Out of the blue chips

Near-20% surges in both Micron and SK Hynix’s shares this week show the dash for chips is continuing unabated. With its latest milestone, SK Hynix joins fellow South Korean chip giant Samsung, which hit the $1 trillion mark earlier this month. Both companies’ shares were lifted again on Wednesday after a landmark deal on worker bonuses for Samsung workers. That deal averts a potentially damaging labor strike, and some memory-chip workers will be in line for bonuses of over $400,000. Samsung will set aside a sizeable chunk of its chip division profits to meet the payouts. South Korea’s KOSPI index surged over 3% on Wednesday, led by Samsung and SK Hynix. Back on Wall Street, the broader stock market optimism continued on Tuesday as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed at record closing highs. Meantime, Goldman Sachs has upped its year-end forecast for the former to 8,000 from 7,600 - a rise of about 6% - on continued strength in corporate earnings. U.S. stock futures climbed before the bell on Wednesday, while European shares edged up after the open. On the macro front, the Conference Board’s index on U.S. consumer confidence eased this month by less than feared, marking a contrast with last week’s University of Michigan survey. There was little new in the Iran standoff, though hopes for a diplomatic breakthrough persisted, even as Tehran described recent U.S. strikes as a “gross violation” of the two sides' ceasefire. Oil prices fell by around 3% early on Wednesday, unwinding some of Tuesday's 4% rise. In Europe, rates markets were jarred after European Central Bank board member Isabel Schnabel indicated that the ECB should hike rates next month even if a U.S.-Iran peace plan is agreed. Schnabel told Reuters that the size of the energy shock meant “looking through” it was not an option.

SK Hynix topped $1 trillion in market value for the first time on Wednesday, while U.S.-listed Micron Technology briefly eclipsed that threshold on Tuesday. They join Samsung Electronics, which passed this milestone on May 6. Shares of SK Hynix closed more than 9% higher, while Samsung rose by 3% as it averted a worker strike. Micron's stock price has skyrocketed more than 1,200% since early April last year.