Equities opened firmly higher across the board, with QQQ (+1.73%) and TQQQ (+5.26%) leading as semiconductor and AI plays surged. Micron jumped 7.8% on analyst upgrades citing accelerating AI-driven memory demand, while the financial services sector caught fire—Robinhood soared 9.3% after Bernstein predicted year-end doubling on crypto and prediction market tailwinds, Coinbase climbed 5.3% on similar sentiment, and Ares jumped 5.9% ahead of anticipated strong earnings. Industrials also participated with Axon up 6.1% on body camera demand and Delta up 6.4% following Amazon's satellite Wi-Fi deployment announcement. Energy bucked the trend as oil weakness dragged APA down 6.0%, while cloud infrastructure took a hit with Akamai falling 5.6% on SaaS displacement concerns.
Buy the AI and crypto narrative where valuations remain reasonable—MU offers genuine semiconductor strength tied to structural demand, while HOOD and COIN provide leveraged exposure to prediction markets and digital assets with momentum. Avoid energy names like APA in this geopolitical de-escalation environment and be cautious on legacy cloud infrastructure (AKAM) facing disruption headwinds; rotate those proceeds into the industrials (TDG, AXON) showing operational excellence and real-world demand drivers.