U.S. Stocks Close Mixed on Thursday: Micron Surges 16%, Apple Drops 6.1%, JPMorgan Announces $50B Buyback
Alina Collins
US markets diverged Thursday — Micron surged 16% on a blowout earnings report while Apple fell 6.1% after raising Mac and iPad prices to absorb higher chip costs. Memory-chip supply imbalance is minting winners and losers at the same time, and the banking buyback wave may be the next force to tip the broader market.
Why did Micron jump 16% in a single day?
Micron posted fiscal Q2 revenue roughly four times the year-ago figure, with current-quarter sales guidance above Wall Street estimates.
Management said the memory-chip supply shortage is expected to persist beyond 2027 and disclosed 16 long-term supply agreements already signed with customers. This means → the market is re-pricing Micron from a cyclical name to a long-duration certainty play.
SanDisk rallied 22%; Qualcomm and Western Digital followed — a single earnings report lifted the entire memory sector.
Why did Apple become the biggest drag?
Rising memory and storage-chip costs forced Apple to raise Mac and iPad prices. The stock fell 6.1%, making it the single largest weight pulling the Nasdaq lower.
Microsoft, Amazon, and Meta also came under pressure; the "Magnificent Seven" as a group underperformed the broader market.
In plain terms = when chip prices rise, chipmakers profit and chip buyers pay — the Micron-Apple divergence is two sides of the same coin.
What do the inflation numbers tell us?
May PCE — the Fed's preferred inflation gauge — rose to 4.1% year-over-year, driven by energy costs and AI infrastructure spending.
Q1 GDP was revised up to an annualized 2.1%, but consumer spending growth was revised down to 0.5%, the weakest in nearly four years. This means → the economy is still growing in aggregate, but consumers are already tightening.
Bank of America now expects the Fed to raise rates three times this year — a hawkish minority call on Wall Street, but it reflects the broader shift in expectations since Chair Kevin Warsh's first meeting last week.
What does the JPMorgan leadership shake-up signal?
JPMorgan named Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh co-presidents; longtime succession candidate Marianne Lake announced her retirement the same day.
In plain terms = CEO Jamie Dimon's succession map has been redrawn — the presumed heir stepped aside, two new faces stepped up.
The reshuffle came one day after the Fed released annual bank stress-test results — the timing was no coincidence.
Can the bank buyback wave support the broader market?
Stress tests showed large banks' capital would fall just 1.6% under a severe downturn scenario — the smallest decline in seven years. This means → regulators gave the green light, and banks have the confidence to buy back aggressively.
JPMorgan immediately announced a $50 billion buyback; Morgan Stanley announced $20 billion. The KBW Bank Index rose roughly 1% on the day.
The storage-sector-up, mega-cap-tech-down divergence has persisted for several sessions — whether the bank buyback wave can form a new source of capital support is the key variable for the market's next move.
What else happened across markets?
WTI crude settled up 2.2% at $71.92 a barrel after reports that Iran attacked a cargo ship transiting the Strait of Hormuz.
Gold rose 1.01% to $4,030.50 per troy ounce; the 10-year Treasury yield slipped to 4.391%, and the dollar weakened modestly.
Bayer surged over 17% after the US Supreme Court ruled the company bears no state-law duty to warn in cancer claims tied to its Roundup herbicide — a decision that could pave the way for dismissal of thousands of related lawsuits.
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