Stocks rose on Thursday, supported by a jump in semiconductors and a fall in oil prices, as equity markets tried to recover despite renewed U.S.-Iran tensions.
The Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3%, as did the S&P 500. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 116 points, or 0.2%.
The VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) climbed 3%, led by a 7% gain in Micron Technology. Sandisk also popped 7%.
European stocks also bounced back on Thursday as investors monitored renewed tensions in the Middle East, with the pan-European Stoxx 600 index up 0.1%, and regional bourses and sectors painting a mixed picture.
In Asia, Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.4% higher, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.62% in choppy trade. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index was down 0.5% in its last hour of trade on Thursday, while mainland China’s CSI 300 closed 2.5% higher.
The U.S. began launching fresh strikes on Iran in response to Tehran’s attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz, U.S. Central Command said Wednesday afternoon. U.S. Central Command later said that an additional round of strikes had been completed. However, crude futures were flat after President Donald Trump said Iran called to make a deal.
This comes after Trump said Wednesday he may no longer be interested in negotiating a deal with Iran. Prior to that, he said that the ceasefire between the U.S. and Tehran is “over” after another wave of attacks in the Middle East.
“Any assumption of a swift return to normalized Persian Gulf exports is certainly being challenged,” said Mason Mendez, global real assets analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute. “Given the reduced supply buffer of already low global reserves and inventories, any further escalations are likely to re-enforce a higher geopolitical risk premium in oil prices – even when negotiations eventually resume.”
The Dow tumbled Wednesday amid the renewed tensions between Iran and the U.S. The S&P 500 also fell slightly, while semis bounced to push the Nasdaq higher.
“These renewed geopolitical risks could fuel near-term risk-off sentiment, however, trends of strong equity earnings momentum and ongoing AI strengths will likely continue to drive the S&P 500 Index towards our year-end target range of 7,800 to 8,000,” said Mendez.
Existing home sales post surprise drop for June
Sales of existing homes unexpected declined in June as the real estate market continued to gyrate, the National Association of Realtors reported Thursday.
Totaling a seasonally adjusted annualized 4.9 million, sales were off 2.4% from May, against the Dow Jones consensus for a 0.7% increase on 4.2 million units. On an annual basis, sales rose 2.8%.
The median sales price was $440,600.
“The back-and-forth in monthly home sales activity, driven by mild fluctuations in mortgage rates, shows how sensitive home buyers are to affordability conditions,” said NAR chief economist Lawrence Yun.
— Jeff Cox
Nvidia technology stack has more applications than market appreciates, TD Cowen says
Nvidia‘s technology stock has a much wider range of applications than the market recognizes, making it a strong addition to investors’ portfolios, according to TD Cowen.
The bank has a buy rating on the hyperscaler name, naming it a top pick. It also has a $275 price target on shares, implying 35% upside from Wednesday’s close.
“NVIDIA is sending a clear message to investors that… compute remains in shortage… [and its] technology stack and its opportunities are being framed too narrowly,” analyst Joshua Buchalter said Wednesday in a note to clients.
The company is well positioned to adapt to the evolution of AI applications from generalized large language model-based use cases to “more vertical-specific applications building domain-specific intelligence,” the analyst noted.
Nvidia estimates roughly 20% of its business comes from supporting frontier models from OpenAI and Anthropic, he added. Meanwhile, Nvidia’s revenue from enterprise applications across a variety of industries sits at low-to-mid teens percentage points, per TD Cowen estimates.
— Liz Napolitano
Stocks open higher
The three major averages began Thursday’s session in the green.
The S&P 500 rose 0.2% shortly after the opening bell, while the Nasdaq Composite climbed 0.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 63 points, or 0.1%.
— Sean Conlon
Jobless claims moved lower during holiday week
Initial jobless claims edged lower last week, continuing to come off their early June spike, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
Filings totaled a seasonally adjusted 215,000 for the week ended July 4, down 4,000 from the prior period for the lowest total since May 23. Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had been looking for 218,000.
Continuing claims, which run a week behind, increased by 8,000 to 1.814 million.
— Jeff Cox
AstraZeneca, PepsiCo and Salesforce among the stocks making premarket moves
Here are some of the names moving before the opening bell:
- AstraZeneca — The biopharmaceutical company fell nearly 8% after its heart disease drug, Wainua, failed to meet its target in a late-stage clinical trial.
- PepsiCo — The snack and beverage giant posted mixed results for its second quarter. PepsiCo’s adjusted earnings of $2.20 per share fell short of the $2.21 a share expected from analysts polled by LSEG. Revenue was $24.18 billion, above the $23.95 billion consensus estimate. Shares fell 2%.
- Salesforce — The stock dropped 4.5% following a downgrade at KeyBanc to sector weight from overweight. The firm said it is difficult to find evidence of future upside based on checks and consumer conversations, as well as disclosed numbers from the company.
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— Michelle Fox
Citi trims Netflix price target
Citi analysts say they “remain upbeat” despite Netflix’s underwhelming performance.
“In May, management hinted they may introduce new tiers. This may allow Netflix to segment more effectively, helping top-line growth and reigniting investor interest,” Citi wrote. “We believe M&A has scope to help fortify Netflix’s IP, which should help engagement and improve operating leverage.”
Citi listed the streaming platform’s moderate viewership, a possible merger and acquisition from the company, along with shareholder interest in semis as possibly pressuring Netflix’s share price.
Still, the analysts believe Netflix’s second quarterly earnings will match consensus, with revenue at roughly $12.57 billion, operating income at about $4.11 billion and earnings per share at 78 cents. The analysts also expect the streaming platform’s third quarter results and 2026 fiscal year outlook to remain in line with guidance.
“We are reducing our target multiple from 28x to 25x 2027 EPS to reflect multiple compression among hyper-scalers. As such, our target price goes from $115 to $100,” Citi concluded.
— Ananya Chetia
Levi’s shares fall despite earnings beat
Shares of Levi Strauss were off by more than 4%, despite the company reporting a top and bottom line beat in its second-quarter financial report.
Adjusted earnings came in at 28 cents per share, compared to analysts polled by LSEG’s expectations for 24 cents. However, its full-year guidance and current quarter forecasts came in below estimates according to analysts polled by FactSet.
“Our demand remains healthy,” said Levi Strauss CEO Michelle Gass in an interview with CNBC. “We’re seeing strength across our key segments of consumers.”
— Davis Giangiulio and Gabrielle Fonrouge
PepsiCo slips on earnings miss
PepsiCo shares slipped around 1% after the snack and beverage giant posted second-quarter earnings that missed expectations.
The company earned an adjusted $2.20 per share, while analysts polled by LSEG expected a profit of $2.21 per share. Revenue of $24.18 billion did exceed the $23.95 billion consensus.
The mixed results were driven by consumers in North America spending less.
Read more here.
— Fred Imbert
Trump says Iran called to make a deal after U.S. strikes
“We have many ways we can win, but we’ve already won militarily,” Trump said. “They have very little left, and they want to make a deal so badly. They called a little while ago. They want to make a deal so badly. I just don’t know if they’re worthy of making a deal. I don’t know that they’re going to honor the deal. That’s the problem.”
Read more here.
— Chloe Taylor
Nasdaq poised to lead U.S equities rebound as global tech stocks recover
Tech stocks in Europe and Asia recovered across the board on Thursday, while the Nasdaq rose in pre-market trading, as investor sentiment warmed after Wednesday’s volatile session.
ASML, Europe’s largest chipmaker, was last seen up 2.2%, while BE Semiconductor rose 3.5% and STMicroelectronics added 4%. The broader Stoxx 600 technology index added over 1.1% in early trade.
In Asia, SK Hynix closed 5.3% higher ahead of its US debut on Friday.
Nasdaq futures were last seen 0.61% higher, as the tech-heavy index looks poised to lead U.S. equities higher when stock markets open later this morning.
— Joseph Wilkins
U.S. Treasury yields ease
U.S. Treasury yields steadied on Thursday morning. The key 10-year U.S. Treasury note yield — the main benchmark for mortgage borrowing, auto loans and credit card debt — was flat at 4.5732%.
The 2-year Treasury note yield, which is typically more sensitive to short-term Federal Reserve interest rate decisions, was also unchanged at 4.1953%.
