Chip Stocks Sink as Oil Slide Boosts Dow in Volatile
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- Micron more than quadrupled revenue year-over-year and announced 16 long-term supply agreements, sending shares up 16% Thursday after a 13% Tuesday sell-off triggered by a plunge in Korean memory stocks.
- Apple shares dropped 6.1% Thursday after the company raised prices on several MacBook and iPad models, citing soaring memory and storage costs — its first formal move to pass component increases on to consumers.
- Nvidia, Broadcom, Intel, and Arm ended the week down 8.6%, 12.3%, 4.2%, and 23.9% respectively, as chip stocks fell over 5% Friday on reports OpenAI was considering delaying its IPO until next year.
- The Nasdaq Composite fell 4.6% for the week while the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.6%, as falling oil prices and a rotation into healthcare stocks like Johnson & Johnson and Eli Lilly lifted economically sensitive names.
- WTI crude ended Friday near $69 a barrel and Brent near $72, erasing nearly all conflict-driven gains, despite Trump accusing Iran of violating a ceasefire by launching attack drones at commercial vessels in the Strait of Hormuz.
- After Friday's close, the U.S. military disclosed it conducted strikes against Iran in response to "unwarranted aggression against commercial shipping by Iranian forces," a development markets had not yet digested.
- FedEx topped Wall Street expectations on both revenue and earnings, with management citing momentum in higher-margin businesses including healthcare, aerospace, automotive, and AI-related data center logistics.
Why it matters: The week's 5.2-point spread between the Nasdaq's 4.6% drop and the Dow's 0.6% gain crystallizes a rotation away from AI's biggest spenders (Apple, Microsoft, Meta, Alphabet) and toward its suppliers (memory chipmakers) plus economically sensitive sectors. Memory shortages are now forcing even Apple — the world's most valuable consumer electronics company — to raise end-user prices, showing AI infrastructure costs are starting to flow through to consumers, not just corporate balance sheets.
