Vance disclosing that negotiations are progressing well. The two major crude oil futures have returned to their recent lows, nearing pre-war price levels. Vance revealed that Iran has officially agreed to allow inspectors from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) to re-enter the country to conduct their work. He characterized this resolution as a key milestone in the process: "This is an important milestone for the American people and the first step toward achieving the permanent denuclearization of Iran, or permanently ending Iran’s nuclear weapons program." Weighed down by the positive progress of the peace talks, the two major crude oil futures weakened. As of press time, WTI crude oil futures fell 2.79% to $73.73, while Brent crude oil futures dropped 2.15% to $78.12.

TradingKey - On Monday, oil giant Chevron (CVX) announced a 20-year energy supply agreement with tech giant Microsoft (MSFT) to provide dedicated natural gas power support for the latter's planned hyperscale data center in West Texas.

Micron continued to surge to a record high today, poised to break through the $1,200 mark ahead of its earnings release.

TradingKey - SpaceX stock trades near $179 after Moody's, Fitch and S&P assigned investment-grade ratings. A $20 billion bond offering, $29 billion debt load and 12 million Starlink subscribers are now the key catalysts for SPCX investors.

TradingKey - The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has demonstrated an unprecedented review speed for SpaceX's (SPCX) IPO application. Founded by Elon Musk, the space exploration company took just 74 days from confidentially filing its prospectus to officially going public, compressing the average timeline for recent major tech IPOs by more than one-third.

SpaceX plans to raise $20 billion in its inaugural bond offering, as market concerns over its cash burn rate trigger a three-day decline in its stock price.

TradingKey - Accenture stock plunged 17.97% after Q3 earnings despite an EPS beat and $3.6B in free cash flow. With RSI at 20.86 and forward P/E below 10, investors are asking whether ACN's selloff has gone too far.

Memory stocks rally pre-market! Intel surges on partnership with UMC, Micron rebounds sharply; SpaceX continues to plunge over $20 billion debt issuance.

TradingKey - In US premarket trading on Monday, Intel (INTC) rose over 4% to $139.40, while United Microelectronics (UMC) surged over 13% to $27.25. On the news front, tech media outlet FundaAI reported that Intel and UMC have signed an agreement to jointly develop 12nm and 3nm chip manufacturing processes, with production to be concentrated at Intel's Ocotillo campus in Arizona.

TradingKey - On Monday, June 22, well-known Apple supply chain analyst Ming-Chi Kuo disclosed that Google (GOOGL) (GOOG) will develop an upgraded v9 chip, likely codenamed "Triggerfish", based on the TPU v9 (codenamed "Humufish"), with MediaTek exclusively securing the order. The chip targets applications in AI agents and reinforcement learning (RL) scenarios, and is expected to enter the volume production phase in 2028.

TradingKey - On June 22, Seoul time, Lee Chan-jin, Governor of South Korea's Financial Supervisory Service, publicly stated that authorities are studying special regulatory measures for single-stock leveraged ETFs linked to Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. This statement marks the first time regulators have publicly responded to the associated risks through an official press conference hosted by the Governor since the products were listed at the end of May.

TradingKey - The latest precious metals research report from Morgan Stanley (MS) shows that while continuous gold buying by global central banks provides solid downside support, gold's (XAU/USD) march toward a historic high of $5,200 per ounce is encountering strong headwinds from the Federal Reserve's hawkish policy.

Nvidia's 2026 annual shareholder meeting is scheduled to be held on June 24, with capacity ramp signals for its flagship Blackwell chip and its first self-developed Vera CPU drawing intense focus from global investors.

TradingKey - During the Asian trading session on June 22, Japanese and South Korean stock markets fell before rebounding. Dragged down by news of a stalemate in US-Iran negotiations over the weekend, both markets opened lower in early trading. However, market sentiment recovered quickly in the afternoon following news that the talks had made substantial progress. The Nikkei 225 Index surpassed 72,000 points for the first time, setting a new intraday record high. South Korea's KOSPI Index erased an early decline of nearly 2% to turn positive, reclaiming the 9,100-point mark.