Micron Nears $1,000 – And Apple Could Be The Next Catalyst

Gains in KOSPI could push Micron shares on Monday, retail traders said.

• MU stock rose 1% in overnight trading late Sunday after gaining nearly 11% in the week.
• Apple’s discussions with the U.S. government over its memory procurement were another key issue traders were watching for potential catalysts in the memory trade.
• Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for MU dipped to ‘bearish.’

Micron Technology stock rose 1% in overnight trading late Sunday, with traders closely watching the stock for a return to the $1,000 mark amid a string of catalysts.

Along with other high-flying memory stocks, Micron pulled back from its record high in June, falling below $1,000 on July 2. The stock has since traded in a relatively narrow range, with some strength emerging this month.

MU stock gained 10.7% over the past week to $971.66, marking its strongest weekly gain in more than two months and extending its winning streak to a second straight week.

Retail traders speculated that gains in South Korean stocks would support MU. KOSPI, which is heavily weighted toward chipmakers Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix and has recently influenced trading in U.S. memory stocks, rose 2.4% in Seoul on Monday. 

Apple Catalyst For Memory Trade

Apple’s talks with the U.S. government over its memory procurement were another issue traders watched. 

Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick said over the weekend that the U.S. government does not want Apple to source memory chips from Chinese manufacturers, amid reports that Apple had sought approval to buy chips from China’s ChangXin Memory Technologies (CXMT) and was already testing them.

Insatiable AI data-center demand has fueled a memory-chip shortage and soaring prices, pushing Apple and other consumer-electronics makers to raise prices, while Apple is turning to Chinese suppliers to ease the supply crunch.

Review View On MU

On Stocktwits, the retail sentiment for MU dipped over the past week and was ‘bearish’ as of late Sunday.

“$MU KOSPI is up, this is hitting 1K,” said a trader. Meanwhile, the government pressure on Apple to abandon Chinese memory chips is fueling major bullish sentiment and supply chain confidence. 

A trader wrote: “$MU The most important news I would like to hear from Apple on 8-21 is that Apple chose MU for its sole chip supplier. If that news comes out, MU will surpass $1100.”

The U.S. Senate has set Aug. 21 as the deadline for Apple to respond to bipartisan senators’ demands concerning Chinese memory suppliers, particularly CXMT. 

The senators want Apple to say whether it will exclude CXMT and other Pentagon-designated Chinese memory companies from Apple products and disclose details about its supplier testing.

Still, there remains skepticism about Micron’s move. “$MU will test $1000 pre market but they will dump at open like always don’t be surprised,” said a trader.

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