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Update: Equity Markets Rise Intraday as Traders Track Middle East Developments

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Update: Equity Markets Rise Intraday as Traders Track Middle East Developments

(Updates with latest market prices and developments.)

US benchmark equity indexes were higher intraday and oil prices dropped as traders tracked conflicting messaging around the Iran war.

The S&P 500 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average were up 0.3% each at 7,565.9 and 52,635 after midday Friday. The Nasdaq Composite rose 0.2% to 26,264.7. Among sectors, materials paced the gainers, while healthcare saw the steepest decline.

West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 1.1% at $71.29 per barrel intraday, while Brent fell 0.6% to $75.83.

US crude futures were on track for their first weekly advance following four consecutive weekly declines. Brent prices were headed for their second straight weekly rise.

President Donald Trump said Friday that the US agreed to continue negotiations with Iran, although he reiterated that their ceasefire is over.

Hostilities between the two countries resumed in recent days, weeks after they signed a memorandum of understanding to end their war.

Qatari negotiators travelled to Iran, seeking to de-escalate the situation in a trip planned in coordination with the US, CNN reported Friday, citing a diplomat with knowledge of the visit.

"With oil prices softening following the mid-week spike, traders appear to view the latest tensions as a challenge to the ceasefire rather than a complete breakdown," Saxo Bank said in a report Friday. "Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz remains low, with no large commodity-laden vessels seen transiting."

The International Energy Agency on Friday projected a smaller decline in global oil demand in 2026 amid signs of a rebound in consumption as crude flows improve.

US Treasury yields were higher intraday, with the two-year rate up 4.4 basis points at 4.21% and the 10-year rate rising 2.4 basis points to 4.56%.

In company news, SK Hynix (SKHY, SKHYV) American depositary shares opened trade at $170 in their debut on the Nasdaq Friday, and rose to as high as $177. The South Korean memory semiconductor company priced its initial public offering 177.9 million ADS at $149 apiece.

Meta Platforms (META) jumped 5%, the top gainer on the S&P 500. The Facebook parent is aiming to start the production of artificial intelligence chips from September, Reuters reported Thursday, citing an internal memo.

Gold slipped 0.6% to $4,114.60 per troy ounce, while silver lost 0.9% to $60.18 per ounce.

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SK Hynix Raises $26.5 Billion in Nasdaq IPO, Sets Record For Foreign Listing
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SK Hynix (KRX:000660) has set the price of its initial public offering on the Nasdaq at $149 per American depositary share, raising about $26.5 billion, according to a press release on Thursday.At that size, the South Korean semiconductor company now ranks as the largest US stock sale in history by a company based out of the US.SK Hynix sold 177.9 million ADRs, equal to 17.79 million common shares, or about 2.5% of its total issued and outstanding share capital. The Financial Times reported, citing two people familiar with the matter, that the offer was seven times oversubscribed, with more than 500 investment firms looking to buy shares.Situational Awareness, run by a former OpenAI researcher's hedge fund, UK investor Baillie Gifford and US tech-focused investment management firm Coatue, signaled that they could take up to $7 billion worth of the ADSs that SK Hynix plans to sell, the FT reported earlier this week.The ADRs will begin trading on Friday under the symbol SKHYV and are set to shift to regular trading under SKHY on Monday, July 13.Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan are the underwriters.The chipmaker's Nasdaq IPO eclipses Alibaba Group's (HKG:9988) $21.8 billion NYSE listing in 2014.SK Hynix, a key supplier of high-bandwidth memory used in AI processors, said it will use the proceeds from the Nasdaq IPO to fund new production lines at home and purchase extreme ultraviolet lithography (EUV) scanners, which it expects to cost roughly 11.9 trillion won.The listing follows a wave of capital commitments in South Korea. In June, SK Hynix and rival Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) pledged to lead a 1,350 trillion won government-backed initiative to build new fabrication plants and AI data centers at home.In the first quarter of 2026, SK Hynix reported a fivefold year-over-year increase in net income to 40.35 trillion won, on revenue of 52.58 trillion won, which tripled from 17.64 trillion won a year earlier.The FT said analysts expect SK Hynix's US listing to boost its valuation and narrow its gap against global peers like Micron."There is still considerable upside potential," Kim Dong-won, head of research at KB Securities, was quoted by the FT as saying. "The chip rally isn't over yet."In June, SK Hynix topped Samsung to become South Korea's most valuable company. Recently, however, Samsung managed to reclaim its crown. By Thursday's close, SK Hynix held a market capitalization of 1,558 trillion won, falling behind Samsung's valuation of 1,776 trillion won.

