Daily Market Brief — 2026-07-13
A tense start to a big earnings week: Middle East escalation lifts oil while chip stocks retreat after SK Hynix's blockbuster debut.
Market backdrop
US index futures point lower Monday morning, led by tech: Nasdaq-100 futures are down about 0.8%, S&P 500 futures off roughly 0.3%, and Dow futures near flat. The divergence follows a weekend of escalation between the US and Iran — the US carried out its fourth strike in a week on Sunday after an Iranian attack on a Cyprus-flagged container ship, and Iran retaliated with strikes involving US allies including Kuwait, Jordan, and Qatar. Oil prices moved sharply higher on the news. The VIX was quoted near 15 in the pre-market, a notably calm reading given the geopolitical backdrop. A heavy slate of corporate earnings begins this week.
Sector rotation
Friday's session was mildly tech-friendly — the Nasdaq-100 (QQQ) added about 0.3%, semiconductors (SMH) rose about 0.5%, and NVIDIA jumped roughly 4% — but memory names lagged as SK Hynix's $26.5 billion Nasdaq debut absorbed attention and capital. The ADRs priced at $149, opened at $170, and closed their first day at $168.01; in sympathy, the Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) slipped about 2% and Micron eased. Monday's pre-market extends the pressure: SK Hynix ADRs are indicated down around 10%, dragging the memory complex and chip sector broadly lower while Dow-style cyclicals stay firm — a pattern of money drifting from tech toward industrials and energy that has recurred several times this month. Year-to-date, technology (XLK, +33%) still leads the sector scoreboard, followed by energy (XLE, +21%) and industrials (XLI, +20%).
Rates, the dollar & regime
The 10-year Treasury yield climbed to about 4.59% Monday, near seven-week highs, after finishing Friday at 4.56% — yields rising as stocks fall, an inflation-flavored risk-off pattern driven by oil. Treasuries are offering little cushion in this regime; the dollar has been the more consistent haven this cycle, while gold held above $4,100 as of Friday. With Fed rate-path uncertainty still live, short-duration instruments continue to behave more steadily than long bonds.
Names in focus
- GMED — Globus Medical, medical devices (spine/musculoskeletal); BMO Capital initiated coverage Friday with an Outperform rating and $94 target.
- CRWV — CoreWeave, AI cloud infrastructure; closed Friday at $88.88 amid continued focus on hyperscaler capacity plans.
- AVGO — Broadcom, semiconductors/networking; finished Friday just under $400 as its multi-year custom-chip agreement with Apple continues to anchor sentiment.
- SYM — Symbotic, warehouse automation; rose about 1.1% Friday.
- AGQ — a 2x daily silver-futures ETF; eased 0.7% Friday as silver consolidated recent gains.
- IREN — IREN Ltd, Nasdaq-listed data-center and AI-compute operator; closed Friday at $41.14.
- TSLA — Tesla, EVs and energy; earnings expected around July 22.
- GOOG — Alphabet, search/cloud/AI; little changed Friday at $355.03.
- TSM — Taiwan Semiconductor, world's largest chip foundry; dipped 0.7% Friday to $434.11.
- NBIS — Nebius Group, AI infrastructure; added 1.6% Friday following its Nasdaq-100 inclusion earlier in the week.
- ZBRA — Zebra Technologies, enterprise data-capture; Wolfe Research raised its target to $317 over the weekend.
- FANUY — Fanuc, Japanese factory-automation maker (OTC ADR); rose 3.5% Friday, with earnings due July 31.
- DRAM — Roundhill Memory ETF, tracking memory-chip makers; fell 2.1% Friday as the SK Hynix listing reshuffled the space.
- RRX — Regal Rexnord, industrial powertrain and automation; gained about 3.3% Friday.
- VRT — Vertiv, data-center power and cooling; slipped 1.6% Friday and is indicated lower pre-market.
- BRK.B — Berkshire Hathaway, diversified conglomerate; little changed Friday at $493.71.
Compiled from public sources; market data as of the July 10, 2026 close and July 13 pre-market indications.