Nasdaq rises after Micron earnings ease AI slowdown fears
Micron’s record quarter and a 2% jump in Nasdaq futures revived AI optimism even as U.S. PCE inflation hit a three-year high.
Micron Technology’s record fiscal third-quarter results pushed AI traders back into the market before the open, with the company saying revenue quadrupled from a year earlier and that it ended the period with $30.2 billion in cash, marketable investments and restricted cash. Micron’s board also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.15 a share, payable July 21, 2026, a sign that the memory chip maker is pairing aggressive AI investment with a much stronger balance sheet.
The reaction was bigger than one company’s earnings beat. Reuters said Nasdaq futures jumped 2% on June 25 after Micron and Qualcomm delivered upbeat forecasts that pointed to durable demand for AI infrastructure, while Asian equities surged as the chipmakers helped calm nerves about whether the AI rally had run too far, too fast. Reuters also said customers had committed $22 billion to secure Micron’s memory chips and that Qualcomm projected $15 billion in data-center revenue by 2029, numbers that gave traders a fresh reason to keep paying up for semiconductors.
That optimism landed in the middle of a hotter inflation backdrop. The Bureau of Economic Analysis said the personal consumption expenditures price index rose 4.1% in May from a year earlier, the highest level since April 2023, while the Federal Reserve says it aims for 2% inflation over the longer run using the PCE measure. The mix of stronger AI spending and sticky prices left the market weighing whether the technology bid can keep outrunning a policy environment that is still constrained by inflation.
Wendy’s added a separate burst of volatility to the tape. The Dublin, Ohio, company, with a market value around $1.427 billion and a share price near $7.49 in morning trading, had become a meme-stock focus after a viral Reddit post and the June 23 appointment of Steve Cirulis as chief financial officer and chief strategy officer. Its stock was briefly halted for volatility in the prior session and closed up 25.7% at $7.86 on heavy volume before swinging again, a reminder that speculative retail flows were still looking for the next fast-moving name outside of chips.
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