Story perspectives

US Markets Jump, Copper Imports Surge, Nvidia Acquires Groq

8/5/2026

Summary

U.S. Markets Surge

U.S. markets surged on August 4, 2026, with the Dow up over 900 points, its best day in nearly two months.
The S&P 500 jumped nearly 2% to a record high, while iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose over 6%.
Bank of America Securities projected S&P 500 earnings growth of 27% YoY excluding Alphabet and Amazon, 45% including them, with Caterpillar and Palantir gains helping sustain the rally.

Summary

U.S. Copper Peaks

July imports topped 200,000 metric tons of copper, the largest monthly flow since 2014.
U.S. copper inventories now exceed 740,000 tons on exchanges and 110,860 tons privately stored, putting total holdings above 1 million tons.
July’s Comex-LME spread topped $350 per ton, with London contracts showing a $65 backwardation premium.
Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick missed the June 30 deadline to recommend tariff action.

Summary

Chip Titans Expand

Nvidia acquired Groq, adding learning processing units (LPUs) with embedded SRAM to boost inference performance.
TSMC enjoys a virtual monopoly in advanced chips, giving it pricing power and a 19-times 2027 valuation.
SK Hynix controls over 50% of the high-bandwidth memory (HBM) market and signed a $500 billion Nvidia supply deal.
Alphabet and Amazon raised their 2026 artificial intelligence (AI) capital-expenditure budgets and signaled further hikes for 2027.

History

Historical Context

The 2008 financial crisis, highlighted by Lehman Brothers’ September 15, 2008 Chapter 11 filing with more than $600 billion in assets and a 500-point Dow plunge, shattered investor confidence. The 2026 market surge, driven by AI leaders like Nvidia and soaring semiconductor ETFs, echoes past tech-commodity rebounds that followed major downturns, prompting analysts to anticipate shifts in capital allocation and supply-chain pricing.

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U.S. Markets Surge

U.S. markets surged on August 4, 2026, with the Dow up over 900 points, its best day in nearly two months.
The S&P 500 jumped nearly 2% to a record high, while iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) rose over 6%.
Bank of America Securities projected S&P 500 earnings growth of 27% YoY excluding Alphabet and Amazon, 45% including them, with Caterpillar and Palantir gains helping sustain the rally.

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