Dow Gains Nearly 200 Points, Philly Semi Drops Over 2%; Memory Stocks Lead Losses; Micron Falls Over 4%, Meta Rises Over 3%

TradingKey - As Middle East conflict tensions escalated, the three major U.S. stock indices closed mixed, while memory stocks fell after Chinese DRAM maker CXMT unveiled a new memory architecture.

At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.38% to 51,850.55 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 0.44% to 27,245.90 points; and the S&P 500 Index fell 0.06% to 7,807.24 points.

Tech Stock Performance

Meta Platforms (META) rose 3.38% to $742.96.

Zuckerberg stated that compared with Muse Spark, the first model since the AI business restructuring, Muse Wonder is larger and more advanced, representing a major upgrade. Meta said the new model rivals OpenAI's ChatGPT and Anthropic's Claude in tasks such as programming, financial, and legal problem-solving. The head of Meta AI stated that the new model can compete with the best models on the market, reaching an industry-leading level in personal and professional agentic work.

Among mega-cap tech stocks, Meta Platforms (META) rose 3.38%, Apple (AAPL) gained 1.29%, Microsoft (MSFT) advanced 1.14%, SpaceX (SPCX) rose 0.52%, and Google (GOOGL) gained 0.30%. On the downside, TSMC (TSM) fell 1.98%, Broadcom (AVGO) dropped 1.88%, Nvidia (NVDA) declined 1.29%, Tesla (TSLA) fell 1.22%, and Amazon (AMZN) dropped 1.11%.

[Source: FutuBull]

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 2.67% to 12,236.79 points. Among its 30 constituents, 28 fell and 2 rose. Among them, Marvell Technology (MRVL) fell 3.42%, Intel (INTC) dropped 3.20%, Lam Research (LRCX) declined 2.91%, KLA (KLAC) fell 2.81%, and AMD (AMD) dropped 2.28%.

Among memory stocks, SanDisk (SNDK) fell 5.97%, SK Hynix (SKHY) dropped 4.02%, Micron Technology (MU) declined 3.88%, Seagate Technology (STX) fell 3.80%, and Western Digital (WDC) dropped 2.60%.

Company News

Meta Releases Muse Wonder Model, Available Primarily to Enterprise Customers

Zuckerberg stated that Meta's newly released Muse Wonder model will achieve "more complex capabilities," reaching the cutting edge of current AI technology. Meta said Muse Wonder outperformed Anthropic's Claude Opus 5.5, Fable 5.1, and OpenAI's GPT-6 Astra in certain technical benchmarks, and can be used to handle complex tasks including comprehending leases and analyzing financial or health information. The model will be available primarily to enterprise customers, with Meta stating its goal is to compete with OpenAI and Anthropic in the enterprise AI market.

Marvell Launches Second-Generation CXL Memory Expanders, Supporting Up to 9TB DDR4 Memory

Marvell Technology officially released its second-generation Structera X 3406 and 3506 CXL memory expanders. The company stated that these are the industry's first six-channel CXL 3.2 memory expanders, supporting up to 9TB of DDR4 or 6TB of DDR5 memory per controller, representing a 50% increase in memory channels compared to the previous generation. Customer sampling for both products is expected to begin in the first quarter of 2027.

AMD Launches Helion Agentic AI Rack

AMD announced the launch of the Helion rack. Designed based on Open Compute Project (OCP) specifications, the platform is powered by AMD's in-house compute chips. Dan McNamara, senior vice president at AMD, stated that agentic AI encompasses various scenarios, including personal agents, enterprise applications, code execution, and complex workflows. With computing power demands varying significantly across tasks, Helion aims to meet diverse needs through a flexible architecture. Helion features an integrated token router that automatically routes AI agent model calls to frontier or open-source models and adapts to different inference backends. AMD also plans to contribute the Helion specification to the OCP community, opening it to the industry to drive further development and adoption by ecosystem partners.

Industry & Macro News

Fed's Hammack: Further Policy Tightening Needed to Lower Inflation

Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said the Federal Reserve needs monetary policy to reach a restrictive level to push inflation back down to its 2% target. She stated that the current policy stance implies the disinflation process could take longer than acceptable, making "more tightening" necessary. Hammack noted that rate hikes may still be needed in the future, though the timing remains uncertain, adding that she favors a "smaller, more frequent" adjustment approach to help businesses and households plan ahead. Hammack said business input costs are rising, with more companies passing costs on to consumers, and if prices are no longer constrained by demand, inflation could rise further or stay elevated. She pointed out that the primary inflation risk is individuals and businesses forming an "inflation mentality" and gradually accepting higher inflation levels, which would make it harder for the Fed to return inflation to its target, with some signs already emerging.

Goldman Sachs: Strong Earnings Expected to Drive Global Stocks Higher

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. strategists have turned bullish on the short-term outlook for global equities, believing that strong corporate earnings will drive stock markets, which are already near record highs, further up. The team led by Christian Mueller-Glissmann noted in a report that rising oil prices and bond yields stalled the stock market rally, easing valuation pressures while corporate earnings prospects remain solid. They upgraded their three-month rating on equities from neutral to overweight, aligning with their bullish stance over the next 12 months. Mueller-Glissmann stated, "Earnings growth continues to support equities, and recent valuation de-ratings have improved the risk-reward profile heading into the third-quarter earnings season."