Good morning. Stocks came back from the long weekend with a broad rally and a fresh record for the Dow. Today's question: whether the chip stocks that led that move can shrug off a soft read from Samsung.
The Market Gauge
Monday's close, the first session back after the holiday:
S&P 500: 7,537.43 (+0.72%)
Nasdaq: 26,121.16 (+1.12%)
Dow: 53,055.91 (+0.29%), a record intraday high
Stocks reopened in a risk-on mood. Per Investor's Business Daily, the indexes popped after President Trump made bullish remarks about U.S. equities, with chip names like Micron leading and the Dow tagging a fresh record before easing. The market's uptrend is intact heading into the week.
Beginner note: a record high is a sign of a healthy trend, not a cue to pile in. What matters next is follow-through: do buyers keep showing up? Today's chip test is a good early read on that.
On today's calendar
Chip stocks meet a Samsung test. Samsung, the world's largest memory-chip maker, reported earnings, and the results are weighing on the group, right after chips led Monday's rally. Memory-chip makers tend to move together, so one bellwether's numbers ripple across all of them. Watch whether the group holds.
SpaceX joins the Nasdaq-100. The newly public SpaceX is being added to the Nasdaq-100 index. When a stock enters a major index, the funds that track that index have to buy it, which can move the price around the change.
Earnings season is starting. Q2 reports begin ramping over the next week or two (big banks and megacaps first). Expect company earnings, more than the economic calendar, to steer individual stocks this week.
On the radar: Micron
$MU ( ▼ 8.02% ), one of the largest U.S. memory-chip makers, sat right in the middle of Monday's action. It rose with the group to close up 0.94% at $984.75, though it is still about 22% below the highs it reached after its last earnings report. Now Samsung's results have put the whole memory group on watch.
Why it's worth watching: this is a quick lesson in group strength. Growth traders don't track just one stock, they watch whether its entire industry group is acting well. When a leader like Micron and its peers climb together, the move is more trustworthy; when the group wobbles on a rival's bad news, that is a yellow flag. How Micron opens and holds today is an early tell on whether Monday's chip strength was real or a one-day pop.
ONE FOR THE ROAD
Your call: do chips shrug off the Samsung news today, or give back Monday's gains? Reply and tell us. There is no wrong answer, the point is to start reading the market's daily story.
Educational content only. Not financial advice. Past performance does not predict future results. Read the full financial disclosure.