FINWIRES · TerminalLIVE
FINWIRES

Equities Mostly Rise Intraday as Tech Jumps, Markets Monitor Middle East Developments

By
Equities Mostly Rise Intraday as Tech Jumps, Markets Monitor Middle East Developments

US benchmark equity indexes were mostly higher intraday as the technology sector jumped, while Iran reportedly suspended military operation against Israel.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite was up 1.1% at 25,987.8 after midday Monday, while the S&P 500 rose 0.5% to 7,419.6. The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.1% to 50,812.9. Friday's sell-off saw the Nasdaq post its biggest one-day decline since April 2025, while the Dow pulled back from a record high.

Among sectors, tech paced the gainers intraday Monday, advancing by 2%, while utilities saw the biggest drop.

Shares of certain chipmakers were notable gainers, with Intel (INTC) up nearly 11%, the top performer on the S&P 500. Micron Technology (MU) followed Intel on the index, rising 9.4%.

Alphabet's (GOOG, GOOGL) Google and Nvidia (NVDA) have turned to Intel as a backup manufacturer for their most advanced processors as Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM) struggles to meet overwhelming demand, The Information reported, citing unnamed sources.

Taiwan Semiconductor shares were up 3%.

Cisco Systems (CSCO) rose 3%, the best performer on the Dow, followed by Nvidia's 1.8% gain.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was up 0.5% at $90.95 a barrel intraday, while Brent rose 1.2% to $94.23, but both benchmarks were off session highs.

Iran has suspended strikes against Israel, the former's Ministry of Foreign Affairs told CNBC Monday. The two countries traded strikes on Sunday night, according to reports.

"Iran's restraint is a positive for diplomacy," Tudor Pickering Holt said in a note.

However, Iran vowed to resume attacks if Israel continues to target Iran-backed Hezbollah in Lebanon, according to the CNBC report.

Israel and Iran were looking for "an immediate ceasefire," US President Donald Trump said Monday.

"Final negotiations on 'peace' are proceeding, subject to ignorance or stupidity getting in its way," Trump said in a social media post. "The blockade (against Iran) will remain in place, and in full force and effect, until a 'final deal' is reached. Things should move quickly."

"Despite repeated optimism from the US administration, a lasting peace agreement appears increasingly elusive," Saxo Bank said in a report. "The near-closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to tighten global energy markets, with several oil majors warning that the window before physical shortages begin to emerge may be measured in weeks rather than months."

US Treasury yields were mixed intraday, with the 10-year rate up 1.2 basis points at 4.55%, and the two-year rate falling one basis point to 4.16%.

Ciena (CIEN) shares were down 5%, the steepest decline on the S&P 500, as the company said it planned a private offering of $2 billion of convertible senior notes due 2031.

Oracle (ORCL) and Adobe (ADBE) are scheduled to report their latest financial results later this week, along with others.

Gold was down 0.2% at $4,358.50 per troy ounce, while silver dropped 0.9% to $68.50 per ounce.

Related Articles

Japanese Bank Lending Jumps 5.7% in May, Topping Forecasts
US Markets

Japanese Bank Lending Jumps 5.7% in May, Topping Forecasts

Japanese bank lending in May grew the fastest since March 2021 on higher growth in major banks, according to data from the Bank of Japan released Monday.Bank lending in the country jumped 5.7% year over year in May, faster than the 5.4% rise in April and above the 5.6% forecast by Trading Economics.Total outstanding loans at major, regional, and shinkin banks reached 670.8 trillion yen during the month.Loans at major banks jumped 8.7% year over year, with 275.3 trillion yen in outstanding loans. The growth was faster than the 7.9% rise reported in April, the central bank said.Regional bank loans grew 4.3%, faster than the 4.2% increase in April. Total outstanding loans were at 316 trillion yen.Lending at major and regional banks combined rose 6.3% during the month, accelerating from 5.9% in April. Total outstanding loans as of May were at 591.4 trillion yen.Shinkin banks or cooperative-owned financial institutions saw loan growth at 1.7%, higher than the 1.5% increase seen a month ago, with total outstanding loans at 79.5 trillion yen.The heightened lending activity comes as businesses in the country boost borrowing to cover cash shortfalls due to mergers, capital investments, and investor pressure, Bloomberg reported separately the same day.Total deposits inched up 2.1% year over year in May, faster than the 1.9% growth in April. Total outstanding deposits were at 1.0826 quadrillion yen.City and regional bank deposits increased 2.4% year over year, with outstanding deposits of 920 trillion yen in May.Investment bank Jefferies said its impression of Japanese loans and deposits is positive due to stronger growth compared with the previous month, according to a report released Monday.

