☕️ [Task Coins Giveaway] Daily Market Talk — Microsoft Sets a $450 Billion Record as Memory Chips Roar Back

$Microsoft(MSFT.US) just made stock-market history. Shares surged about 15% Thursday, adding roughly $450B in market cap in a single day, the largest one-day dollar gain for any stock ever, beating Nvidia's own record from last year. Memory chips staged an even sharper reversal: the broader semiconductor sector jumped about 8-9%, clawing back most of July's worst monthly drop since 2001, as $Micron Tech(MU.US) , $Sandisk(SNDK.US) and $SK Hynix(SKHY.US) all surged double digits. $Amazon(AMZN.US) , $Apple(AAPL.US) and $Meta Platforms(META.US) also reported, with very different results. Let's dig in 👇

💬 Is Microsoft's record-breaking rally proof the AI trade still works, or just one good quarter?

📊 Quick Recap — What Moved & Why

🇺🇸 US — Microsoft's Record, Memory's Comeback

🔑 Key Event: $Microsoft(MSFT.US) closed Thursday up about 15%, adding roughly $450B in market cap, the largest single-day dollar gain for any US stock ever, as Azure revenue topped $100B for the first time (up 43%) and FY27 capex guidance came in at $175B, below the roughly $190B the Street feared. Memory chips staged their own comeback: the broader semiconductor sector jumped about 8-9%, with $Micron Tech(MU.US), $Sandisk(SNDK.US) and $SK Hynix(SKHY.US) all surging 15-24%, reversing much of a rout that had made July the sector's worst month since 2001.

👀 Other to Watch

• $Amazon(AMZN.US) → AWS revenue grew 37%, its fastest pace in 18 quarters, and shares jumped about 9% after hours; the company raised 2026 capex guidance to $220B from $200B on rising memory-chip costs.
• $Apple(AAPL.US) → revenue beat estimates, but shares fell about 5-6% after hours as next-quarter guidance of 9-11% growth missed the Street's 12%, citing supply constraints in advanced chipmaking capacity.
• $Meta Platforms(META.US) → shares extended a two-day slide toward 52-week lows after an EPS miss and a reportedly open-ended AI-infrastructure spending commitment, even as its own 2026 capex guidance held at $130-145B.
• Tim Cook → closed out his 90th and final earnings call as Apple CEO with farewell remarks to shareholders, ahead of his previously announced September 1 handover to John Ternus.

🇸🇬 Singapore — STI Gives Back Ground Despite the Global Rally

🔑 Key Event: $FTSE Straits Times Index(STI.SG) eased about 0.9% to around 5,622 on Friday morning, pulling back from Thursday's close of 5,673.58, as rate-sensitive names lagged even as Wall Street's tech and chip rally roared overnight. The big three banks had already dragged the index down 1% at Thursday's open, with $DBS(D05.SG) sliding to S$74.27, before the market clawed back those losses through the day.

👀 Other to Watch

• $Seatrium(5E2.SG) → reported Friday that H1 net profit more than doubled to S$323.6m, from S$156.8m a year earlier, and proposed a final dividend of 3 cents a share, double last year's payout.
• $Keppel(BN4.SG) → posted 1H net income of S$154.7m on revenue of S$3.81B, weighed down by impairments, even as its asset-management arm grew fee income 25% to S$530m and pushed funds under management to S$106B, already above its 2026 target.

🇭🇰 HK/China — Tech Diverges, Innolight Erases Its Losses

🔑 Key Event: Hong Kong closed Thursday roughly flat, with $Hang Seng Index(00HSI.HK) up 0.20% to 25,858.88 and $Hang Seng China Enterprises Index(HSCEI.HK) up 0.25%, but $Hang Seng TECH Index(STECH.HK) fell 1.25% to 4,803.77 as an optical-component selloff, sparked by Corning's soft guidance, offset the broader tone. Zhongji Innolight ($Zhongji Innolight(300308.SZ) / $ZJ INNOLIGHT(03308.HK) ) reversed its rough debut, jumping about 11% Friday morning to trade back above its HK$980 IPO price.

👀 Other to Watch

• $NEW ORIENTAL-S(09901.HK) → shares jumped about 19% Thursday on an earnings beat.
• China ADRs → the $NASDAQ Golden Dragon China Index(.HXC.US) closed up 1.05% Thursday, riding the same Microsoft-and-Amazon-driven rally as US markets.
• China manufacturing PMI → reportedly contracted to 49.2 in July, missing the 50.0 consensus and snapping four months of expansion.

🌍 Other

• 🇯🇵 Yen → surged more than 3% against the dollar to around 158, on suspected fresh BOJ/MOF intervention after Japan already spent over $70B defending the currency this year.
• 🇮🇷 Iran & Middle East → Iran struck US-linked facilities in Bahrain and Kuwait, while CENTCOM denied Iran's separate claim of destroying three US F-35s at a Jordan base; Saudi Arabia has formed a 13-nation Red Sea maritime coalition.
• Fed → JPMorgan moved its forecast for the next Fed rate hike forward to December, after Wednesday's hold drew three dissents in favor of raising rates.

📅 Key Events This Week

• 🇺🇸 Core PCE & Q2 GDP advance · released Thursday, still being digested
• 🇯🇵 Bank of Japan policy decision · this week
• 🌍 US-Iran tensions & Red Sea shipping · ongoing, watch for further escalation

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🚫 No duplicates · ⏰ Deadline: July 31, 2026, 11:59 PM SGT
Not investment advice, just market talk 🙏