INTC Hits a Dot-Com High, Semis Are on Fire, and the Fed Is Getting a New Boss — Here's Your Week

Let's start with the headline everyone's screaming about: $INTC just posted its best single-day gain since October 29th, 1987 — up 23% to a new all-time high, finally eclipsing its year-2000 dot-com peak. A sales forecast that came in 14% ahead of Wall Street expectations, driven by AI inference demand supercharging CPU usage, was the catalyst. The ripple effect dragged $AMD (+14%), $ARM (+15%), and $QCOM (+11%) along for the ride. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index hit record highs on its 18th consecutive winning session — the longest streak since the index was formed in 1994. Meanwhile, $NVDA quietly notched a new all-time high too, up 4.3% on the day, just vibing.

On the macro front, the DOJ dropped its criminal probe into Jerome Powell over building renovation cost overruns — a probe a federal judge had already called evidence-free and politically motivated — clearing the runway for Kevin Warsh to be confirmed as the next Fed Chair. No rate changes expected at the upcoming meeting. Powell's likely final rate decision. Former Dallas Fed President Richard Fisher warns Warsh will inherit a "fog of uncertainty" — which, honestly, feels like an understatement when Brent crude is sitting above $105/barrel and the Strait of Hormuz is still functionally closed, costing Iran $400 million per day and threatening a supply shock that energy executives at a recent Texas conference say markets are badly underpricing.

Oh, and $AAPL has a new CEO coming in September — hardware exec John Turnis replacing Tim Cook, who becomes Executive Chairman. The world's most valuable company just quietly changed its captain mid-voyage, and the market barely blinked. Typical Apple — drama-free until it isn't.