US Pre-Market: Three Major Index Futures Rise Collectively, Memory Chip Sector Rebounds Collectively, SK Hynix, Micron Rise Over 5%

TradingKey - On July 20, Eastern Time, in U.S. pre-market trading, the three major stock index futures rose in unison. As of press time, Nasdaq 100 Index futures rose 1.00%, S&P 500 Index futures rose 0.49%, and Dow Jones Index futures rose 0.34%.

[Source: CME Group]

In commodities, WTI crude oil futures fell 2% to trade at $80.09 per barrel, and Brent crude oil futures fell 1.51% to trade at $86.79 per barrel. Gold and silver prices ticked up slightly, with spot gold ( XAUUSD) trading around $4028 per ounce; spot silver ( XAGUSD) trading around $57.11 per ounce.

In the crypto market, Bitcoin is currently trading around $64,930, and Ethereum is currently trading around $1,890.

Market Movers

The memory chip sector rebounded collectively in pre-market trading. SK Hynix ( SKHY ), Micron Technology ( MU) rose over 5%, while SanDisk ( SNDK ), Western Digital ( WDC ), and Seagate Technology ( STX) rose over 4%.

The optical communications sector rose collectively in pre-market trading. Lumentum ( LITE ), Corning ( GLW ), and Marvell Technology ( MRVL) rose over 3%.

Mega-cap tech stocks were mixed in pre-market trading. SpaceX ( SPCX ), and Nvidia ( NVDA) rose over 1%, while Amazon ( AMZN ), Google Class A ( GOOGL ), and Tesla ( TSLA) rose slightly; Microsoft ( MSFT ), and Apple ( AAPL) edged down. SpaceX had previously fallen for two consecutive weeks and dropped below its offering price, with its market value erasing more than $1 trillion from its peak, before rebounding about 1.21% in pre-market trading.

Market News

Musk announces Starship will relaunch this Thursday. SpaceX CEO Musk confirmed on the X platform that the 13th Starship test flight is scheduled for Thursday, July 23, and will carry 20 Starlink satellites. After the July 16 test flight was automatically aborted because an engine failed to start, SpaceX repaired the propulsion system and replaced two Raptor engines. Affected by the abort, SpaceX's stock price closed down 5.43% that day to $123.99, erasing about $100 billion in valuation.

Anthropic reportedly testing Advanced Micro Devices ( AMD) GPUs, as the AI giant is reducing its reliance on a single computing power source. SemiAnalysis, when analyzing GitHub code publicly posted by an AMD AI executive, discovered that Anthropic will be listed as an AMD customer with a maximum priority score of 30. AMD has provided MI350X accelerators to Anthropic for evaluation. Anthropic has previously partnered with multiple chip suppliers, including Google TPU and Samsung. If AMD can successfully enter the high-end AI training market, which was previously dominated by Nvidia, it would be a landmark milestone for the company.

A blockbuster earnings week kicks off, with Google and Tesla leading the way after Wednesday's market close. This week marks the busiest period of the second-quarter earnings season, with a total of 77 S&P 500 components scheduled to release their results. Google, Tesla, Texas Instruments ( TXN ), IBM ( IBM) will release their results after the market close on Wednesday, July 22.

Key Events Preview

The chip sector is enjoying a breather after last week's brutal sell-off, but this week is the real 'ultimate test.' Earnings from Google and Tesla will directly test whether AI demand continues to exceed expectations and whether massive capital expenditures can deliver returns.