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Update: US Equities Rise, Oil Prices Fall as Traders Look Past Middle East Tensions
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Update: US Equities Rise, Oil Prices Fall as Traders Look Past Middle East Tensions

(Updates with market moves at the end of the day.)Wall Street's equity benchmarks rose Thursday and oil prices pulled back, apparently shrugging off concerns over renewed tensions in the Middle East.The tech-heavy Nasdaq closed 1.3% higher at 26,206.9, rising for the second consecutive day. The S&P 500 gained 0.8% to 7,543.6 and the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.3% to 52,487.4, both rebounding following a two-day decline.Among sectors, tech led gainers with a 1.7% advance, while consumer staples saw the steepest decline.Micron Technology's shares (MU) jumped 4.5%. The company announced an increase in its planned US investment to more than $250 billion through 2035 and outlined intentions to invest up to $3 billion to bolster domestic semiconductor supply chain.Other chip-related stocks also moved higher, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), ON Semiconductor (ON), Marvell Technology (MRVL), Applied Materials (AMAT), and Intel (INTC).West Texas Intermediate crude oil was down 2.2% at $71.87 per barrel in Thursday late-afternoon trade, while Brent dropped 2.5% to $76.05.Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps said it fired 10 ballistic missiles at a US base in Jordan Thursday in retaliation to Washington's aggression, CNN reported.The US Central Command said its forces hit Iran for the second day in a row on Wednesday after Tehran attacked three tankers that crossed the Strait of Hormuz.US President Donald Trump said Wednesday he was no longer interested in negotiating with Iran, saying he believed the recent memorandum of understanding signed between the two countries was over.The renewed tensions between the two sides could be "relatively short-lived" given constraints faced by both countries, according to Macquarie Group."The US is constrained by the risk that higher oil prices could return with fewer mitigation sources available as time goes on and the risk that Iran could materially damage (Middle East) oil infrastructure," Vikas Dwivedi, global energy strategist at Macquarie, said in a report e-mailed to. "Likewise, Iran has come through the negotiations with (arguably) a great deal. We would be surprised if they overplay a good hand and test (President) Trump's patience and restraint for minimal remaining gain."US Treasury yields were lower, with the two-year rate down 2.9 basis points at 4.17% and the 10-year rate falling 2.2 basis points to 4.55%.PepsiCo (PEP) reported fiscal second-quarter results above Wall Street's estimates on Thursday, although soft consumer spending in the US weighed on its North American performance. The stock slid 3.3%.Simply Good Foods (SMPL) lifted its full-year sales outlook as the nutritional snacking company recorded better-than-expected fiscal third-quarter results. The stock gained 1.3%.In economic news, applications for unemployment insurance in the US unexpectedly declined last week as labor market conditions appeared to hold steady, government data showed Thursday.Existing home sales in the US unexpectedly decreased in June as the median price reached an all-time high, data from the National Association of Realtors showed.Gold was up 1.2% at $4,131.80 per troy ounce, while silver gained 3% to $60.32 per ounce.

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McDonald's US Sales Likely Hit New Low in Second Quarter, Deutsche Bank Says
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McDonald's US Sales Likely Hit New Low in Second Quarter, Deutsche Bank Says

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