SG Morning Brief | All Three Indexes Hit Records as Nvidia Launches PC Chip, HPE Surges 26% After Hours

US Overnight

The S&P 500 rose 0.26% to a record 7,599.96, the Nasdaq gained 0.42% to a record 27,086.81, and the Dow edged up 0.09% to a record 51,078.88 — all three posting new intraday and closing all-time highs to kick off June. Nvidia led the rally after CEO Jensen Huang unveiled a new AI-powered PC processor at the Computex Taipei conference, sending the stock up over 6%. Dell and HP gained 10% and 8% respectively on the spillover. ISM Manufacturing hit 54 in May (beating 53.2 est), the highest reading since May 2022 and the fifth straight month of expansion, driven by AI-related new orders. On the geopolitical front, the US bombed radar and drone sites in Iran after Tehran shot down an American drone, though Trump later said he had a "very productive call" with Netanyahu and that no troops would be heading into Beirut. Oil spiked intraday before retreating.

Key Movers

Nvidia (NVDA) +6% — Nvidia surged 6.25% after launching its new AI-powered PC processor at Computex Taipei, directly challenging Intel and Qualcomm in the laptop and desktop chip market. The announcement triggered a cascade across the AI complex: Dell gained over 10%, HP rose 8.5%, ARM jumped 16%, and Snowflake added 9.6% as software stocks posted their third straight day of gains.

Intel (INTC) -5% / Qualcomm (QCOM) -9% — The two biggest losers from Nvidia's PC chip invasion. Qualcomm fell nearly 9% as its Snapdragon X Elite faces a formidable new competitor, while Intel dropped nearly 5% as Nvidia opens a second competitive front beyond the foundry battle. Both stocks had rallied sharply in recent weeks, making the reversal particularly painful.

After hours, HPE (HPE) +26% — HPE closed at $47.00 (+9.2%) during the session, then surged as high as 40% in after-hours before settling at $59.21 (+25.98%) after issuing a rosy Q2 outlook and raising full-year guidance. It was HPE's biggest earnings beat since 2018, confirming that Dell's AI server boom is lifting the entire enterprise hardware sector.

SGX Preview

SGX reopens today after the Vesak Day holiday. The STI last closed at 5,070.55 on Friday May 29, near its all-time high of 5,092.68. DBS is near S$62.18 and UOB near S$37.91. Singapore investors have two sessions of US record-setting to digest: the Dow above 51K, Dell's AI server boom, Nvidia's PC chip launch, and HPE's 26% after-hours surge all set up a constructive backdrop. The key risk remains oil — the US-Iran situation is fluid and Brent is still above $90.

Asia Pre-Market

S&P 500 futures are down 0.2%, Nasdaq futures down 0.3%, and Dow futures down 0.2% as Tuesday pre-market takes a breather after Monday's records. The modest pullback suggests profit-taking rather than a change in sentiment. HPE's 26% surge should lift Asian tech hardware names at the open. Broadcom and CrowdStrike report Wednesday after the close, providing the next test for the AI infrastructure thesis.

Today's US Earnings and Economic Calendar

Wednesday: Broadcom (AVGO) and CrowdStrike (CRWD) post-mkt, ADP Employment, ISM Services PMI. Friday: Nonfarm Payrolls.

Data Spotlight: JOLTS (Tonight) — April job openings data will show whether labor demand is holding up or fading. March JOLTS showed 6.87 million openings with hiring improving. Fed Governor Waller flagged that three-month average payroll creation has slowed to just 48,000, so a weak JOLTS number would reinforce the labor softening narrative and potentially support rate cut expectations.

One More Thing

Nvidia just declared war on Intel's last stronghold. For decades, Intel owned the PC chip market the way Nvidia now owns the GPU market — an unchallenged monopoly. Jensen Huang's Computex launch changes that. If Nvidia's PC processor gains traction with OEMs the way its data center GPUs dominated the cloud, Intel's foundry-and-PC recovery story gets a lot harder to execute. Intel fell 4% on Monday; the real question is whether this is a one-day reaction or the beginning of a sustained re-rating. For Singapore investors, the broader signal is clear: the AI infrastructure buildout is expanding from data centers to PCs to enterprise software, and the winners keep winning. HPE's 26% after-hours surge on the back of Dell's 33% Friday gain tells you the theme has legs. The risk is concentration — five stocks now account for more than 30% of the S&P 500's market cap. That works until it doesn't.

This briefing is for informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice.