Pre-market Stock News Recap: TSMC's Q2 Net Profit Soars 77% YoY, Beating Expectations; Stock Drops Over 4% in Pre-market Trading, Goldman Sachs Forecasts DRAM Contract Price Growth to Peak in Q4 2026

BlockBeats News, July 16, the important pre-market news of the U.S. stock market is as follows:

1. In the U.S., the initial jobless claims for the week ending July 11 were 208,000, lower than the expected 217,000. The previous value was revised from 215,000 to 216,000. Following today's release of the U.S. initial jobless claims data, the probability of the Fed maintaining interest rates in July is 87.7%, and the probability of a 25 basis point rate hike is 12.3%.

2. TSMC announced its second-quarter 2026 financial report today, with a net profit increasing by 77% year-on-year to NT$706.6 billion, hitting a record high and exceeding market expectations. Despite the strong performance, TSMC's U.S. pre-market stock fell by 4.5%. The market reacted negatively to the company's expected significant increase in future capital expenditures. TSMC anticipates that capital expenditures in the next three years will be significantly higher than the past three years.

3. Nasdaq 100 futures fell by 1.08%, U.S. S&P 500 futures fell by 0.43%, and Dow Jones futures fell by 0.02%. The storage sector led the decline, with Western Digital down by 7.83% and SK Hynix ADR down by 7.61%.

4. Morgan Stanley expects that the growth rate of DRAM contract prices is expected to peak in the fourth quarter of 2026, followed by a substantial year-on-year decline. It is unlikely to see a situation like before where prices quadrupled in a year, and the valuation of storage companies (forward 12-month P/B ratio) needs to be reassessed.

5. BlackRock CEO Larry Fink stated that he is no longer concerned about excessive leverage in the Bitcoin and cryptocurrency markets, and he is "very optimistic" about the market outlook for the next 12 months.

6. In South Korea, nearly 320,000 leveraged retail accounts were liquidated in the past month, with 62% being young people aged 20 to 30, resulting in a total loss of approximately 21.5 trillion Korean won.

7. Changxin Technology announced that according to the data provided by the Shanghai Stock Exchange, the number of valid online subscription accounts for this issuance is 9,428,778, and the number of valid shares subscribed for is 816,920,125,000 shares. After the recall mechanism was activated, the final online subscription lottery rate is approximately 0.47%.

8. The U.S. Senate unanimously passed a resolution on Wednesday stating that FTX founder Sam Bankman-Fried should "in no circumstances" receive a presidential pardon or commutation.

9. Iran has asked Yemen's Houthi rebels to prepare to close the Strait of Hormuz if the U.S. attacks Iran's power infrastructure, posing a new major threat to global energy supplies. It is reported that this idea has been discussed within the Iranian leadership and the information has been conveyed to Iran's Houthi allies.

10. South Korea Tightens Regulations, Suspends New Individual Stock Leveraged ETFs, and Increases the Minimum Margin Requirement for Chip Leveraged ETFs. The minimum margin requirement has been raised from 10 million Korean won to 30 million Korean won, with only cash recognized as margin. The maximum purchase limit for a single stock leveraged trade is now 20 shares, previously 1 share.