U.S. stock indices opened higher on May 26th. As of 21:43 Beijing time, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was up 0.29%, the Nasdaq Composite had gained 0.89%, and the S&P 500 rose 0.63%.
Most major U.S. technology stocks advanced. Tesla increased by 0.66%, Apple rose 0.49%, and Nvidia gained 0.48%. Microsoft and Meta Platforms declined, falling 0.7% and 0.4% respectively.
Semiconductor stocks experienced a significant rally, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index expanding its gains to 3.8%, reaching a new all-time high. Marvell Technology surged over 8%, Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) climbed more than 5%, and Arm Holdings rose over 3%, with all three setting new record highs.
Memory chip-related stocks collectively rose. Micron Technology (MU) soared more than 14% to $858.515 per share, achieving a total market capitalization of $968.2 billion and refreshing its historical peak. This followed UBS Group raising its price target for the stock from $535 to $1,625. Western Digital gained over 8%, SanDisk advanced more than 6%, and Seagate Technology rose over 2%.
Boosted by optimism surrounding a potential SpaceX public listing, space-related stocks surged. Momentus skyrocketed over 75%, Redwire jumped more than 11%, and MDA Space increased over 7%.
U.S.-listed cryptocurrency mining companies saw broad gains. TeraWulf surged nearly 11%, Cipher Digital climbed close to 9%, while CleanSpark, MARA Holdings, IREN, and Hut 8 all rose over 6%. The Bitcoin mining ETF, WGMI, gained nearly 6%.
BP's stock fell more than 4% following the ousting of its chairman.
Popular U.S.-listed Chinese stocks were mixed. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index advanced over 0.94%. Pony.ai's stock initially jumped over 11% and was up 4.09% at the time of writing, after reporting that its Q1 Robotaxi business revenue grew 395.4% year-over-year, setting a new quarterly record. Tiger Brokers surged 11%, XPeng gained nearly 7%, while NetEase and Tencent Music both rose over 3%. On the downside, Youdao dropped over 10%, Kingsoft Cloud declined more than 5%, and Baidu and JD.com fell over 1%.
Gold and silver prices continued to retreat. At the time of writing, spot gold was down over 1% at $2,415.41 per ounce, and spot silver had fallen more than 2% to $31.91 per ounce.
International crude oil prices moved higher. Brent crude surged over 4% to $97.6 per barrel, while losses for WTI crude narrowed, with the price down 2.44% at $94.24 per barrel.
A senior analyst noted that U.S. CPI and PPI for April both hit multi-year highs. If even the U.S., a net energy exporter, cannot suppress inflation, other energy-importing nations will likely face even higher inflation risks. A Bank of America survey indicates the market's primary risk has shifted from geopolitics to inflation. With the Middle East deadlock persisting and supply-side conditions worsening, the risk of a second wave of inflation cannot be ignored, and rising inflation will ultimately permeate all corners of the economy.
Soaring oil prices and inflation will undoubtedly dampen consumer confidence, erode corporate profits, and drag on economic growth. This situation may pressure the U.S. government to pursue more expansionary fiscal policies, potentially worsening debt burdens and deficits.
The CME FedWatch Tool shows the market now expects the Federal Reserve is highly likely to raise interest rates within the year, whereas at the beginning of the year, investors had anticipated multiple rate cuts.