Trade Secrets: Dailies 07.13.2026

US Stocks open sharply lower to start the week as Trump reinstates a full Iranian shipping blockade, oil surges toward $80, and SK Hynix's post-IPO collapse triggers a historic selloff in South Korean equities that ripples across global chip stocks ahead of the busiest earnings week of the summer.

S&P 500 futures fell 0.3% and Nasdaq 100 futures dropped 0.8% before the open, while Dow Jones futures were flat. The S&P 500 lost 0.8% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.6% in Monday's session as chip and memory names led declines. Energy stocks cushioned the Dow, which traded down just 121 points or 0.2%, with ExxonMobil, ConocoPhillips, and Chevron each gaining around 1% as oil surged.
President Trump announced via Truth Social that the US is reinstating what he called "THE IRANIAN BLOCKADE," applicable only to Iranian ships and customers, and declared the US will henceforth be known as "Guardian of the Strait of Hormuz," charging a 20% fee on all cargo shipped through the waterway to reimburse the US for providing security. The move came after the US and Iran traded airstrikes over the weekend, with Iran targeting US facilities in multiple Gulf countries and declaring the Strait closed. Iran's navy also confirmed a full blockade of its own ports and coastal areas effective 20:00 GMT July 14 per the US Navy's Combined Maritime Information Center.
Brent crude jumped as much as 5% early Monday before settling up 3.4% at $77.72 per barrel at midday in Europe. WTI crude surged 4.6% to nearly $75 a barrel. Both benchmarks remain well below their wartime peak of nearly $120 but the renewed spike renews fears of a second wave of energy-driven inflation, with the 10-year Treasury yield holding at 4.473% and the 30-year at 5.071%.
Memory stocks suffered their worst session in months. SanDisk (SNDK) fell 12.32%, SK Hynix US-listed shares (SKHY) dropped 8.97%, Western Digital (WDC) declined 6.97%, Seagate (STX) slipped 5.86%, and Micron Technology (MU) fell 4.99% — eating into a year-to-date gain of over 243%. Intel (INTC) fell 4.29% to $105.13. TSMC's US-listed shares fell 2.2–2.3% despite the company reporting June revenue surged 67.9% year-on-year and first-half revenue rose 35.6%.
Apple (AAPL) has sued OpenAI and two former Apple employees — Chang Liu and Tang Yew Tan — alleging the AI lab attempted to steal confidential information from the iPhone maker. The lawsuit was filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California. Citi separately raised its Apple price target to $365 from $315, citing selective price increases and brand loyalty as cushions against margin pressure.
Meta (META) surged 5.97% after announcing its Richland Parish, Louisiana data center will expand to 5 gigawatts of compute capacity, with local businesses having already received more than $1.6 billion in contracts since the project broke ground in December 2024. SpaceX (SPCX) fell more than 5% intraday to a low of $137.50, nearly touching its $135 IPO price, as the renewed Iran escalation hit risk assets broadly.
Senator Lindsey Graham died Saturday at age 71 from a brief sudden illness, his office confirmed Sunday. The prominent Republican and Trump ally was one of the Senate's most influential voices on foreign policy and defense matters.
The week's earnings calendar is the heaviest of the summer. JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup, Goldman Sachs, and Wells Fargo all report Tuesday. Morgan Stanley follows Wednesday. Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth, both Dow components, also report this week. Analysts estimate S&P 500 profits rose 23.3% year-on-year in Q2, which if confirmed would mark the second consecutive quarter of EPS growth greater than 20%. Fed Chair Kevin Warsh delivers his first semi-annual congressional testimony Tuesday afternoon, with CPI due Wednesday and PPI Thursday.
South Korea's KOSPI plunged 8.9% to close at 6,806.93 — its lowest level since early May — triggering a market-wide circuit breaker halt as SK Hynix cratered 15.37% to 1,845,000 KRW, its worst single day since the stock began trading in 1997. Samsung Electronics fell 10.7% to 254,500 KRW and Kioxia dropped 12.86% to 67,100 JPY. The Kosdaq fell 4.6% to 799.36.
Japan's Nikkei 225 fell 1.92% to 67,242.73 and the Topix closed 0.71% lower at 4,007.49. SoftBank edged down just 0.09% to 6,364 JPY, relatively resilient amid the broader selloff. In Shanghai, the Composite tumbled 2.1% to 3,913. Hong Kong's Hang Seng edged up slightly to 24,213, bucking the regional trend. Australia's S&P/ASX 200 was little changed at 8,808.50. Taiwan's TAIEX rose 1% as TSMC gained on its strong revenue print despite the US-listed ADR falling.

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