June 24 The spotlight is on chipmaker Micron Technology as it prepares to report earnings, with investors bracing for further volatility following sharp market swings fueled by large flows tied to SpaceX and a two-day boom-bust in semiconductor stocks.
Last June, Micron was a well-known if somewhat obscure company with a market value of $136 billion and a long history, but not necessarily one whose quarterly earnings reports caught investors’ fancy
Fast forward a year, and Micron is one of the stars of the technology rally that has sent chipmakers around the world soaring, igniting a fresh trading frenzy even after a dozen or more months of AI excitement. Micron is up 761% from a year ago, boosting its market value to $1.19 trillion, placing it among the top U.S.-listed companies and surpassing Walmart and Intel. That has proved to be a windfall for its investors but potentially adds to the stress portfolio managers and other market mavens face over how the company’s results will turn out on Wednesday, as they try to work out what sparked the chipmaker selloff and gauge an unsettling debut for the new Federal Reserve chair.
The Nasdaq has fallen more than 5% after a record run and investors say the market swings have at times been surprisingly abrupt, leaving them to wonder which shoe could drop next. “It’s that question of whether it sets off a domino effect or whether it’s just a little step back and then it takes a couple of steps forward again,” said Michael Field, chief equity market strategist at Morningstar. The parabolic gains in Micron and shares of other semiconductor stocks, combined with the slate of mega IPOs this summer, are generating concerns about market euphoria and a potential topping out of the major indexes. At the same time, large expected earnings gains stemming from massive AI capital spending are sustaining the market advance, but without necessarily extending too obviously into what is called “bubble territory.” “Part of the…