Moderna had its best day ever Wednesday: shares soared 177% after its melanoma vaccine, developed with Merck, became the first mRNA cancer therapy to succeed in a Phase 3 trial. Merck rose alongside it. Memory chips split hard on the same day, with SanDisk and Micron rising on SK Hynix's record buyback news while Western Digital, Seagate, Lumentum, and Coherent all fell. Let's dig in 👇

💬 Moderna nearly tripled overnight: would you chase it, or is this one to sit out?

📊 Quick Recap — What Moved & Why

🇺🇸 US — Moderna Soars 177% on Landmark Cancer Vaccine Win

🔑 Key Event: $Moderna(MRNA.US) surged 177% to $174.38, its best day ever, after its mRNA vaccine with Merck's Keytruda cut melanoma recurrence risk 49% in a Phase 3 trial, the first mRNA cancer vaccine to succeed at that stage. Its market cap jumped from $25B to $69B; $Merck(MRK.US) rose 10.6% to $149.52. US indices snapped a losing streak, with $S&P 500(.SPX.US) up 0.21% to 7,707.98, $NASDAQ Composite Index(.IXIC.US) up 0.16% to 26,331.09, and $Dow Jones Industrial Average(.DJI.US) up 0.22% to 53,463.05, after the Treasury said it would double long-bond buybacks.

👀 Other to Watch

• Memory chips split hard → $Sandisk(SNDK.US) rose 5% and $Micron Tech(MU.US) 3% on SK Hynix's record $29B buyback plan, while $Western Digital(WDC.US) fell 6.2% on weak margins and $Coherent Corp.(COHR.US) fell 12% on profit-taking.
• $Marvell Tech(MRVL.US) → jumped about 12% after Google took a warrant for up to $12.2B of its stock in an expanded custom AI-chip deal; $Broadcom(AVGO.US), Google's previous main chip partner, fell over 5% on the competitive threat.
• Fed's July minutes → showed an unusually hawkish split: the FOMC held rates 9-3, but the three dissents all wanted a hike, not a cut, and minutes showed broader sentiment that tightening may be needed if inflation doesn't fall.
• $Target(TGT.US) & $Lowes(LOW.US) → Target beat on comp sales (+3.8%) but fell about 1.6% premarket on "sell the news"; Lowe's beat on EPS but trimmed full-year guidance on soft home-improvement demand, falling about 2%.
• $Nebius(NBIS.US) → fell 10-14% after announcing a $4.5B convertible-note offering, its third billion-dollar-plus raise in under a year.

🇸🇬 Singapore — STI Drifts Lower, Tracking Global Weakness

🔑 Key Event: $FTSE Straits Times Index(STI.SG) has drifted lower for three straight sessions, from Monday's 5,768.46 to about 5,660 by Thursday morning, tracking global market weakness rather than any distinct Singapore catalyst.

👀 Other to Watch

• $DBS(D05.SG) & $OCBC Bank(O39.SG) → trading near record highs after strong Q2 results, OCBC's profit up 22% to a record S$2.22B; $UOB(U11.SG) has lagged on softer fee-income guidance and rising Greater China bad loans.
• $SATS(S58.SG) → Q1 net profit rose 6% to S$75.1M, with revenue up 11.3% to S$1.7B on stronger cargo volumes.

🇭🇰 HK/China — AIA Beats as HK Holds Steady While A-Shares Crash

🔑 Key Event: $AIA(01299.HK) posted H1 2026 operating profit up 11% to $4.16B, beating estimates, with its interim dividend up 10% to HK$0.539, driven by growth across 17 of its 18 Asian markets. Hong Kong's own market held roughly flat, with $Hang Seng Index(00HSI.HK) up 0.09% to 25,495.07, even as mainland China's markets suffered a severe rout on the same US Treasury-yield spike, with the Shanghai Composite down 2.4% and ChiNext down over 6%.

👀 Other to Watch

• $HKEX(00388.HK) → posted record H1 2026 results on strong Stock Connect and derivatives trading, helping support Wednesday's HSI close.
• $CKH HOLDINGS(00001.HK) → launched international arbitration against Panama, seeking over $1.5B in damages over its lost port investments there.
• China's central bank kept short-term liquidity tools at zero for a 7th straight day while easing housing-fund withdrawal rules from next month, a mixed signal on policy support.

🌍 Other

• 🇺🇸 US federal debt crossed $40 trillion for the first time, up from $39T just five months earlier.
• 🌍 Bitcoin neared $70,000 and gold hit a two-month high near $4,480/oz, both on dollar weakness after the Treasury's buyback announcement.
• 🇺🇸 Trump announced what he called the "most crushing" economic sanctions ever on Iran, targeting any country or entity that helps it evade existing measures.

📅 Key Events Tonight / This Week

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🚫 No duplicates · ⏰ Deadline: Aug 20, 2026, 11:59 PM SGT

Not investment advice, just market talk 🙏