The longer-dated 30-year Treasury bond yield, which moves in line with broader geopolitical risks, rose by 1 basis point, holding above the key 5% level, at 5.0773%.
— Hugh Leask
AstraZeneca stock dives 9% after heart drug trial misses target
Shares of AstraZeneca tumbled on Thursday morning after a late-stage clinical trial for a heart disease drug failed to meet its target.
The medicine, Wainua, did not reach its main goal of reducing deaths and recurrent heart-related emergencies over 140 weeks compared to a placebo, the British drugmaker said in a press release early Thursday.
The stock was last seen down 8.8% in London, on track for its worst day since March 2020 at the start of the Covid-19 outbreak. NYSE-listed shares were down 8% in premarket trading.
Shares of Ionis Pharmaceuticals, which is co-developing Wainua in the U.S., fell 12.5% in premarket trading.
Read the full story here.
— Elsa Ohlen
Dollar declines as investors assess U.S.-Iran tensions
The U.S. dollar index, which measures the greenback against a basket of major currencies, fell about 0.1% on Thursday morning.
The index spiked on Wednesday morning after hostilities in the Middle East flared up once again and as U.S. President Donald Trump said a ceasefire between Washington and Tehran was “over.” But the dollar fell in later trading to end the day lower.
In a note on Wednesday, Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at Ebury, said his team believed the flare-up in U.S.-Iran hostilities was a temporary setback, rather than a complete breakdown in negotiations.
“That means a greater aversion to risk across markets, higher oil prices and another bout of safe haven flows into the safe haven dollar, at least until we receive news of a thawing in U.S.-Iran tensions.”
— Chloe Taylor
European stocks rebound despite renewed U.S.-Iran tensions
European stocks staged a rebound on Thursday as investors were undeterred by renewed tensions in the Middle East.
Shortly after the opening bell, the pan-European Stoxx 600 index was seen up 0.5%, with most regional bourses and sectors trading in the green.
France’s Cac 40 and Germany’s DAX each rose 0.6% in early trade, while London’s FTSE 100 shed 0.2%. Tech stocks and miners led gains across the continent, while healthcare and consumer staples lagged the broader index.
— Joseph Wilkins
Japan’s Nikkei and South Korea’s Kospi close higher; Australia stocks fall
Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.38% higher at 67,743.85, while South Korea’s Kospi rose 0.62% to 7,291.91 in choppy trade.
Both indexes were supported by gains in tech stocks. Samsung and SK Hynix, which are Kospi heavyweights, rose 0.18% and over 5%, respectively. Over in Japan, Tokyo Electron rose 5.51%, Advantest gained 5.86% and Rakuten Group added 0.49%.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.26% to 8,762.50.
— Justina Lee
SK Hynix’s U.S. listing reportedly more than 7x oversubscribed: Reuters
Demand for the U.S. listing of South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix is more than seven times oversubscribed ahead of its debut on Friday, Reuters reported, citing an unnamed source.
The comments indicate significant investor demand for the world’s second-largest manufacturer of HBM chips, with market sentiment increasingly buoyant following SpaceX’s successful flotation last month.
“We don’t know the actual demand yet… but when you look at where the sector is going, there’s only two main competitors, Micron and Samsung, there’s tremendous demand for their products which usually translates to tremendous demand for the stock,” Nasdaq president Nelson Griggs told CNBC’s Arjun Kharpal at the 2026 RAISE summit on Wednesday.
SK Hynix shares rose 5.3% on Thursday.
— Joseph Wilkins
Kioxia shares rise as much as 11% amid report that Bain sold its entire stake in the memory maker
Shares of Kioxia rose as much as 11%, amid news that Bain Capital had sold its entire stake in the flash memory maker.
Shares were last trading 7% higher.
David Gross, Bain’s managing partner, confirmed the full exit in an interview, citing record-setting returns, Bloomberg reported, after the artificial intelligence boom drove Kioxia stock to historic highs.
The Japanese semiconductor manufacturer reportedly is planning to list in the U.S. next year amid growing demand for storage systems as demand for artificial intelligence-linked products expands.
Kioxia is one of the world’s largest producers of flash memory and was spun off from conglomerate Toshiba in 2018. It currently has 22 subsidiaries and six affiliated companies in Japan and overseas.
