Daily Market Report – February 2, 2026
February 2, 2026, around 1:00 PM ET: Commodity Shock and Semiconductors in Focus
Gold and silver are also significantly declining today - after experiencing a historic drop on Friday.
Samsung Electronics KRX:005930 and SK hynix KRX:000660: In Seoul, the two heavyweights came under intense pressure. The trigger was less a new negative corporate announcement than a mix of (1) risk reduction following the recent price rally, (2) global "risk-off" sentiment after the nomination of Warsh and the commodity shock, and (3) the feeling that expectations for the AI storage boom are now extremely high.
The remarkable thing is: fundamentally, both companies recently reported good numbers. Samsung Electronics (KRX:005930) announced a record operating profit for the fourth quarter of 2025 and simultaneously warned that the AI-driven bottleneck in memory chips is likely to persist until 2026/27 – which generally has a price-increasing effect. SK hynix (KRX:000660) is currently benefiting particularly strongly from the high demand for High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM), the key component for AI data centers.
Walt Disney NYSE:DIS dropped sharply after the quarterly numbers. Management pointed to declining international visitor numbers in US theme parks. The upcoming CEO succession decision could lead to uncertainty.
Semiconductors USA: Micron NASDAQ:MU: The memory boom remains intact. The narrative: tight capacities, rising prices. Micron recently announced the construction of a new advanced manufacturing facility in Singapore – a step that market observers interpret as a safeguard for supply capability in a structurally tight market. Micron expects high AI demand and that the price cycle will last longer than in previous memory cycles. At AMD NASDAQ:AMD, the focus this week is on the upcoming quarterly numbers: the company reports on Tuesday after US market close. Micron, Intel INTC and AMD are significantly rising today.