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Briefing.com Summary:

*Micron delivered blowout fiscal Q3 results and guidance that have reignited the AI trade

*WTI crude prices are below $70.00/bbl and trading at their lowest level since start of the Iran war

*A battery of economic data contained solid overtones for the U.S. economy.

Micron (MU) is the center of attention this morning after it reported blowout fiscal Q3 results and guidance following yesterday's close. Market participants should be playfully referring to the company today as "Macron," because its results were huge, along with its big-picture implications for the AI trade in general and the memory stocks specifically.

Shares of MU are up 18% in pre-market action; SanDisk (SNDK) is up 16%; Western Digital (WDC) is up 13%; and Seagate Technology (STX) is up 12%. Suffice to say, Samsung and SK Hynix also scored big gains, and chip equipment makers are on course for some big gains of their own.

The enthusiasm for Micron's report is the foundation for the gains in the equity futures market, which, arguably, aren't as robust as one might have expected to see given the magnitude of Micron's beat that, frankly, validated the run the stock has had.

Currently, the Nasdaq 100 futures are up 682 points and are trading "only" 2.5% above fair value. The S&P 500 futures are up 57 points and are trading 1.0% above fair value, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average futures are up 133 points and are trading 0.5% above fair value.

The limiting factor for the Nasdaq 100 futures is that most of the "Magnificent 7" stocks are lower, with NVIDIA (NVDA) being a primary exception.

One thing apparent in Micron's report and its massive gross margins is that customers are having to pay up to get what Micron is able to supply. That is terrific for Micron, but it may be causing some consternation about profit margins for the hyperscalers and just about any company needing high-bandwidth memory and DRAM.

Right on cue, Apple (AAPL) is announcing price hikes this morning for several iPad and Mac models due to rising prices and demand for memory chips.

Accordingly, the fruits of Micron's labor are flowing to Micron and its peers and away from others for the time being. That is a holdback provision of sorts for the broader market, which is nonetheless going to push higher at the open on the back of semiconductor stocks; oil prices dropping below $70.00/bbl; invigorating capital return plans from the likes of Goldman Sachs (GS), JPMorgan Chase (JPM), Morgan Stanley (MS), and Wells Fargo (WFC) following the Fed's stress test results; and a battery of economic data that had solid overtones for the U.S. economy.

• Personal income increased 0.7% month-over-month in May (Briefing.com consensus: 0.3%) after being unchanged in April. Personal spending also rose 0.7% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus 0.3%) following a downwardly revised 0.4% increase (from 0.5%) in April. The PCE Price Index was up 0.4%, as expected, and up 4.1% year-over-year versus 3.8% in April. The core PCE Price index, which excludes food and energy, increased 0.3%, also as expected, and was up 3.4% year-over-year versus 3.3% in April.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that, first, there weren't any headline shocks for the PCE price indexes. They were in line with expectations, allowing participants to assume that next month's readings will look better given the sharp decline in oil prices. Secondly, real PCE was up 0.3% month-over-month, demonstrating that spending was driven by increased demand and not just higher prices. This will be a nice input for Q2 GDP forecasts.
• Q1 GDP was revised up to 2.1% (Briefing.com consensus: 1.6%) from the second estimate of 1.6%. The GDP Price Deflator was bumped up to 3.6% (Briefing.com consensus: 3.5%) from the second estimate of 3.5%.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that Q1 GDP was stronger than originally thought, due primarily to a downward revision to imports, which are a subtraction in GDP calculations.
• Initial jobless claims for the week ending June 20 declined by 12,000 to 215,000 (Briefing.com consensus: 225,000), while continuing jobless claims for the week ending June 13 increased by 21,000 to 1.821 million.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that initial jobless claims continue to track at low levels, offering a nice cue that suggests the labor market, overall, remains on solid ground.
• Durable goods orders declined 4.5% month-over-month in May (Briefing.com consensus: -3.2%) following an upwardly revised 8.5% increase (from 7.9%) in April. Excluding transportation, durable goods orders were up a sturdy 1.3% month-over-month (Briefing.com consensus: 0.5%) following an upwardly revised 1.4% increase (from 1.1%) in April.
  • The key takeaway from the report is that there was a healthy pickup in business spending in May, evidenced by the 1.6% increase in new orders for nondefense capital goods excluding aircraft.

--Patrick J. O'Hare, Briefing.com