Recap of Aug 4 US Market: SpaceX Posted Solid Earnings, But Fell 7% After-Hours for 2 Reasons

The Dow jumped over 900 points, the Nasdaq 100 surged 3.3%, and the S&P 500 crossed into record-high territory for the first time since June 2. Yet beneath the index-level euphoria, a darker story unfolded. Fresh off the largest IPO in history, SpaceX delivered its maiden earnings report—only to plunge nearly 7% after-hours following a brief initial pop. AMD tumbled roughly 9% post-market. With a massive 911-million-share lockup expiration just two days away and short interest climbing to a record 200+ million shares, Wall Street stands divided: Is smart money celebrating a broad-market breakout, or quietly running for the exits on the eve of judgment day?

Market Overview: Sector Rotation Under the Surface

Let’s lay out yesterday’s tape. US equities printed a solid bullish Marubozu, driving the S&P 500 to a fresh all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added over 900 points (+1.7%), the Nasdaq Composite gained 2.6%, the Nasdaq 100 rallied 3.3%, and the Russell 2000 rose 1.9%.

Semiconductors: The Core Narrative Returns

Semis saw a widespread rally as risk appetite for AI compute and hardware-software supply chains rebounded aggressively:

• Architectural & Core Compute: Arm skyrocketed +14.89%, Intel bounced +9.82%, Qualcomm gained +7.42%, and Nvidia edged up +1.95%.

• AMD: Up +7.91% during regular trading before reporting Q2 earnings. Revenue surged 50% year-over-year to $11.5 billion—driven by a 2x doubling in Data Center revenue—alongside the announcement of its Helios training/inference systems and MI400-series chips. However, heavy CapEx guidance sent shares sliding ~9% post-market.

• Marvell Technology (MRVL): Surged over 12%. Ahead of the Flash Memory Summit (FMS), Marvell teased its next-generation AI memory and storage expansion platform (integrating CXL and PCIe Gen6) for Agentic AI and LLM inference, significantly expanding its content value per AI server.

Memory/Storage: Technical Bounce & Structural Reset

Following deep pullbacks (with Micron down over 30% from its highs), memory stocks staged a violent relief rally, clearing out overly pessimistic "peak AI memory" narratives:

• Micron Technology (MU): Rebounded +7.87%, finding strong technical support at its 20-day SMA as its market cap approached the $1 trillion mark once more.