$^N225
Nvidia Strikes Partnerships With South Korea's SK Hynix, SK Telecom, Naver
US Markets

Nvidia Strikes Partnerships With South Korea's SK Hynix, SK Telecom, Naver

Nvidia has signed a trio of technology partnerships with South Korean tech companies SK Hynix (KRX:000660), SK Telecom (KRX:017670) and Naver (KRX:035420), according to press releases from the US chip giant on Sunday.The partnerships position South Korea as a major hub for Nvidia's AI infrastructure.Under a new multiyear hardware agreement, Nvidia and SK Hynix will co-develop advanced memory for Nvidia's AI supercomputers, including its upcoming Vera Rubin platform.The new Vera CPU, which handles central processing workloads for the Rubin architecture, is currently in full production. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told Bloomberg News that systems built on the new architecture are scheduled to begin shipping in the third quarter.The collaboration will also focus on producing custom memory for Nvidia's Jetson Thor robotic computing platforms.As part of the deal, the South Korean chipmaker, a rival to Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) and Micron Technology, gains access to Nvidia software suites like PhysicsNeMo and Omniverse. SK Hynix plans to integrate these tools into its in-house simulation codes and 3D visualizations to build "digital twins" of its manufacturing facilities, optimizing autonomous fab operations and the movement of mobile robots.Nvidia has also partnered with SK Telecom to deploy the full-stack Nvidia DSX platform.The agreement aims to build a gigawatt-scale AI Cloud in South Korea, with the first AI data center scheduled to go online by 2027. This infrastructure will provide GPU-based cloud computing tailored to support sovereign, physical, and agentic AI workloads for enterprises across Korea, with plans to expand to Asia."Telecom networks are becoming national AI infrastructure," said Huang. "They connect people, companies, devices and machines - and now they can become the backbone of new AI clouds."Separately, Nvidia also teamed up with Naver to expand sovereign AI infrastructure, starting at 55 megawatts with plans to move to gigawatt scale using the DSX platform.Naver will leverage Nvidia's open model Nemotron 3 Ultra to further scale its HyperCLOVA X model for enterprise use.Naver will also deploy the Nvidia Cosmos platform to accelerate its "Seoul World Model," which uses real-world Korean spatial data to train autonomous driving systems.While the exact financial terms of these collaborations were not disclosed, Reuters reported that the hardware partnership with SK Hynix will run for at least two years, with an option to extend, following high-profile meetings between Jensen Huang, SK Group Chairman Chey Tae-won, and Naver founder Lee Hae-jin.In Seoul trading at midday on Monday, SK Hynix's shares fell nearly 2%, Naver jumped almost 14%, while SK Telecom rose nearly 7%.

$KRX:000660$KRX:005930$KRX:017670$KRX:035420
Japan's Economy Expands in Q1 as BOJ Rate Decision Looms
US Markets

Japan's Economy Expands in Q1 as BOJ Rate Decision Looms

Japan's economy continued to grow in the first quarter, as investors looked ahead to a closely watched Bank of Japan policy meeting later this month.The country's economy expanded at an annualized rate of 1.8% in the first quarter, according to final data released by the Cabinet Office on Monday.The reading was revised down from the preliminary estimate of 2.1% growth.The final figure exceeded the market consensus forecast for a 1.3% increase, according to Trading Economics.Business investment fell 0.7% from the previous quarter, a sharp downward revision from an initial estimate of 0.3% growth. Meanwhile, private consumption, which makes up more than half of Japan's economy, rose 0.3%, matching the preliminary reading.The data comes as attention turns to the Bank of Japan's June 15-16 policy meeting, where policymakers are expected to consider another interest-rate increase.The growth figures are unlikely to derail expectations for further policy tightening.Bank of Japan Governor Kazuo Ueda signaled that a rate increase remains under consideration if policymakers judge that inflation risks outweigh the potential economic damage from the conflict in the Middle East."Even if the situation remains unclear, should it be judged that upside risks to prices outweigh downside risks to economic activity, it will be necessary to thoroughly discuss the pros and cons of raising the policy interest rate," Ueda said last week.Markets are pricing in roughly an 80% chance that the Bank of Japan will raise its short-term policy rate to 1% from 0.75% at its June 15-16 policy meeting."The impact of the Middle East situation didn't materialize in the first quarter, but it is likely to become apparent going forward," Shinichiro Kobayashi, chief economist at Mitsubishi UFJ Research and Consulting, was quoted as saying by Bloomberg News."Given the recent remarks from the BOJ, it appears it is focusing more on curbing inflation, so I expect it to raise interest rates this month," he added.A move to 1% would lift the benchmark rate to its highest level since 1995 and mark the latest step in the central bank's effort to normalize monetary policy.Japan's wholesale prices rose 4.9% in April from a year earlier, accelerating at the fastest pace in three years as the war in Iran boosted oil and chemical prices.Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi's government approved a $19 billion supplementary budget on Wednesday to help cushion households from higher energy costs stemming from the conflict in the Middle East.The yen's weakness has added to inflationary pressures in resource-poor Japan, which relies heavily on energy imports from the Middle East.Japanese authorities have spent a record amount of foreign-exchange reserves over the past month to support the currency after it weakened beyond the 160-per-dollar level, signaling concerns about the impact of a weaker yen on import costs and inflation.

$^N225