Dow Jones up over 500 points, chip stocks rally, SanDisk surges 7%, Brent crude plunges below $100, UAE oil facilities attacked

On March 16, the three major U.S. stock indices opened higher and continued to rise, with gains exceeding 1% around 10:10 PM Beijing time; popular Chinese concept stocks surged, and the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index rose nearly 2%.

Technology stocks strengthened, with Facebook up over 3%, Tesla and Nvidia up over 2%, and Google and Apple up over 1%. In news, Meta reached a $27 billion AI computing power supply agreement with Nebius.

Chip stocks mostly rose, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up over 2.6%, including Micron Technology, which rose nearly 5% ahead of its earnings report this week; SanDisk surged over 7%, and Intel increased over 4%.

Optical communication stocks all surged, with Coherent up over 7%, and Lumentum and Ciena up over 5%.

Most popular Chinese concept stocks rose, with the Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index up nearly 2%. Tencent Music gained over 5%, Li Auto and Dingdong Maicai rose over 4%, iQiyi, Zai Lab, and KE Holdings increased over 3%, and JD.com and Alibaba rose over 2%. In news, Alibaba’s new business division was revealed.

In commodities, due to ongoing geopolitical tensions, gold and silver prices turned positive. Around 10:05 PM Beijing time, spot gold surged to $5,030 per ounce, and spot silver rose nearly 1% to $81.32 per ounce.

International crude oil prices plummeted sharply, with WTI crude down over 4.5%, and Brent crude falling below $100 per barrel, dropping over 3% intraday.

Major cryptocurrencies all rose significantly. At the time of writing, Bitcoin was up over 3.6%, surpassing $74,000; ETFs increased over 9%, and SOL rose nearly 7%. In the past four hours, nearly 99,000 traders were liquidated globally, with a total liquidation amount of $429 million.

Regarding the Strait of Hormuz, according to Xinhua News Agency, no ships transited the strait on the 14th, marking the first time since the outbreak of the US-Israel-Iran conflict. Before the conflict, an average of 77 ships passed through daily.

Oil pipelines are the main alternative route for transporting oil around the Strait of Hormuz, but there are few pipelines in the region, mainly two pipelines operated by the UAE and Saudi Arabia.

Regarding the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, Xinhua News Agency reported that UK Prime Minister Rishi Sunak stated on the 16th that reopening the strait “is not an easy task.” The UK is working with allies to develop feasible plans to restore free navigation through the strait. German Defense Minister Pistorius said Germany refused the US request for military support to ensure safe passage through the Strait of Hormuz.

Additionally, according to CCTV News, on the 16th local time, the media office of the Emirate of Fujairah issued an official statement confirming that an important port’s oil facilities in Fujairah were attacked by drones and caught fire today. No casualties have been reported so far. The Fujairah Civil Defense team immediately intervened to handle the incident.