SG Morning Brief | SK Hynix Soars 13% in Record Foreign IPO, S&P Wins the Week; CPI + Bank Earnings Tomorrow

Weekend WrapIran's late Supreme Leader Khamenei was buried in Mashhad on Friday, but his son and successor Mojtaba Khamenei did not appear publicly — raising questions about the stability of Iran's leadership transition. Israel shared intelligence with the US about a new Iranian plot to assassinate President Trump, who told reporters "I'm on every list." The Strait of Hormuz is running at roughly 13% of normal traffic. Oil held steady near $71-76 over the weekend. A record number of tech company insiders have bought their own stock over the past six months, reflecting internal confidence even as the AI valuation debate intensifies. Q2 earnings season begins in earnest tomorrow.US Overnight (Friday Close)The S&P 500 rose 0.42% to 7,575.39, the Nasdaq gained 0.29% to 26,281.61, and the Dow added 149.60 points (+0.29%) to 52,637.01. The S&P advanced more than 1.2% for the week, while the Nasdaq gained 1.7%. The Dow dipped 0.5% for the week as banks and industrials lagged the tech recovery. SK Hynix debuted on the Nasdaq, opening at $170 versus an IPO price of $149 and closing up 13%. The offering raised $26.5 billion — the largest US IPO by a foreign company in history. Meta surged 6% on Friday, capping a 15% weekly gain (its best since early 2024) after Bank of America said Meta's AI infrastructure costs could be half of what Wall Street had estimated. Nvidia gained 4%.Key MoversSK Hynix (SKHYV) +13% (IPO) — SK Hynix opened at $170 and climbed as high as $175 before settling up 13% from its $149 offering price. The $26.5 billion raise makes it the largest-ever US IPO by a foreign company and the second-largest overall behind SpaceX. CEO Kwak Noh-Jung said memory-chip shortages will persist beyond 2030. TheStreet's Rev Shark noted the crucial difference from SpaceX: "SK Hynix is an institutional deal" rather than a retail-driven meme trade.Meta (META) +6% / weekly +15% — Meta posted its best week since early 2024 after BofA maintained a buy rating and highlighted an internal memo suggesting AI infrastructure costs are potentially half what the Street expected. The stock also benefited from its AI chip manufacturing announcement earlier in the week. Meta is now the top-performing Magnificent Seven name in July.Delta Air Lines (DAL) -2% — Delta fell 1.81% to $87.39 despite beating Q2 earnings estimates, as investors focused on a surge in fuel expenses that compressed margins. CEO Ed Bastian told CNBC he expects pricing power to persist even as oil eases — a preview of the margin-vs-fuel tension that will define airline and retail earnings this season.SGX PreviewThe STI was near 5,070. DBS near S$62.18, UOB near S$37.91. SK Hynix's strong debut is positive for the memory trade and Venture Corp. Meta's AI cost revision could ease concerns that hyperscaler capex is unsustainable. Tomorrow's CPI and bank earnings are the dominant catalyst — a cool CPI and strong bank results would be the most bullish combination possible for Singapore financials.Asia Pre-MarketFutures data was not yet available. Gold closed at $4,113, the 10-year yield at 4.56%. The mood heading into Monday is cautiously optimistic: the S&P won the week, SK Hynix debuted cleanly, and the chip correction appears to be stabilizing. The risk is tomorrow's CPI — any upside surprise would reignite rate hike fears instantly.Tomorrow: Q3's Super Day (Tuesday July 14)EventTime (ET)Time (UTC+8)June CPI8:30 AM8:30 PMJPMorgan (JPM)Pre-mkt—Goldman Sachs (GS)Pre-mkt—Wells Fargo (WFC)Pre-mkt—BofA (BAC)Pre-mkt—Citigroup (C)Pre-mkt—S&P 500 Q2 earnings expected to rise 24% YoY (LSEG). CPI consensus: headline below 4% (if oil impact flows through). This is the most information-dense single trading day of Q3.One More ThingSK Hynix's CEO said memory shortages will persist beyond 2030. Record numbers of tech insiders are buying their own stock. BofA says Meta's AI costs are half what the Street feared. These three data points all say the same thing: the people closest to the AI buildout — the executives, the chip makers, the analysts with inside access — are still believers. The recent 15% chip correction was driven by traders, not by fundamentals. Tomorrow's CPI and bank earnings will determine whether the broader market catches up to the insider conviction or whether the skeptics were right all along.This briefing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.