Hi there, this is your daily ☕️ Finpresso.
In today's newsletter:
🚀 SpaceX joins the Nasdaq-100 this week
🛢️ Oil slips as OPEC+ raises August output
🚫 Nvidia's next-gen AI rack slips to 2028
💾 AI memory chip giant SK Hynix debuts on Nasdaq at $29B
Plus: 🌍 5 macro news, 🏢 5 corporate news, 💰 4 deal flow, and 📑 5 research & reports.
📰 Top News
| 🚀 SpaceX joins the Nasdaq-100 this week LINK |
- SpaceX joins the Nasdaq-100 before Tuesday's open, entering the index of the 100 largest non-financial companies on the exchange, a move expected to spur buying as passive funds tracking the benchmark build positions in the stock.
- The shares have swung sharply since their June 12 debut, briefly topping $225 — lifting SpaceX's market value above Amazon's — before sliding to a low of $147 and closing last week at $162, with analysts expecting continued volatility.
- The week also ends the mandatory quiet period after SpaceX's IPO, meaning research firms can now publish their first analysis and recommendations on the company, assessments that could meaningfully move the share price.
| 🛢️ Oil slips as OPEC+ raises August output LINK |
- Oil prices edged down Monday, with Brent crude off 24 cents (0.33%) to $71.88 a barrel and US WTI down 11 cents to $68.58, after OPEC+ agreed to raise output targets again from August.
- The producer group, which includes Russia, will lift targets by 188,000 barrels per day from August, adding to similar increases for June and July, though analysts note the hikes are largely theoretical given post-conflict production constraints.
- Actual supply is now recovering through the Strait of Hormuz: OPEC output jumped to 19.43 million bpd in June and Gulf exports topped 10 million bpd, though that remains 40% below pre-war levels.
| 🚫 Nvidia's next-gen AI rack slips to 2028 LINK |
- Nvidia's Kyber rack system, designed to house its 2027 Rubin Ultra chips, has slipped by more than a year to 2028, according to SemiAnalysis, the latest reported setback to the AI chipmaker's product roadmap.
- The delay stems from manufacturing difficulties with a specialized circuit board at the system's core, while a fallback plan of bolting two current racks together was scrapped after cloud customers rejected it as awkward and costly to run.
- SemiAnalysis says the gap could hand rivals AMD and Google a rare opening at the high end, though Nvidia's current Rubin systems ship this fall to eight cloud partners and its data-center revenue may run 20% above Wall Street forecasts.
| 💾 AI memory chip giant SK Hynix debuts on Nasdaq at $29B LINK |
- SK Hynix will list on the Nasdaq around July 10 in a $29 billion share sale, potentially the largest-ever US debut by a foreign company, aimed at winning American investors chasing AI memory-chip stocks.
- The South Korean firm has long traded below US rival Micron, currently at 6.2 times expected earnings versus Micron's 7 times, and the listing should narrow that gap by opening direct access during US market hours.
- SK Hynix is forecast to post net income of 221 trillion won ($144 billion) on sales of 355 trillion won ($231 billion) in 2026, though analysts warn the memory industry's boom-bust history raises the risk of a future supply glut.
🌍 Macro News
- The dollar dropped to a 12-week low after weak June hiring data. LINK
- The ECB signals a possible pause in rate hikes as inflation slows. LINK
- ESMA added 37 crypto firms to its MiCA registry, totaling 280. LINK
- Several tankers reversed course near the Strait of Hormuz overnight. LINK
- Wood Mackenzie forecasts U.S. natural gas prices rising toward $5 by 2035. LINK
🏢 Corporate News
- Alibaba banned staff from using Anthropic's Claude Code over security concerns. LINK
- EasyJet shares surged 10.5% on a £5.5 billion Castlelake takeover deal. LINK
- Foxconn's quarterly revenue rose 39.8% on strong AI hardware demand. LINK
- Lockheed Martin leads bidding to acquire Ultra Maritime for $3.5 billion. LINK
- Starling Bank will cut 130 jobs while boosting AI investment. LINK
📈 Stocks
💰 Deal Flow
- Micron began building a $9.3 billion memory chip plant in Japan. LINK
- Shanghai Biren seeks up to $838 million via Hong Kong share sale. LINK
- Morpho raised $175 million to expand blockchain-based lending infrastructure. LINK
- Wafr Technologies raised $100 million for AI data-center cooling tech. LINK
📑 Research & Reports
- Goldman Sachs raised its 10-year S&P 500 return forecast to 7%. LINK
- JPMorgan expects gold to hit $4,500 an ounce by late 2026. LINK
- Oil forecasters disagree on how fast Middle East supply will recover. LINK
- Goldman Sachs sees over 20% upside for South Korea's Kospi index. LINK
- The IMF warned tokenized trading could destabilize global financial markets. LINK