US Stocks Close: Dow Rises Over 120 Points, SOX Drops 2%; Memory Stocks Lead Losses, SanDisk Falls 3.5%, Moderna Surges 177%

TradingKey - The U.S. Treasury announced an increase in long-term bond buyback operations, sending bond yields lower and driving stock prices higher. All three major stock indexes advanced, while AI hardware stocks extended their decline, with memory chip stocks leading the losses.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.22% to 53,463.05 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.16% to 26,331.09 points; and the S&P 500 Index climbed 0.21% to 7,707.98 points.

Tech Stock Performance

Moderna (MRNA) closed up 176.97% at $174.38 with a turnover of $27.1 billion, topping today's U.S. stock turnover list.

Moderna and Merck announced on Wednesday that the personalized mRNA cancer vaccine co-developed by the two companies achieved positive results in a large Phase 3 clinical trial, marking the first successful Phase 3 trial for mRNA technology in cancer treatment and a major breakthrough in personalized immunotherapy in the history of cancer treatment.

Among large-cap tech stocks, Tesla (TSLA) rose 4.23%, Amazon (AMZN) gained 2.46%, Apple (AAPL) rose 2.19%, Microsoft (MSFT) gained 0.56%, Meta Platforms (META) rose 0.43%, and Google (GOOGL) gained 0.15%; among decliners, Broadcom (AVGO) fell 4.61%, SpaceX (SPCX) dropped 2.57%, and Nvidia (NVDA) declined 0.99%.

[Source: FutuBull]

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 2.12% to 11,738.23 points. Among its 30 constituents, 26 fell and 4 rose.

Among memory stocks, Seagate Technology (STX) fell 7.87%, Western Digital (WDC) dropped 6.87%, SanDisk (SNDK) fell 3.50%, and Micron Technology (MU) declined 0.39%.

Company News

Amazon Drone Delivery Set for Major Expansion, Targeting Nearly 500 U.S. Cities by Year-End

Amazon announced plans to expand its Prime Air drone delivery service to nearly 500 U.S. cities and towns by the end of this year, marking a full acceleration of the program that will allow tens of millions of American consumers to enjoy ultra-fast drone delivery. According to Amazon, this Prime Air expansion will scale the service to roughly six times its current coverage area.

Nvidia Considers Investment in AI Data Labeling Firm Mercor, Valuation May Reach $20 Billion

According to The Information, Nvidia has held discussions with data labeling provider Mercor regarding an investment, according to a person familiar with the matter. Mercor assists the chipmaker in developing open-source AI models. The investment would be part of a funding round valuing Mercor at $20 billion. Existing investor General Catalyst has been in talks to lead the round. In the past, Mercor derived most of its revenue from closed-source AI model developers such as OpenAI, Google, and Anthropic. However, revenue from Nvidia has been growing as Nvidia prioritizes the development of its Nemotron open-source model, which aims to compete with the world's most advanced open-source models. A person familiar with the matter said Nvidia paid Mercor tens of millions of dollars last quarter. Beyond Mercor, Nvidia also uses data from other vendors like Turing and Scale, while maintaining its own internal data team.

Samsung Reportedly Raises Foundry Order Prices, Advanced Nodes Up by as Much as 15%

Samsung Electronics has raised prices on new orders for certain advanced foundry services by as much as 15%, according to media reports. People familiar with the matter revealed that Samsung raised prices in July for chips produced using its 4-nanometer process, or SF4, up 10% to 15% from the previous month. Two people familiar with the matter said Samsung cannot fulfill all orders because it needs to supply capacity to U.S. customers while reserving a portion of its capacity for its own chip production.

Marvell Technology and Google Reach Custom Chip Partnership

Marvell Technology and Google announced a custom chip partnership today and issued warrants to Google to purchase up to 58.97 million shares of stock at an exercise price of $206.58 per share, representing a total value of approximately $12.18 billion. The two sides signed a commercial agreement on July 29, under which Marvell will provide custom chip products to Google; subsequent warrant vesting will also be linked to revenue generated from the partnership products.

Industry & Macro News

US Treasury to At Least Double Long-Dated Debt Buyback Cap

The US Department of the Treasury announced a significant expansion in the scale of liquidity support buybacks targeting long-term Treasuries. The per-operation cap on liquidity support buybacks for 10-year to 30-year nominal coupon bonds will be at least doubled to at least $4 billion per operation, with the new rule taking effect on September 9, 2026.

Fed Minutes: Warsh Pushes to Reduce Number of Annual Policy Meetings

Minutes from the Federal Reserve meeting showed that Fed Chair Warsh floated an idea: reducing the number of annual policy meetings held by the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) from eight to six. The minutes stated: "The Chair noted that scheduling six meetings a year, held roughly every two months, would allow more information to accumulate between meetings than the current schedule, while also providing policymakers and Fed staff more time to study and deliberate strategic issues regarding monetary policy." Warsh subsequently sought input on the idea from committee members. The minutes made clear that no changes to the number of meetings would be made this year. Reducing the number of policy meetings would mark a major shift in how the Fed operates.

Trump Says Talks With Iran Could Resume 'At Some Point'

US President Donald Trump told reporters at the White House on the 19th that negotiations with Iran could resume "at some point," but Iran must completely give up nuclear weapons. Asked whether the US would return to negotiations, Trump said: "Maybe at some point. But right now, I think the situation is very good." He then added, "The logic is very simple, they have to completely give it up," and "Iran can never have a nuclear weapon." Trump again claimed that the US "owns" and "totally controls" the Strait of Hormuz, adding that Iran's "occasional drone launches do cause trouble."

Citi Recommends Buying 20-Year US Treasuries, Saying Increased Buybacks Signal Yield Peak

Citigroup advised clients to buy long-term US Treasuries after the US Department of the Treasury announced plans to "at least" double the scale of buybacks for longer-dated bonds. Citi stated that the move could signal that yields have peaked. Strategists led by Jason Williams expect the 20-year US Treasury yield to decline from around 5.2% currently to 4.9%. The strategists wrote: "The US Treasury's actions should send a very strong signal to the market. Today's move, combined with cooling inflation, sets the stage for a strong rally in the coming months." They added that if yields have not stabilized by then, the US Treasury could scale back auction sizes for 20-year and/or 30-year Treasuries during its November refunding.

US-Canada Trade Deal May Halve Canadian Steel and Aluminum Tariffs to 25%

An interim trade deal being negotiated between the US and Canada would lower US tariffs on certain Canadian steel and aluminum products to 25%, according to people familiar with the matter. The sources said details have not been finalized and the rate is not expected to apply to all steel and aluminum products. Some derivative products containing steel or aluminum may be subject to different rates. US and Canadian trade advisers continued negotiations on Wednesday, less than 24 hours after US President Donald Trump suspended a planned 50% tariff on billions of dollars in Canadian goods to buy more time for talks. The proposed adjustments to steel and aluminum tariffs could help propel the two sides toward a lasting agreement, avoiding broader tariff measures before Friday's deadline.