Micron’s shares jump on record Q2 revenues, outlook

Today’s headlines

What’s happening: Shares of Micron Technology surged in after-hours trading on Wednesday, following the release of the company’s fiscal first-quarter results.

What happened: The chip company reported sales and earnings for the latest quarter significantly higher than expected.

Micron also issued a higher-than-expected forecast for the second quarter.

How were the results: The Boise, Idaho-based company reported double-digit sales growth for the first quarter.

• Revenues surged around 20.5% year-over-year to $13.64 billion, topping consensus estimates of $12.83 billion.
• Adjusted earnings came in at $4.78 per share, surpassing Wall Street expectations of $3.95 per share.

Why it matters: Micron has been witnessing high demand for its chips, as these are a fundamental component in smartphones, computers, electric vehicles and datacenter servers. The company is also one of key suppliers of high-bandwidth memory (HBM) chips, crucial for AI models.

Micron reported upbeat demand from datacenters, driven by higher spending by large-scale cloud service providers. The company has been adjusting its manufacturing facilities to increase its focus on meeting the surging demand from AI datacenters.

“In fiscal Q1, Micron delivered record revenue and significant margin expansion at the company level and also in each of our business units,” CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said.

Operating cash flows jumped to $8.41 billion, from $5.73 billion in the previous quarter and significantly from $3.24 billion in the year-ago period.

The board declared a quarterly dividend of 11.5 cents per share.

For the fiscal second-quarter, Micron guided to revenues of $18.7 billion, plus or minus $400 million, higher than market expectations of $14.16 billion. The company projected earnings of $8.42 per share, plus or minus 20 cents.

How shares responded: Micron’s stock jumped 8% to $243.74 in the extended trading hours following the release of quarterly results. The stock has climbed more than 158% year to date.

What to watch: Investors will keep an eye on surging AI demand. Markets will also watch Micron’s ability to expand production, after CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said the company is likely to meet just half to two-thirds of the demand from various major customers.

The markets today

The New Zealand dollar in focus today ahead of a basket of major economic reports

Context: The NZD/USD forex pair fell this morning due to a rebound in the US dollar.

Details: Data released this morning showed New Zealand’s economy grew by 1.3% year-over-year in the third quarter. This marked the first annual expansion in five quarters, with the resumption of growth being driven by a rebound in primary industries, including agriculture, forestry, and fishing.

The latest reading followed a 1.1% decline in the previous quarter and was in-line with market estimates.

On a quarterly basis, the region’s economy expanded by 1.1%, following a 1% contraction in the previous quarter and topping market estimates of 0.9%.

Meanwhile, RBNZ Governor Anna Breman reiterated that the cash rate is likely to remain at the current levels through 2026. Markets currently expect interest rates to remain unchanged in the first half of 2026 and to be cut sometime in the second half.

Strength in the US dollar weighed on the NZD/USD forex pair this morning. The US dollar index, which measures the greenback’s performance versus a basket of major peers, edged higher to 98.42.

The NZD/USD pair fell around 0.2% to 0.5766 this morning, while the S&P/NZX 50 Index fell 0.41% to trade at 13,241.72.

What to watch: Data on ANZ Roy Morgan consumer confidence (0100 UAE Time), balance of trade (0145 UAE Time) and ANZ business confidence (0400 UAE Time) will be released on Friday. The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index, which surged to 98.4 in November from 92.4 in the previous month, is expected to decline to 95 in December.

Analysts expect New Zealand’s trade deficit to shrink to NZ$1.175 billion in November from NZ$1.542 billion in October, while the ANZ business outlook index is expected to dip to 49.8 in December from 67.1 in the previous month.

Other Markets: US trading indices closed lower on Wednesday, with the Dow Jones index, S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 down by 0.47%, 1.16% and 1.93%, respectively.

The news shaping the markets

Ukraine’s military forces said that it struck infrastructure at Russia’s Slavyansk oil refinery in the Krasnodar region. The news sent the USD/RUB pair higher in forex trading this morning.

China’s urban youth unemployment rate declined to 16.9% in November, from 17.3% in October. The youth jobless rate falling to the lowest level since June exerted pressure on the USD/CNY forex pair.

Australia’s consumer inflation expectations accelerated to 4.7% in December, from 4.5% in the previous month, which sent the AUD/USD pair lower in forex trading this morning.

Colombia’s consumer confidence index surged to 17.0% in November, from 13.6% in the previous month. Consumer confidence hitting the strongest level since January 2015 exerted pressure on the USD/COP forex pair.

US crude oil inventories declined by 1.274 million barrels in the week ended December 12, compared to a drawdown of 1.812 million barrels in the previous week, which sent the WTI crude oil prices lower this morning.

What else to watch today

South Africa’s PPI (1330 UAE Time), Eurozone’s construction output (1400 UAE Time), Turkey’s MPC meeting summary (1500 UAE Time) and foreign exchange reserves (1530 UAE Time), Canada’s CFIB business barometer (1600 UAE Time) and average weekly earnings (1730 UAE Time), Mexico’s retail sales (1600 UAE Time), UK’s interest rate decision (1600 UAE Time), European Central Bank’s interest rate decision (1715 UAE Time), US inflation rate (1730 UAE Time), initial jobless claims (1730 UAE Time), continuing jobless claims (1730 UAE Time), EIA natural gas stocks change (1930 UAE Time), Argentina’s balance of trade (2300 UAE Time) and unemployment rate (2300 UAE Time) as well as Mexico’s interest rate decision (2300 UAE Time).