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Chips Turn After Seoul Sell-Off, Small Caps Rise: Midday 10

Chips — the open follows Seoul, then turns: chip index from −2.4% to +0.7%; small caps +1.6%

Oil drops from a five-month high and the chip index turns by 10:30 ET. Chip-equipment makers stay sold before Lam Research reports; GM and GE Aerospace beat and fall; health care +2.3%. TSMC's window closes tonight 1.3% above its entry.

In this edition

SOXX MU AMD AVGO NVDA IWM DIA QQQ

The Midday 10 Tue, Oct 20, 2026 ~60 seconds 12:30 ET

The US open did what Asia had done. At 9:45 in New York the Philadelphia chip index was down 2.4% at 11,047 and the Nasdaq-100 fund QQQ 1.1% lower at 710.39. Forty-five minutes later the index was up 1.3%. In the same half hour oil fell from a five-month high to a 3% loss on U.S.–Iran hopes. At about noon the chip index trades at 11,393, up 0.7%; Micron +0.9%, AMD +0.9%, TSMC's US shares +1.8%.

The rally runs wider than tech. Small caps are up 1.6%, the Dow fund 1.0%, health care 2.3%; QQQ manages only 0.2% to 719.64, held back by Meta, down 1.9% the day before its results. Two groups are sold: the makers of chip-making machines — Lam Research −2.4% a day before its report — and two companies that beat estimates but disappointed on the months ahead, General Motors (−6.8%) and GE Aerospace (−4.4%).

This morning's three questions have midday answers. The open inherited Seoul for a quarter of an hour. Software held — the software fund IGV is up 0.8%. And TSMC, whose Print Record window closes tonight, trades at 427.92, 1.3% above its entry, with the sold line 4.3% lower. What counts is the close: QQQ above 720, and TSMC at 434.92 or more would make the card paid.

US intraday quotes at about 12:01 ET (16:01 UTC), measured against Monday's closes; intraday prints are not closes. Quotes, opening levels and intraday lows and highs via Yahoo Finance. Earnings figures from company reports as listed by FMP; oil move as reported by Investor's Business Daily. Kospi and SK Hynix closes from this morning's Daily Pulse; Print Record levels from the site's Print Record card.

  1. Chips — down 2.4% at 9:45, up 0.7% at noon: the chip index turns within the first hour
  2. Breadth — small caps +1.6%, Dow +1.0%, Nasdaq-100 +0.2%: the rally runs outside big tech
  3. Chip equipment — sold before Lam reports: Lam −2.4%, KLA −2.1%, Applied Materials −1.8%
  4. Follow-up — this morning's Pulse on Korea: Seoul sold memory for a sixth day, New York buys it
  5. Software — holds up: IGV +0.8%, ServiceNow +2.2%, Oracle +2.1%; Salesforce −1.3% on a $5.66bn deal
  6. AI users — still bought: Accenture +1.0% to 239.41, Infosys +2.4%, IBM +1.4% before its report
  7. Earnings — beat and sold: GM −6.8%, GE Aerospace −4.4%; beat and raised: 3M and Northrop +5.1%
  8. Health care — the strongest sector fund today: XLV +2.3%, Lilly +4.7%, Bristol-Myers +4.2%, UnitedHealth +3.5%
  9. Rates and oil — 10-year eases to 5.11%; oil turns from a five-month high to −0.7%
  10. Print Record — TSMC window closes tonight: 427.92, 1.3% above entry, 1.6% short of paid

The ten lines

  1. 1

    UP Chips — down 2.4% at 9:45, up 0.7% at noon: the chip index turns within the first hour

    SOXXMUAMDAVGONVDA

    The Philadelphia chip index opened 1.3% lower, hit 11,047 (−2.4%) at 9:45 ET and was up 1.3% by 10:30. At noon it trades at 11,393, up 0.7% — still 22.2% below its 22 June record close of 14,635. The chip fund SOXX +0.7% at 505.68. Micron +0.9% to 913.00, AMD +0.9% to 542.73, Broadcom +0.4%, Nvidia +0.1% to 217.38.

  2. 2

    LEVEL Breadth — small caps +1.6%, Dow +1.0%, Nasdaq-100 +0.2%: the rally runs outside big tech

    IWMDIAQQQMETA

    The small-cap fund IWM is up 1.6% at 275.59 and the Dow fund DIA 1.0%, while QQQ gains only 0.2% to 719.64 — back at the 720 line, still under the 728.95 resistance. The large platforms hold it back: Meta −1.9% to 691.83 a day before its results, Alphabet −0.7%, Apple −0.6%, Microsoft −0.4%. Tesla, also reporting Wednesday, is up 1.7%; Amazon adds 0.4% after Monday's 5%.

  3. AI Handoff Board Nine ratios of our own indices tracking whether AI leadership is moving from build to operate to use. Open the board →
  4. 3

    DOWN Chip equipment — sold before Lam reports: Lam −2.4%, KLA −2.1%, Applied Materials −1.8%

    LRCXKLACAMATASML

    The makers of chip-making machines are the part of the chip trade still sold. Lam Research is down 2.4% at 265.54 — it touched −4.4% after the open — a day before its results; KLA −2.1% to 162.84, Applied Materials −1.8% to 405.85, ASML's US shares −0.4% to 1,641.33. Lam's report on Wednesday is the week's first company answer on what chip makers plan to spend next year.

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Today in line 11: what a fifteen-minute sell-off says about the chip trade, why the equipment makers are the exception, and the levels into Wednesday's five reports.

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Further reading on Closelooknet

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.