$Apple(AAPL.US) just hit a number no one saw coming this fast. Apple briefly touched a $5 trillion market cap on Tuesday, only the second company ever to get there, and closed up 0.94% near $4.99 trillion, right on the eve of its own earnings tomorrow. The rest of the chip trade wasn't so lucky: the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index broke below key support, sliding 4.49%, as memory names got crushed. Earnings season hits full throttle this week too. Let's dig in 👇

💬 Can Apple (AAPL) earnings tomorrow justify a $5 trillion valuation?

📊 Quick Recap — What Moved & Why

🇺🇸 US — Apple's Milestone, Chips Crack

🔑 Key Event: Tuesday's session was split down the middle. $S&P 500(.SPX.US) rose 0.21% to 7,428.78 and $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US) gained 1.03% to 52,747.32, but the $NASDAQ Composite Index(.IXIC.US) slipped 0.22% to 24,876.91 as the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index (SOX) broke below key support, tumbling 4.49% to 11,035.68. $Apple(AAPL.US) briefly touched a $5 trillion market cap intraday, the second company ever to do so after $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) , before closing up 0.94% around $4.99 trillion. Memory names bore the brunt of the chip selloff, with $Sandisk(SNDK.US) down over 14% on fresh oversupply fears from a Chinese rival's blockbuster IPO.

👀 Other to Watch

• $SK Hynix(SKHY.US) → operating profit jumped about 6.6x YoY, but revenue missed; the stock briefly fell over 9% at Wednesday's Seoul open before clawing back to trade up about 2-3% as Korea's KOSPI rallied on its raised capex guidance.
• $Corning(GLW.US) → plunged as much as 20% after Q3 guidance came in just below estimates, despite a Q2 beat.
• $Coca Cola(KO.US) → jumped about 5-7% to a record high on a Q2 beat and raised guidance, its best volume growth in 17 years.
• $Boeing(BA.US) & $UPS(UPS.US) → Boeing rose about 5% despite a wider-than-expected core loss, while UPS fell nearly 6% even after raising its revenue guidance, on doubts it can hit the new targets.
• $Meta Platforms(META.US) & $NVIDIA(NVDA.US) → Meta and BlackRock are building a $14B data centre in El Paso, Texas; separately, Nvidia is reportedly (unconfirmed by either company) a tenant on a Texas data-centre lease worth up to $50B.

🇸🇬 Singapore — STI Hits Fresh Highs, SIA Swings to a Loss

🔑 Key Event: The $FTSE Straits Times Index(STI.SG) climbed about 0.3% to around 5,633 on Wednesday morning, a fresh high, after closing Tuesday at 5,616.11. Singapore Airlines ($SIA(C6L.SG)) reported its first quarterly net loss in nearly four years, S$76m versus a S$186m profit a year ago, as fuel costs surged 78.5% on the Middle East conflict even as revenue hit a record S$5.71B.

👀 Other to Watch

• $DBS(D05.SG) · $OCBC Bank(O39.SG) · $UOB(U11.SG) → all three banks edged higher this morning, holding near record highs ahead of Q2 results due Aug 6 and Aug 7.

🇭🇰 HK/China — Stocks Rally, Chips Buck the Trend

🔑 Key Event: Hong Kong closed Tuesday up a modest 0.41% on the $Hang Seng Index(00HSI.HK) , then extended those gains sharply on Wednesday morning to about 1.48% (around 25,687), with the $Hang Seng China Enterprises Index(HSCEI.HK) up 1.74% and the $Hang Seng TECH Index(STECH.HK) up 2.39%. Chip names moved with the overnight US rout rather than against it this time, a reversal from Tuesday's resilience.

👀 Other to Watch

• $SMIC(00981.HK) & $HUA HONG GRACE(01347.HK) → both fell in sympathy with the overnight US memory-chip selloff, while mainland peer GigaDevice hit its daily limit down.
• Zhongji Innolight ($Zhongji Innolight(300308.SZ) / $ZJ INNOLIGHT(03308.HK)) → announced share-allotment results and held its grey-market trading session today, ahead of its debut tomorrow.

🌍 Other

• Iran & oil → Iran fired missiles at a US base in Jordan overnight, which CENTCOM says were all intercepted with no casualties; the incident shook the fragile US-Iran truce without an official confirmed collapse, and WTI snapped its three-day slide to rise about 4.2% to $82.61.
• Fed → the FOMC decision lands Thursday around 2am SGT; futures price only about a 32% chance of a hike, but confidence in the outcome is unusually low for a Fed meeting.

📅 Key Events This Week

• 🇺🇸 Big Tech Q2 earnings, night 1 → $Microsoft(MSFT.US) & $Meta Platforms(META.US) report today, Wed Jul 29 US close (lands ~5:30am SGT Thu)
• 🇺🇸 Big Tech Q2 earnings, night 2 → $Apple(AAPL.US) & $Amazon(AMZN.US) report Thu Jul 30 US close
• 🇺🇸 FOMC decision · lands ~2am SGT Thu Jul 30
• 🇭🇰 Zhongji Innolight ($Zhongji Innolight(300308.SZ)/ $ZJ INNOLIGHT(03308.HK)) HK debut · Thu Jul 30
• 🇺🇸 Q2 GDP advance & June PCE · Thu Jul 30
• 🌍 US-Iran truce · watch for further escalation, oil driver

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🚫 No duplicates · ⏰ Deadline: July 29, 2026, 11:59 PM SGT
Not investment advice, just market talk 🙏