S&P 500, Nasdaq open higher as SK Hynix lifts chips; Fed in focus

U.S. equity index futures and cash indexes opened higher, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq gaining as shares of South Korean memory chipmaker SK Hynix rose, lifting semiconductor names broadly. The transmission channel runs through the AI-linked semiconductor complex, where memory pricing and demand expectations for high-bandwidth memory feed directly into sentiment across chip stocks and, by extension, the mega-cap technology weights that dominate the Nasdaq 100 and a meaningful share of the S&P 500. Nasdaq-heavy and semiconductor-exposed benchmarks are the most sensitive to this move, while SK Hynix itself carries the most direct idiosyncratic exposure, and the broader index gains reflect its read-through to global chip supply-chain names. The Federal Reserve remains in focus because rate expectations govern the discount rate applied to long-duration growth equities, so any shift in policy signaling would amplify or reverse moves in these richly valued technology stocks. Traders will watch the upcoming U.S. CPI release and any Fed speaker commentary on inflation persistence, as a hotter

The Nasdaq-100 (NDX) is the US large-cap tech benchmark. NDX is more sensitive to rate decisions than SPX because of longer-duration cash flows, and heavily concentrated in Tech/Comms names — mega-cap earnings season dominates price action.

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