Company Interview / the open: ASX to rise while tech tanks 🧑‍💻

The local market is set to open fairly flat with ASX futures up a slight 0.1%. Stock markets were mixed overnight as investors weighed strong earnings from parts of the AI supply chain against growing concerns about who ultimately pays for the massive investment driving the artificial intelligence boom. Apple dropped more than 6% after raising prices on some products to offset higher memory and storage chip costs, while Nvidia, Microsoft and Alphabet also eased. In contrast, Micron surged almost 16% after delivering better-than-expected earnings and guidance, helping lift the broader semiconductor index by more than 3%. US inflation pushed above 4% in May for the first time in three years, reinforcing expectations the Federal Reserve may need to raise interest rates again before year-end. Supporting that view, final first-quarter GDP growth was revised up to 2.1% from 1.6%, while jobless claims pointed to continued labour market resilience. In the absence of local economic data this morning, investors will turn their attention to the local market as weakness in Wall Street's tech sector weighs on sentiment.