Market Minute 7/10/26: SK Hynix's $26.5 BLN Deal Sets Tone on Wall Street

Stocks are mixed in early trading, while crude oil, Treasuries, and the dollar are mostly flat. Gold and silver are modestly lower, while Bitcoin is trading back in the mid-$60,000 range.

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix became the latest tech company to launch a US mega-deal. It raised $26.5 billion selling American Depository Receipts (ADRs) on the Nasdaq, the biggest US offering by a foreign company ever. Its 177.9 million ADRs were sold at a price of $149. They will begin trading with the ticker symbol “SKHYV” today, then change hands under the new ticker “SKHY” on July 13.

SK Hynix, SOXX (YTD % Change)

Source: TradingView

SK Hynix sells so-called high-bandwidth memory (HMB) chips, controlling about 57% of the global market. It supplies companies like Nvidia Corp. (NVDA) – and it has benefitted from surging demand driven by the AI boom.

Indeed, SK Hynix stock has soared 222% year-to-date on the Korea Exchange. But like US semiconductor socks, it has experienced volatility recently amid questions about AI capex spending and compute demand. Up 85.4% YTD, the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) is also down 9% in the last three weeks.

Delta Air Lines Inc. (DAL) became one of the first companies to report second-quarter earnings – and it delivered for investors. The airline reported $1.56 in adjusted earnings per share, topping the average analyst estimate of $1.51. Sales gained 14% year-over-year, though a 77% year-over-year rise in fuel costs tied to the US-Iran war kept Delta from delivering even stronger results. Delta stock is up 28.8% YTD.

Finally, rumors of massive job cuts at German automaker Volkswagen AG (VWAGY) are shaking up markets – and spurring labor union pushback – in Europe. The company is reportedly considering slashing 100,000 jobs worldwide, or more than 15% of its workforce.

Volkswagen’s net earnings dropped 28% and sales slid 2.5% year-over-year in the March quarter thanks to higher tariffs, costs, regulation, and competition. The company wants to reduce annual output to about 9 million vehicles from 10 million today. Volkswagen’s US-traded shares are down 33.8% YTD.