AM Markets Need to Know: SK Hynix surges on record profit, U.S.-Russia weigh oil deals, and more

What happened: SK Hynix reported record quarterly profit that beat estimates and announced more than $25B in dividends and share buybacks, lifting memory chip stocks. Key numbers: SK Hynix rose 10.8% in South Korea and 7.5% in U.S. premarket trading. Samsung Electronics climbed 11%, Micron Technology rose 3.7%, SanDisk gained 4%, and Western Digital added 1%. Why it matters: The moves reflect investor optimism around memory demand tied to AI infrastructure and high-bandwidth memory chips supplied to Nvidia (NVDA). Market: +1.6% today ($253.10), +11.7% YTD, 0.9x vol — as of 11:15 UTC Verified: Q3_2026 (Oct 29) revenue $203.9B vs $203.9B est; next print ~Jan 28

SK Hynix reported record quarterly profit that beat estimates and announced more than $25B in dividends and share buybacks, lifting memory chip stocks.

The moves reflect investor optimism around memory demand tied to AI infrastructure and high-bandwidth memory chips supplied to Nvidia (NVDA). Market: +1.6% today ($253.10), +11.7% YTD, 0.9x vol — as of 11:15 UTC Verified: Q3_2026 (Oct 29) revenue $203.9B vs $203.9B est; next print ~Jan 28