Market News Today October 13 - Memory Chip Stocks Tumble on China Threat, JPMorgan Misses, Oil Stays Above $100

Gas has now stayed above $4 a gallon on as many days this year as it did in 2022, and the war in Ukraine just gave oil another reason to stay expensive.

Markets react to a flood of headlines every day, so we have pulled together the ones that matter most for your money: oil’s latest push higher, a sudden selloff in the memory chips that power everything from phones to AI, and the first big bank results of earnings season.

Let’s start at the pump.

Why Are Oil Prices Still So High? Russia-Ukraine Energy Truce Breaks Down

For a moment this week, it looked like oil might get some relief.

President Trump announced that Russia and Ukraine had agreed to stop attacking each other’s energy sites, but Russia struck Ukrainian power plants soon after, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow had already broken the deal.

U.S. crude jumped about 2% on Monday to $93.74 a barrel, and Brent, the global benchmark, closed at $106.65, with attacks on tankers in the Middle East adding to the pressure.

Prices eased about 2% on Tuesday, but Brent is still above $100.

Diesel moves the trucks and trains that stock every store, so stubborn fuel prices feed into the cost of almost everything you buy, and they arrive right before Wednesday’s inflation report.

Until the attacks on energy sites stop, relief at the pump looks hard to come by.

Why Are Memory Chip Stocks Falling? China’s CXMT Explained

While oil squeezed drivers, a different shock hit the chip stocks that have powered much of the AI rally.

Chinese memory maker CXMT announced progress on a new chip design that packs more storage into less space, and aims to launch a server memory product built on it by the end of 2026. Investors read it as a sign China is catching up in a market long dominated by Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron.

Micron fell 3.9% on Monday, South Korea’s main stock index dropped about 6% on Tuesday as Samsung and SK Hynix slid, and Western Digital, Micron, Seagate and Sandisk fell again before Tuesday’s open.

Memory chips sit in every phone, laptop and AI data centre, and a global shortage has pushed smartphone shipments to a 14-year low for the third quarter. More competition from China could eventually ease that squeeze, but it threatens the pricing power memory makers have enjoyed.

For anyone holding a tech-heavy fund, the AI trade now has a serious Chinese competitor to watch.

JPMorgan Earnings Miss: What America’s Biggest Bank Is Telling You

Then came the first big test of earnings season, and America’s largest bank came up short.

JPMorgan Chase earned $5.57 a share, below the $5.90 analysts expected, though profit still rose 6% to $15.3 billion and revenue climbed 8% to $50.2 billion. Part of the miss came from $658 million in investment losses, and the shares were still up about 1% before the open.

Chief executive Jamie Dimon warned that economic forces are shifting beneath the surface, and Wells Fargo’s revenue also fell short.

Big banks see how Americans borrow, spend and repay before almost anyone else, so when the largest one sounds cautious, it is worth listening, especially with borrowing costs near their highest in decades.

Goldman Sachs and Citigroup report today and Bank of America and Morgan Stanley tomorrow, so the picture will sharpen fast.

China Just Challenged the Chip Giants. The Early Money Is Already Moving.

A single announcement from a Chinese chipmaker knocked memory stocks on two continents in two days, and moments like this are often when the next big winners quietly take shape.

By the time it feels obvious, the early money has usually already moved.

That is why we created The $5 Trillion Signal, a free report that shows you, in plain English, the five technologies where serious money is flowing right now, who is backing each one, and the early signals worth watching before the crowd catches on.

It lands in your inbox instantly, so you can read it tonight while it is still early.

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