— Justina Lee
Oil up over 1% as tensions between the U.S. and Iran raise concerns over supply disruptions
Oil rose Thursday, after fresh strikes on Iran by the U.S. military raised worries about supply disruptions in the Middle East.
Futures for international benchmark Brent crude for September delivery advanced 1.03% to $78.82 a barrel. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures for August rose 1.06% to $74.29 per barrel. Prices had risen more than 4% on Wednesday.
“The market is again being forced to price the risk that renewed attacks on shipping, or a broader breakdown in US-Iran relations, could slow the normalisation of flows through the Strait of Hormuz,” according to Saxo.
As the Strait of Hormuz is one of the most important energy chokepoints in the world, “even limited disruption can have an outsized impact on prompt pricing, freight costs and market sentiment,” it added.
— Justina Lee
China consumer price growth weakens in June, producer inflation rises to near 4-year high
China’s consumer prices grew slower than expected in June, while wholesale inflation accelerated, as elevated energy costs continued to sap domestic demand.
Consumer prices rose 1% in June from a year ago, missing economists’ estimates of 1.1% growth in a Reuters poll, and slowing from 1.2% in May, according to data released by the National Bureau of Statistics on Thursday.
Core CPI, excluding volatile food and energy prices, also rose 1% in June from a year earlier, edging down from the 1.1% increase in May. Food prices declined 1.6% from a year earlier, easing from a fall of 1.7% in May.
The producer price index jumped 4.1% from a year earlier, in line with economists’ forecast and outpacing May’s 3.9%. That marked the strongest growth since July 2022, according to LSEG data. On a month-on-month basis, however, PPI declined 0.3%, official data showed.
— Anniek Bao
AirPods-maker Luxshare falls over 5% in Hong Kong debut
Shares of Luxshare Precision Industry fell more than 5% in their Hong Kong trading debut Thursday.
The company, which is already listed in Shenzhen, had priced shares in the IPO at 63.28 Hong Kong dollars apiece, raising HK$24.27 billion ($3.09 billion). The stock was trading at HK$60 in early trading.
From being an assembler of Apple’s AirPods, Luxshare has evolved into a supplier of parts for a broader set of consumer and automotive electronics, as well as communications products.
— Jenny Lee
South Korea’s Kospi rises nearly 3% after entering a technical bear market in prior session
Asia-Pacific markets traded mixed early Thursday, with the Kospi surging after falling into a bear market the day before.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added over 1.17% while the Topix was 0.20% higher.
The Kospi advanced 2.92% at open, while the small-cap Kosdaq rose 1.28%.
Australia’s benchmark S&P/ASX 200 was 0.83% lower.
— Justina Lee
Asia-Pacific markets are set to open mixed as renewed Iran-U.S. tensions dent sentiment
Asia-Pacific markets were set to open mixed Thursday, amid renewed U.S.-Iran tensions that pushed oil prices higher.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 was poised to rise, with the Chicago futures contract at 67,825 while its Osaka counterpart last trading at 67,700, compared with the index’s previous close of 66,819.05.
Futures for Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index last traded at 23,983, lower than the index’s close of 24,199.46.
Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 futures last traded at 8,706, while the S&P/ASX 200′s closed at 8,785.10.
The U.S. Central Command said Wednesday that fresh strikes on Iran were launched in response to Tehran’s attacks on commercial shipping in and around the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S. President Donald Trump also signaled earlier in the day that he was no longer interested in negotiating a deal with Iran. Prior to that, he also said that the ceasefire between Iran and the U.S. was “over,” following another wave of attacks in the Middle East.
— Justina Lee
Stocks making the biggest moves after hours
These are the stocks making the biggest moves in extended trading:
- Levi Strauss: Shares of the denim giant dropped 5.5% after hours despite beating second-quarter expectations on the top and bottom lines and raising its guidance and dividend.
- AZZ Inc: The metal coating solutions provider jumped after it reported earnings per share of $1.85 for the latest quarter compared to analyst expectations of $1.69, according to FactSet. Revenue of $448.5 million topped estimates or $434.6 million.
— Tanaya Macheel
