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Midday: Equipment Names Join, Memory Over $58, 10-Year 5%

Expiry Friday — the equipment names join at last: Applied +4.4%, Lam +5.2%, memory ETF over $58, 10-year back at 5%

The one part of the chip trade that had not been bought all week is being bought on the expiry. Applied Materials +4.4% to $435.73, Lam Research +5.2% to $283.41, KLA +2.7% to $173.56 — the equipment three that only stopped falling on Thursday are leading the semiconductor ETF +1.1% to $524.57 at midday, above the $505 and $517.43 lines it retook last night. The memory ETF trades $58.24, above the $58 it lost on Monday and the last line the resolution month still owed — a print, not a close. The rest of the tape is the other half of an expiry: the S&P 500 ETF −0.4% at $759.20, still above $757.83; the Nasdaq-100 fund flat at $716.53; the equal-weight −0.5%, the Russell −0.9%, software −1.4%. The 10-year is back at 5.000% (+5 bp), the 5-year 4.858% (+6 bp) — the belly sold again — and the 30-year 5.335%. The yen is 157.0 after the Bank of Japan's hike to 1.25%, the dollar index 100.35, gold futures $4,394, Brent at the $100 handle, bitcoin +5.1% at $80,600. Europe is down 1.5%, Asia closed higher. The close on an expiry is a pin; Monday's is the one that counts.

In this edition

AMAT LRCX KLAC 8035.T SOXX DRAM MU 000660.KS

The Midday 10 Fri, Sep 18, 2026 ~60 seconds 12:30 ET

The question the diary has carried since Monday was whether the equipment names would join the design names or keep telling a different story about the order book. At midday on the September expiry they are joining: Applied Materials +4.4%, Lam Research +5.2%, KLA +2.7%, the three largest gainers in the group after four sessions of lagging the designs, with Coherent +4.9% and Broadcom +2.3% alongside and Nvidia flat. The semiconductor ETF is +1.1% at $524.57, above both lines it retook on Thursday, and the memory ETF is $58.24 — above the $58 line it lost on Monday, the one line the resolution month still owed. Tokyo Electron closed +4.2% overnight, so the equipment side joined in Tokyo first and in New York second. It is a print on an expiry day, not a close, and we say so.

The rest of the tape is what an expiry Friday looks like with the 10-year back at 5.000%: the S&P 500 ETF −0.4% at $759.20, still above $757.83; the Nasdaq-100 fund flat at $716.53 above $708.69; the equal-weight S&P −0.5%, the Dow −0.7%, the Russell 2000 −0.9%, the ex-tech Nasdaq −0.8%; software −1.4% with Oracle −3.4% back under its $148.35 sold line and Adobe −1.3% further under its paid line. The 5-year is 4.858% (+6 bp), the 30-year 5.335% (+4 bp): the belly sold again, a smaller version of Wednesday's flattener, and the long bond ETF is −0.6%. Europe is closing the week down — the Euro Stoxx 50 −1.5%, the DAX −1.6% — after Asia closed higher: the Nikkei +1.4% at 65,019 after the Bank of Japan raised rates to 1.25%, the Kospi +2.7%, the Taiex +2.9%. The yen is 157.0, weaker after a hike, which was this morning's whole edition; the dollar index 100.35; gold futures $4,394; Brent futures at $99.98, the $100 handle the wires have written about for a week, with the contract roll part of the move; bitcoin +5.1% at $80,600 with Hut 8 +2.1%. The VIX is 15.3. Line 11 is about what an expiry close can and cannot book, and why the equipment names joining matters more than the index level today.

US midday, intraday quotes (delayed, ~11:47 ET) on the September quarterly options expiry; Europe in its last hour, Asia closed; oil, gold, rates and currencies live. The Bank of Japan raised its policy rate to 1.25% overnight and the yen weakened. Thursday's closes from the Closelook data lake are the reference for every move.

  1. The equipment three join: Applied Materials +4.4% to $435.73, Lam Research +5.2% to $283.41, KLA +2.7% to $173.56 — after four sessions of lagging the design names; Tokyo Electron +4.2% at the Tokyo close; semiconductor ETF +1.1% to $524.57, above $505 and $517.43
  2. The memory line, retaken at midday: memory ETF $58.24 (+0.8%), above the $58 lost on Monday — the last line the resolution month still owed; Micron +1.2% to $989.47; Seoul closed with the Kospi +2.7% — a print, not a close
  3. Rates, the belly sold again: 10-year 5.000% (+5 bp, back at the line after one day under it), 5-year 4.858% (+6 bp), 30-year 5.335% (+4 bp); long bond ETF −0.6%, high-yield ETF −0.3%; dollar index 100.35; gold ETF +0.3%
  4. The index lines on the expiry: S&P 500 ETF −0.4% to $759.20, above $757.83 by $1.37; Nasdaq-100 fund flat at $716.53, above $708.69; Magnificent Seven fund $70.47, above 69.5; equal-weight −0.5%, Dow −0.7%, Russell −0.9%, ex-tech Nasdaq −0.8%; VIX 15.3
  5. Software sold on the belly again: software ETF −1.4% to $104.33; Oracle −3.4% to $145.65, back under its $148.35 sold line a day after retaking it; Adobe −1.3% to $249.39, further under its $256.29 paid line; Microsoft −0.7%, Intel −1.7%
  6. The wiring bought with the tools: Coherent +4.9% to $308.78, Lumentum +1.5% to $906.72, Broadcom +2.3% to $355.45; Micron +1.2%; Nvidia flat at $219.54, AMD −0.2% at $543.93, Marvell −0.9%, Arm +0.6%, TSMC +0.3% — the design side pauses, the equipment and optics take the day
  7. Europe closes the week lower, Asia closed higher: Euro Stoxx 50 −1.5% to 6,230, DAX −1.6% to 25,296; Nikkei +1.4% to 65,019 after the Bank of Japan's hike to 1.25%, Kospi +2.7% to 6,894, Taiex +2.9% to 47,181, Hang Seng +0.2%; Tokyo Electron +4.2%
  8. The yen after the hike, this morning's whole edition: 157.0 to the dollar, weaker after the Bank of Japan's move to 1.25%; dollar index 100.35; gold futures $4,394; Brent futures $99.98 — the $100 handle, with the contract roll in the number; bitcoin +5.1% to $80,600, Hut 8 +2.1%
  9. Print record, the drift flips again: Oracle $145.65, under its $148.35 sold line after Thursday's $150.59 above it; Adobe $249.39, under its $256.29 paid line a fourth session; no windows open — Micron next week is the next print of size and the fact the equipment names are being bought on
  10. Into the close: an expiry pin, then Monday's release; the lines — S&P ETF $757.83, Nasdaq-100 fund $708.69, chip ETF $505 and $517.43, memory ETF $58, Magnificent Seven fund 69.5, the 10-year 5.00%, the yen 156 and 160; the equipment three against the chip ETF at the bell; Micron next week

The ten lines

  1. 1

    UP The equipment three join: Applied Materials +4.4% to $435.73, Lam Research +5.2% to $283.41, KLA +2.7% to $173.56 — after four sessions of lagging the design names; Tokyo Electron +4.2% at the Tokyo close; semiconductor ETF +1.1% to $524.57, above $505 and $517.43

    AMATLRCXKLAC8035.TSOXX

    Since Monday's sort the design names have been bought and the tools have not: on Thursday's 3.4% day in the chip ETF, Applied Materials managed +0.5%, Lam was flat and KLA +1.0%. At midday on Friday the three are the leaders — Lam +5.2%, Applied +4.4%, KLA +2.7% — and Tokyo Electron closed +4.2% in Tokyo before New York opened, so the equipment side of the trade joined on both continents inside twelve hours. The chip ETF is +1.1% at $524.57, above the $505 line and above last Thursday's $517.43 for a second session. What changed is not an order-book fact — Micron reports next week — but the market's willingness to wait for one: a tool name bought the day before the print is a market pricing the orders as real. We record it as a print on an expiry day, which is the least reliable kind of print there is, and we watch the close.

  2. 2

    LEVEL The memory line, retaken at midday: memory ETF $58.24 (+0.8%), above the $58 lost on Monday — the last line the resolution month still owed; Micron +1.2% to $989.47; Seoul closed with the Kospi +2.7% — a print, not a close

    DRAMMU000660.KS

    Of the five lines the diary carries, four were retaken and held at Thursday's close; the fifth was the memory ETF at $57.78, twenty-two cents under $58. At midday it trades $58.24. That is the line that decides whether the whole set is booked, and it is being retaken on an expiry day at a price that could be a pin. Micron is +1.2% at $989.47 ahead of its print next week, and Seoul closed +2.7% overnight with the memory names leading. The criterion does not change for the day of the week: a close above $58 tonight is a fact about positioning, a close above it on Monday is a fact about the market, and the diary books the second.

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  4. 3

    LEVEL Rates, the belly sold again: 10-year 5.000% (+5 bp, back at the line after one day under it), 5-year 4.858% (+6 bp), 30-year 5.335% (+4 bp); long bond ETF −0.6%, high-yield ETF −0.3%; dollar index 100.35; gold ETF +0.3%

    TLTHYGGLDUUP

    Thursday's curve fell six basis points everywhere; Friday's is rising with the belly leading — the 5-year +6, the 10-year +5, the 30-year +4 — a smaller version of Wednesday's flattener. The 10-year is at 5.000% at midday, on the line it closed above on Wednesday and under on Thursday. The reading is unchanged: the market prices a sequence of hikes and mostly believes it works, which lowers the equity multiple without raising the inflation premium — and against a 2.4% core it is a discount rate, not a policy error. Credit is quiet, the high-yield ETF −0.3%; the dollar is flat at 100.35; gold is bought, +0.3% in the ETF. A 5% 10-year on an expiry Friday is why the equal-weight index is down while the chip ETF is up: the tape is paying for one half of the AI trade with the other half of the market.

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C · line 11 · members

Today in line 11: what an expiry close can and cannot book, and why the diary reads Friday as the pin between Thursday's close and Monday's; why the equipment names joining matters more than the index level on a day the equal-weight index is falling; what a 5% 10-year on a day the belly sells does to the cyclicals that were bought on a cut; and what we do with the last line owed — the memory ETF over $58 at midday — on the one day of the month when a level can be made rather than earned.

The privileged, actionable read — what we do, and at which level — is in line 11, for members only.

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Further reading on Closelook

Ten lines on the US midday tape, not advice — an investment diary. Published every trading day at 12:30 ET. See The Morning 10 and the Daily Pulse.