Welcome to the home for real-time coverage of markets brought to you by Reuters reporters. You can share your thoughts with us at markets.research@thomsonreuters.com

THAT WAS QUICK! CHIPS BACK TO RECORD HIGHS AFTER STEEP DROP

Barely a week after its worst one-day performance in six years, the PHLX chip index .SOX is again at record highs.

Fueled by optimism after the United States and Iran struck a preliminary agreement to end the Iran war and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the semiconductor benchmark index is surging 5%, just surpassing its June 3 record high.

Marvell Technology MRVL.O and AMD are both up over 7% and Nvidia NVDA.O is 3.5% higher.

TD Cowen raised its price target for DRAM chipmaker Micron Technology MU.O to $1,500 from $660 ahead of the company's quarterly results on June 24.

The stock on Monday is surging over 9% to $1,209 per share.

"If this were a typical DRAM cycle, we would argue that the stock is moving closer to a peak as memory stocks historically peaked 3–8 months before server pricing Y/Y peaks ... But the role of memory in AI is structural, not cyclical, in our view," TD Cowen analyst Krish Sankar wrote in his preview.

While the framework of the U.S.-Iran deal does not address Tehran's nuclear program or the Israel-Lebanon conflict, investors are betting lower oil prices mean less inflation and a lower likelihood that the U.S. Federal Reserve will raise interest rates.

It's been a volatile few days for the SOX, slumping 12% due to Broadcom-related AVGO.O jitters and then rebounding to a fresh record in the space of eight sessions.

After its lightning-fast slump and recovery, the chip index is now up 98% so far in 2026.

(Noel Randewich)

*****

EARLIER ON LIVE MARKETS:

AI BOOM FACES REALITY CHECK AS SPENDING OUTPACES NEED CLICK HERE

WAR IS OVER: INDUSTRIAL OUTPUT, EMPIRE STATE, HOMEBUILDER SENTIMENT CLICK HERE

US STOCKS JUMP AS IRAN PACT SENDS OIL SLIDING; DOW EYES RECORD CLOSE CLICK HERE

AI CAPEX BOOM COULD WEIGH ON SHORT-TERM ROE FOR HYPERSCALERS, GOLDMAN WARNS CLICK HERE

BULLISH REVERSAL REIGNITES S&P 500’S RUN AT RECORD HIGHS CLICK HERE

EUROPE'S DATA CENTRE BOOM HITS A POWER WALL CLICK HERE

BARCLAYS RECOMMENDS ADDING TO GOLD EXPOSURE CLICK HERE

COPPER: THE ROUTE TO $15,000/TON CLICK HERE

HORMUZ AGREEMENT DEALS A STRAIT FLUSH TO MARKETS CLICK HERE

EUROPE BEFORE THE BELL: STOCKS SET FOR BIG JUMP ON HORMUZ AGREEMENT CLICK HERE

MARKETS CELEBRATE MOU ON SOH CLICK HERE