WSJ Your Money Briefing - What’s News in Markets: Middle East Strikes Send Oil Higher, South Korean Chip Stocks Fall, SpaceX Stumbles

Episode Date: July 11, 2026

How are markets responding to renewed tensions in the Middle East? And why did Samsung’s blockbuster earnings send shares lower? Plus, why didn’t SpaceX get the Nasdaq-100 boost investors were hoping for? Host Imani Moise discusses the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Sign up for the WSJ's free Markets A.M. newsletter. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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They deserve it, don't they? Tell Congress, stop the Durban Marshall money grab for corporate megastores. paid for by the Electronic Payments Coalition. Hey listeners, your money briefing is still on a break, but we'll be back with more personal finance information for you in the future. Until then, here's the news moving the markets this week. Hey listeners, it's Saturday, July 11th. I'm Imani-Mauese for the Wall Street Journal.

And this is what's news in markets. Our look at the biggest stock moves of the week and the news that drove them. Let's dive in. When traders shut down their terminals last week for the long holiday weekend, They were hoping the peace deal in the Middle East would hold, that chipmaker earnings would fuel another AI rally, and that SpaceX's addition to a major stock index would give its shares another boost.

But none of that happened. So markets spent the week recalibrating. Overall, the S&P 500 rose 1.2% this week, while the NASDAQ gained 1.7%. The Dow slipped about half a percent lower. Here we go again. That's how analysts summed up Wall Street's mood this week. investors had spent the past two weeks

betting that the worst of the conflict between the U.S. and Iran was in the rearview mirror. Oil prices had fallen back to pre-war levels and stocks climbed to fresh records. But by Tuesday, missiles were flying again and President Trump officially declared the ceasefire was over the next day. Oil prices shot higher as investors

dusted off their wartime playbook. Brent crude surged 5.4% this week to settle just above $76 a barrel. The rally spilled spilled over into energy stocks, which were beaten down during the peace trade. Energy was one of the top performing sectors in the S&P this week, rising 3.2%. Baker Hughes and Philip 66 led the gains, with stocks climbing about 7 and 9 percent respectively. One place investors have looked for shelter from the geopolitical whiplash has been AI,

but even that trade has started to get a little shaky. South Korea's Cosby has been one of the world's best-performing stock markets this year, thanks to AI-chip heavyweights like Samsung and SK-Hinix, which make up more than half of the market. But it briefly flirted with bare market territory this week after investors dumped those stocks. Samsung shares fell 8%, despite projecting a 19-fold jump and quarterly profit on Tuesday. Analysts say the results weren't disappointing. Expectations were just higher. The sell-off spread to rival SK-Hinix, which ended the week 10% lower in South Korea. Another theory is that, investors were simply locking in profits. Samsung shares are still up 138% this year,

while SK Heinex has more than tripled as demand for AI memory chips has exploded. But by Friday, Wall Street was all in. SK Heinex made its NASDAQ debut after raising more than $26 billion in the largest share sell ever by a foreign company. The company rallied 13% on its first day of trading in the U.S. And SpaceX stock didn't take off the way investors experienced. in its first week as a member of the NASDAQ 100. The company officially joined the tech-heavy index on Tuesday, forcing index funds with roughly $800 billion in assets to buy the stock.

Many investors hoped that a wave of automatic demand would give shares another boost. Instead, SpaceX shares fell 10% this week, slipping below the opening price from last month's IPO. Part of the problem is that Wall Street still can't agree on what Elon Musk's company is actually worth. Analyst kicked off coverage this week with price targets ranging from $165 a share to as high as $800 a share. That kind of disagreement can be a warning sign. According to Trivariate research, stocks with widely scattered analyst price targets have historically underperformed stocks where Wall Street is largely in agreement.

And now you know what's news and markets this week. You could read about more stocks that moved on the week's news in our live markets coverage on WSJ.com. Today's show was produced by Anthony Bansy with Supervising Producer Melanie Roy. I'm Imani Moise. Have a great weekend and catch you next Saturday. If you want a $3,000 a month payday for life, what would you feel free to do?

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