US EQUITY OPEN: Micron surges post-earnings, but rest of Tech amid knock-on effect

OPEN: US indices initially opened notably in the green with the tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 outperforming and buoyed by a stellar Micron earnings report and Qualcomm lifting long-term revenue targets. In addition, indices saw a boost after cooler-than-expected M/M PCE metrics, which garnered a broad-based dovish reaction. As such, in wake of the data, Dollar saw losses, while Treasuries and spot gold gained. In FX, the Greenback is mixed against peers, albeit contained, with GBP, CHF, and CAD seeing slight gains, and JPY and NZD marginally in the red. Oil prices are modestly lower as geopolitical headlines remain somewhat light. Back to US indices, which have sunk since the open, as hyperscalers see heavy weakness, with AMZN, GOOGL, META, and MSFT all notably lower, as well as Apple shares tanking after their iPad and Mac price hikes. One of themes to monitor is that the whole AI/tech space is unlikely to benefit all together going forward, as while the blowout Micron report is very good for them and memory names, it hits other sub-sectors within the industry as they'll have to spend more, as shown by Apple having to hike prices. Elsewhere on the US data front, Durable Goods didn’t decline as much as anticipated, Q1 GDP topped expectations, and jobless claims fell beneath the bottom end of the consensus range. Ahead, US 7yr auction and Fed’s Williams are the highlights.

STOCK SPECIFICS:

• Micron (MU): Blow-out earnings; Strong Q metrics & stellar guidance
• Qualcomm (QCOM): Expanded its strategic relationship w/ Hugging Face & announced FY29 targets.
• McCormick (MKC): EPS & rev. topped
• IBM (IBM): Unveils first sub-1nm chip tech. w/ 0.7nm node & sees a path to prod. in as early as the next 5 years
• Amazon (AMZN): To invest additional $13bln in India cloud & AI
• Jefferies (JEF): Earnings missed, outweighing record IB & equities revs.
• Trip.com (TCOM): Profit light & provided soft guidance.

Following Fed bank stress tests:

• JPMorgan (JPM): New share buyback prog. of $50bln & lifted Q div. to $1.65/shr (prev. 1.50)
• Goldman Sachs (GS): Will raise common div. to $5.00/shr (prev. 4.50)
• Morgan Stanley (MS): Will lift Q common div. to $1.15/shr (prev. 1.00) & reauthorised a share buyback of up to $20bln
• Citi (C ): Will raise Q div. 12% to $0.67/shr
• Wells Fargo (WFC): Expects to raise common div. 11% to $0.50/shr & has capacity to continue share repurchases
• State Street (STT): Intends to lift common div. 10% to $0.92/shr
• Bank of New York Mellon (BNY): Intends to raise Q common div. 19% to $0.63/shr & remains authorised to repurchase common shares under its existing prog.
• US Bancorp (USB): Plans to raise Q common div. 3.8% to $0.54/shr