Wall Street is heading into the close on Wednesday with two things on its mind: the Fed's favorite inflation gauge and Micron Technology. According to Bloomberg, US stocks paused ahead of both, with the inflation data key for interest rates and Micron's report key for the AI trade. Micron reports fiscal fourth-quarter results after the closing bell, and a big move in either direction could ripple into Asian chip stocks when markets open in the morning. The Numbers, Verified Across Sources What Micron guided (SEC filing): For the quarter ending in August, Micron told investors to expect revenue of $50 billion, give or take $1 billion, non-GAAP earnings of $31 per share, give or take $1, and a gross margin of about 86%. What analysts expect (Alphastreet, 33 analysts): Consensus sits at $31.56 per share on $51.20 billion in revenue, slightly above the top half of Micron's own guidance range. Estimates are wide, running from $28.04 to $37.44 per share for earnings and from...
Wall Street ended last week in a strange mood cautious, a little jittery, but not panicked. The S&P 500 and Dow both closed out a losing week following the Fed's surprise rate hike, while the Nasdaq actually posted gains, propped up by resilient tech stocks. Underneath all of it sits one major event everyone's watching: a summit between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, scheduled for this Thursday, expected to touch on trade and AI. Here's why a single meeting between two world leaders can move markets more than most quarterly earnings reports combined. Why This Summit Carries So Much Weight U.S.-China trade relations have been a recurring source of market volatility for years now tariff threats, export restrictions, tech-sector tensions. What makes this particular summit notable is the timing: it's landing right after a Fed rate hike that already has investors nervous about a "higher-for-longer" rate environment, and right as...