01 Stock Market

Wall Street closed higher on Tuesday, with tech stocks leading the charge as renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence offset concerns over potential disruptions caused by the nascent technology.

Speculation regarding AI's possible impact on a wide variety of sectors has prompted oversized moves in stocks and indexes in recent weeks, with Monday's steep decline the latest example of on-again, off-again risk appetite amid these uncertainties.

Dow Jones up 0.76% at 49,174.50; S&P 500 up 0.77% at 6,890.07; NASDAQ up 1.04% at 22,863.68.

Unusual-move stocks were led by AI and chip beneficiaries, while some storage names fell on short-selling headlines. Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) up 8.77% at $213.84; Tesla (TSLA) up 2.39% at $409.38; NVIDIA (NVDA) up 0.68% at $192.85; Apple (AAPL) up 2.24% at $272.14; Microsoft (MSFT) up 1.18% at $389.00; Intel (INTC) up 5.71% at $46.12; Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) up 4.25% at $385.75; MP Materials (MP) up 4.92% at $58.44. Storage names diverged: SanDisk (SNDK) down 4.20% at $638.52; Western Digital (WDC) down 3.51% at $270.57; Micron (MU) down 0.70% at $418.01. Among mega-cap platforms, Alphabet (GOOG) down 0.25% at $310.92; Meta Platforms (META) up 0.32% at $639.30; Broadcom (AVGO) down 1.47% at $325.49.

02 Other Markets

U.S. 10-year Treasury yield rose by 0.00%, latest at 4.03%. USD/CNH rose 0.0000%, at 6.88; USD/HKD fell 0.0026%, at 7.82. U.S. Dollar Index rose 0.0051%, at 97.88. WTI crude futures rose 0.52%, at 65.97 USD/bbl; COMEX gold futures fell 0.49%, at 5,150.70 USD/oz.

03 Top News

Investors Look for Signs of Bottom in Software Rout After Anthropic Announcement

Investors were looking anew for signs of a bottom in beleaguered shares of software companies on Tuesday after an announcement that artificial intelligence startup Anthropic was partnering with an array of companies.

Software stocks have been pummeled in recent weeks, driven by fears their business models would be upended by AI tools, including those from Anthropic. On Tuesday, Anthropic said it was developing new tools, the so-called "plug-ins", with its partners that could help with investment banking, wealth management and HR tasks.

SanDisk Stock Falls 4% After Citron Research Short Call

SanDisk Corp. shares fell Tuesday after short-seller Citron Research announced a short position in the memory chip maker. The stock, which has surged 175% this year and over 1,200% in the past twelve months, dropped 5% following Citron’s announcement.

Citron Research cited concerns about cyclical pressures in the memory market and intensifying competition from Samsung. "Citron is Short $SNDK — They Don’t Ring a Bell at the Top. We don’t need Anthropic to announce they’re making NAND. Samsung is already the 800-pound gorilla, and they’ve been running this playbook for 30 years," the firm commented.

The short-seller pointed to Western Digital’s recent sale of a significant portion of its SanDisk holdings at prices 25% lower than current levels as a warning sign. Citron argued that the market is pricing SanDisk like NVIDIA, but noted a key difference: "NVIDIA has a moat. SanDisk sells a commodity."

Meta and AMD Agree to AI Chips Deal Worth More Than $100 Billion

Meta Platforms, Inc. has agreed to buy 6 gigawatts’ worth of artificial intelligence computing power from Advanced Micro Devices in a deal valued at more than $100 billion that could result in Meta owning as much as 10% of AMD’s stock.

The deal, announced by the companies Tuesday, represents a coup for AMD in its effort to challenge Nvidia in the market for selling graphics processing units, or GPUs—the microchips powering the AI boom.

PayPal Jumps on Report Stripe Is Considering Acquisition

PayPal soared 7% after a report that Stripe is considering an acquisition of all or parts of the company.

Payment processing firm Stripe has indicated preliminary interest in a potential purchase of Stripe or its assets, according to a Bloomberg report on Tuesday, which cited people familiar with the matter. The deliberations are still early, and there’s no certainty they’ll lead to a deal.

Sources: Reuters, Dow Jones, Tiger Newspress, public market data
Disclaimer: This content is for reference only and does not constitute investment advice.