Tonight's Highlights: Memory Stocks Soften as KE Holdings Surges; Markets Await Warsh Rate Signals

U.S. stock index futures traded in tight ranges on Friday, August 28, with market participants adopting a cautious stance ahead of Federal Reserve Chair Kevin Warsh's keynote address.

 

Dow Jones futures edged up 0.22%, S&P 500 futures added 0.11%, and Nasdaq 100 futures slipped 0.15%.

 

Marvell Technology fell over 8% in pre-market trade. Despite topping consensus estimates and raising guidance for fiscal 2027 and 2028, the print failed to satisfy heightened investor expectations.

 

Memory chipmakers traded broadly lower, with Micron Technology, SanDisk, and SK Hynix each down roughly 2%.

 

PayPal tumbled more than 15% following reports that buyout consortiums Advent International and Stripe abandoned takeover discussions. Take-Two Interactive gained over 2% after Rockstar Games released an extended gameplay trailer for Grand Theft Auto VI.

 

KE Holdings surged over 11% in pre-market action after briefly spiking more than 17%. The rally followed new property credit reform guidelines issued jointly by the People's Bank of China and the National Financial Regulatory Administration.

 

Later today, Fed Chair Warsh will deliver his keynote address at the Jackson Hole Economic Symposium. Investors are watching closely for forward guidance on interest rate policy.

 

"Investors are reluctant to add risk exposure just hours ahead of Warsh's speech," said Nabil Milali, Portfolio Manager at Edmond de Rothschild. "His recent commentary has been ambiguous, leaving markets with limited visibility."

 

Natalia Lojevsky, Managing Director at CIFC Asset Management, added: "Market participants are still parsing Warsh's communications style. The new Chair will likely use this platform to establish the tone for his tenure."

 

Hugh Gimber, Global Market Strategist at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, noted that markets are primarily seeking the underlying framework the Fed will use to evaluate economic data, which remains the key missing variable.

 

CME FedWatch data shows fed funds futures pricing a 36% probability of a 25-basis-point rate hike next month, against a 64% likelihood of a hold.

 

European equity benchmarks traded broadly higher: Germany's DAX gained 0.64%, the UK FTSE 100 added 0.15%, and France's CAC 40 rose 1.01%.

Company News

SK Hynix CEO: Memory Supply Constraints to Last Through 2030; HBM Resilient to Cyclical Shocks

 

SK Hynix CEO Kwak Noh-jung told reporters that tight memory supply conditions are expected to persist through 2030, noting that leading indicators show no signs of an imminent cyclical downturn.

 

Kwak highlighted that High-Bandwidth Memory (HBM) alters historical cyclical dynamics. Unlike legacy commodity DRAM driven by commoditized volume competition, HBM involves joint architectural development with enterprise clients, creating higher demand predictability.

 

Counterpoint: TSMC Holds 73% Pure-Play Foundry Market Share in Q2

 

Data from Counterpoint Research shows the global pure-play foundry market grew 29% year-over-year in the second quarter of 2026.

 

TSMC maintained the top spot for a second consecutive quarter with a 73% market share—ten times that of second-place Samsung Electronics at 7%. SMIC ranked third with a 5% share.

 

Amazon Secures Four Wind Power Purchase Agreements in Sweden

 

Amazon signed long-term power purchase agreements (PPAs) with four Swedish wind farms to support expanding datacenter capacity across the Nordics.

 

The deals will add nearly 200 MW of renewable power, bringing Amazon's aggregate operational capacity in Sweden above 1 GW once fully commissioned.

 

Anthropic Reportedly Targeting Post-Labor Day Prospectus for $130B IPO

 

Anthropic plans to release its IPO prospectus shortly after U.S. Labor Day (September 7), targeting a public debut in late September or early October, according to people familiar with the matter.

 

The filing is expected to permit secondary share sales by existing holders alongside extended lockup agreements exceeding 180 days for select insiders. Anthropic aims to raise at least $130 billion in new capital to fund compute expansion, eclipsing SpaceX's $86 billion listing in June.