US Stocks Close: Dow Plunges 1.09%, Nasdaq Rises Against Trend, Philadelphia Semiconductor Index Gains Over 2%; Trump Announces End of US-Iran Ceasefire Agreement, Some Fed Officials See Need for Rate Hike.

TradingKey - US President Trump announced the end of the US-Iran ceasefire agreement, dampening market trading sentiment. The three major US stock indexes diverged, with the Dow Jones Industrial Average taking a hit, the Nasdaq Composite rising, blue-chip stocks falling, and memory chip stocks rebounding.

As of the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 1.09% to 52,348.39 points; the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.20% to 25,870.65 points; and the S&P 500 Index fell 0.28% to 7,482.71 points.

Performance of tech stocks

Apple (AAPL) rose 0.88% to close at $313.39, bringing its latest market capitalization to $4.6 trillion, making it the second-largest company by market cap in the United States. Data shows that as of the U.S. stock market close, Nvidia's market cap was approximately $4.94 trillion, with the gap between the two at just $340 billion.

Among mega-cap tech stocks, Broadcom (AVGO) rose 4.83%, Nvidia (NVDA) rose 3.65%, and Apple (AAPL) rose 0.88%; on the downside, Tesla (TSLA) fell 2.19%, Meta Platforms (META) fell 2.02%, Microsoft (MSFT) fell 1.41%, Alphabet (GOOGL) fell 1.39%, Amazon (AMZN) fell 0.96%, and SpaceX (SPCX) fell 0.78%.

[Source: FutuBull]

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 2.23% to close at 12,574.97 points. Among its 30 constituents, 26 advanced and 4 declined. Broadcom (AVGO) rose 4.83%, Nvidia (NVDA) rose 3.65%, Applied Materials (AMAT) rose 2.89%, Texas Instruments (TXN) rose 2.73%, and Qualcomm (QCOM) rose 1.96%.

Memory stocks rebounded, with SanDisk (SNDK) up 6.77%, Seagate Technology (STX) up 3.91%, Western Digital (WDC) up 3.42%, and Micron Technology (MU) up 1.11%.

Chinese concept stocks rallied across the board, with Kingsoft Cloud (KC) up 11.44%, Alibaba (BABA) up 11.05%, GDS Holdings (GDS) up 7.93%, and Luckin Coffee (LKNCY) up 5.93%.

Citi expects Alibaba's Q2 cloud computing business to accelerate strongly, driven by AI demand. The firm's analysts raised their FY1Q27 (quarter ending June 2026, calendar Q2) total revenue forecast to RMB 269.8 billion, a year-on-year increase of 8.9%, and increased their non-GAAP net profit forecast to RMB 27.1 billion, both exceeding Bloomberg consensus estimates of RMB 269.2 billion and RMB 24.9 billion respectively.

Corporate News

SpaceX AI and Cursor Release Grok 4.5 Model Tailored for Legal and Financial Scenarios

SpaceX AI has released a new artificial intelligence model called Grok 4.5, developed in partnership with AI coding startup Cursor, aiming to narrow the gap with competitors like Anthropic and OpenAI. Grok 4.5 is designed to handle complex, long-running tasks including software engineering, legal, and financial services, and features enhanced cybersecurity capabilities. The new model is intended to "handle complex and time-consuming tasks," including software engineering, a focus area for many top AI developers. However, unlike Cursor's previous models, Grok 4.5 is designed to tackle a broader portfolio of work, such as legal and financial services. Grok 4.5 also boasts enhanced cybersecurity capabilities.

Apple and Broadcom Expand Multi-Year Chip Partnership with Agreement Exceeding $30 Billion

Apple announced that it has finalized a multi-year chip agreement with Broadcom exceeding $30 billion, marking Apple's largest single investment commitment in domestic US manufacturing. The partnership extends from traditional components into high-end custom silicon. In addition to wireless connectivity components such as cellular, Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth, the two companies will focus on the joint development of custom ASICs (application-specific integrated circuits), with the collaboration extending through 2031.

Waymo to Add Four New Autonomous Driving Operational Cities

Alphabet's autonomous robotaxi unit, Waymo, announced that it will launch fully driverless ride services in four new cities over the coming weeks, further driving its expansion in the US market and solidifying its lead over domestic rivals Tesla and Amazon's Zoox. The four newly added cities are San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa (Florida), and Denver. In the initial phase of the rollout, the service will only be open to Alphabet employees before gradually expanding to the general public.

Industry & Macro News

Fed Minutes: Some Participants Saw Rate Hike as Necessary, But Supported Keeping Rates Unchanged

Federal Reserve minutes from the June meeting show that officials' concerns over high inflation are growing. Although officials worried that the scope of price increases is widening and might require a rate hike, they still followed the lead of Fed Chairman Warsh by releasing a more streamlined policy statement. At the June 16-17 meeting, a minority of participants believed there was justification for an immediate rate hike.

Tanker Transit Through the Strait of Hormuz 'Virtually Halts'

With the 60-day ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran hanging in the balance, tanker transit through the Strait of Hormuz has "virtually halted." Research firm Rystad stated in a report that transit appears to have been completely disrupted so far today. This "virtual halt" status "reflects current risk expectations more than any statement issued by Washington or Tehran."

China Plans to Allow Leading AI Firms to Procure Nvidia H200 Chips

According to a report by The Information, Chinese regulators plan to permit leading AI companies to procure Nvidia's H200 chips under a quota-based approval system, with core manufacturers such as Alibaba, ByteDance, and DeepSeek already receiving approval notifications. Companies must submit details on the scale and intended use of their procurement before receiving approval. The total quota is expected to be under 200,000 units, representing a small-scale, limited relaxation.

Russia Announces Short-Term Diesel Export Ban, Sending Global Fuel Prices to Multi-Year Highs

Russia has officially implemented a three-week ban on all diesel exports. As the world's second-largest diesel exporter, Russia accounts for 11% of the global diesel supply. The restrictive policy directly pushed European diesel crack spreads to jump over $60 per barrel, marking a record high since 2011. The immediate trigger for the ban was continuous deep strikes on Russia's refining system by Ukrainian drones. Following damage to several core refineries, Russia's crude processing rate plunged to a multi-year low, causing the domestic supply gap to widen rapidly.