Nasdaq - a second record close as memory jumps 5-7% and banks, card networks and software are sold

The Morning 10

Nasdaq - a second record close as memory jumps 5-7% and banks, card networks and software are sold

1. 1 Nasdaq Composite 27,244.28, +0.45%, the second record close in a row - while the S&P 500 closed six hundredths of a point lower at 7,764.64 and the Dow fell 185 points to 51,863.69
2. 2 Memory led the market again: SanDisk +6.82% to $1,887.04, Micron +5.00% to $1,096.16, the memory fund DRAM +3.31%, SOXX +2.40%, Arm +3.19%; AMD +1.34% closed above $1 trillion for a second day
3. 3 Software was sold from its highs: Adobe -4.52% to $238.25, Intuit -3.87% to $292.35, Salesforce -1.33%, Microsoft -0.72% to $498.00 and back under $500; the cyber fund CIBR -0.50% a day after closing at its high
4. 4 The big banks fell hardest: JPMorgan -3.42% to $340.00 on the day it announced a $20 billion partnership with the Qatar Investment Authority, Wells Fargo -3.92%, Bank of America -3.04%, Citigroup -1.91%
5. 5 Card networks slipped as the market priced the agent question: Visa -2.14% to $362.04, Mastercard -2.07% to $555.89; Meta -0.63% ahead of tonight's Connect keynote
6. 6 Oil fell a fifth day: the Brent fund BNO -1.63% to $57.91 and the WTI fund USO -2.75% to $144.08, after Iran said it could reopen the Strait of Hormuz within seven days and Trump said the two sides were moving towards a deal; energy stocks (XLE) -1.09%
7. 7 Everything else was calm: the VIX fell 4.4% to 14.21, the ten-year closed at 4.968%, the dollar 157.67 yen, gold little changed; bitcoin $86,785 overnight, up 1.6%
8. 8 Seoul faded its open for a second morning: the Kospi opened 1.94% higher at 7,153.99 and traded at 7,051.34 (+0.48%) by 05:40 UTC; Samsung +2.71% to W284,000, SK Hynix +0.27%; Taipei +0.61%, TSMC +1.42%
9. 9 Hong Kong fell back below 25,000: the Hang Seng traded at 24,857.61, down 0.92%, with Chinese AI listings the drag; Shanghai -0.35% to 3,938.45, Sydney +0.12%
10. 10 Futures flat: S&P futures 7,838.25 (+0.08%), Nasdaq futures 31,034.75 (+0.02%); today Cintas before the open, flash PMIs at 07:30 and 13:45 UTC, Fed speakers, Meta Connect at 23:00 UTC; Thursday BlackBerry, Costco, Trump-Xi, Tokyo reopens; Micron on the 30th

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Daily Pulse — AI Pricing — Fable-Level Power at 60% Less, Weeks Before Anthropic's $2 Trillion IPO

On Tuesday Anthropic released Claude Opus 5.5 at $4 and $20 per million input and output tokens. By its own benchmarks it matches or beats Fable 5.1, which costs $10 and $50 - the same work for 60% less. The same day the market bought the companies that sell capacity to AI agents (SanDisk +6.82%, Micron +5.00%) and sold the ones whose fees an agent could route around (Adobe -4.52%, Intuit -3.87%, Visa -2.14%, JPMorgan -3.42%).

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On the tape

• Amkor Technology ▲ +4.60%
• Western Digital ▲ +3.67%
• Micron ▲ +5.00%
• Coherent ▼ -3.46%
• 🇺🇸 SIA Global Billings $146.8B
• 🇯🇵 JP Trade Balance -1105.6 ¥B ▼
• Asia close: Nikkei +1.38%, KOSPI +0.43% — Nikkei +1.4% leads Asia