Category: Stock Market

China Hoards Silver as Demand Surges, Tightening Global Supply

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

China’s insatiable appetite for silver drove overseas purchases to an eight-year high at the beginning of 2026 as importers fueled a spike in industrial and investment demand.

Silver’s Violent Reset Gives Way to a Pivotal Macro Week

According to Chinese customs data released on Friday, the largest buyer received over 790 tons in the first two months, including nearly 470 tons in February—the highest amount ever for that month. Due to strong demand, local prices have risen significantly above global benchmarks, reducing already low exchange reserves and acquiring metal from overseas.

A wave of speculative buying from China and other countries caused silver prices to soar by roughly 70% at the beginning of the year, but at the end of January, they abruptly gave up their gains. This was the most volatile start to a year for silver prices. The robust import numbers indicate that, despite changes in trade flows, physical consumption in China has continued.

Demand has come from solar manufacturers front-loading production and retail investors hoarding silver bars as an alternative to increasingly expensive gold.

Chinese trade policy is another source of stress for the world silver market. China has approved 44 companies to export silver in 2026 and 2027, according to a late December Reuters report. This demonstrates that exports are now part of a regulated system rather than being free. This is a crucial structural factor for a market that is already experiencing tight inventories.

Goldman Sachs had already noted that China’s new export restrictions might make the silver market even more volatile. Since January 1, 2026, China has required authorization for outgoing shipments of silver.

This raises the possibility that price fluctuations will become more pronounced and liquidity will decrease. Instead of operating as a cohesive worldwide system, the market would then become more divided into local submarkets. Inventory and physical availability become crucial, especially in such a setting.

Meta Turns Hot Buy as Muse Spark Debut Ignites 7-8% Stock Surge

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Meta unveiled its AI model, the first since CEO Mark Zuckerberg started a multibillion-dollar overhaul of the company’s AI division to stay competitive. Under the direction of Chief AI Officer Alexandr Wang, Meta Superintelligence Labs, a new group of costly AI researchers, developed the eagerly awaited model known as Muse Spark.

Meta Jumps 8% on Muse Spark Reveal, Faces Key Technical Test

Unlike the company’s prior open-source strategy, the Meta AI chatbot will be powered by Muse Spark, a closed model that means its design and code won’t be made public.  Meta stock rose by  6% in New York following the announcement.

The model is the first significant test for MSL, Zuckerberg’s new AI lab. The founder of Facebook hired Wang as part of a $14 billion investment in Scale AI last year after the company failed to keep up with rivals like OpenAI, Anthropic PBC, and Alphabet Inc. due to a string of setbacks. is Google

Meta has made an effort to maintain its AI division’s agility by granting researchers autonomy and reducing its usual management-heavy organizational structure. According to the executive, who wished to remain anonymous when discussing internal issues, Wang has about 100 direct reports. Although it was early in the company’s implementation, the executive admitted that Muse Spark lacked some of the capabilities of OpenAI’s ChatGPT, Anthropic’s Claude, or Google’s Gemini.

According to a blog post from Meta, the model is “an early data point on our trajectory,” with multiple larger models under development. Executives view Muse Spark—known internally as Avocado during development—as a revitalization of Meta’s AI strategy, which was previously centered on its open-source Llama models.

The project took nine months to complete. Although Meta still intends to develop open-source models in the future, Wang is an advocate of closed models, and the company is also thinking about offering API access to Muse Spark.

Intel Jumps 11%+ on Terafab Deal: Bull Case Builds for $100 Stock

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Intel (INTC) stock closed at $58.95, up a strong 11.42% (or about $6) on the day, with heavy volume. It briefly hit a new 52-week high near $59.17 before pulling back slightly in after-hours trading.

The announcement by Intel that it would be joining Tesla, SpaceX, and xAI in Elon Musk’s Terafab project served as the impetus. Intel described its role as contributing expertise in designing, fabricating, and packaging ultra-high-performance chips at scale to help the project reach its ambitious goal of 1 terawatt (TW) of annual compute capacity for AI, robotics, and related applications.

Intel Eyes Breakout Above $70 After Bold Ireland Move

Intel announced on Tuesday that it will assist the so-called Terafab project in “refactoring” the technology in a chip factory.

This phase of the development process contributes to chips being more robust or dependable.  The chipmaker’s shares increased by 4.2 percent to $53 in New York trading on Tuesday.

Musk’s ambitious plan to eventually produce his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence, and space data centers is known as the Terafab project. The project intends to generate an enormous amount of computing power annually, roughly one terawatt of capacity.

Although Musk’s businesses have never produced chips, Tesla already designs its own. He now envisions doing that on a scale to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan stated, “Terafab represents a step change in how silicon logic, memory, and packaging will be built in the future.”

Intel is honored to collaborate closely with Elon on this extremely important project. “Terafab’s goal of producing 1 TW/year of compute to power future advances in AI and robotics will be accelerated by our ability to design, fabricate, and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale,” Intel added in its post. Musk stated in March.

The CEO spent a large portion of the previous year eliminating positions and other expenses. However, he also drew significant investments from Nvidia Corp. and the US government. and SoftBank Group Corp., which gave it a stronger foundation. Intel agreed last week to repurchase half of an Irish plant it had previously sold to Apollo Global Management for $14.2 billion. The action was interpreted as an indication of trust in the chipmaker’s operations.

SK Hynix Gains Momentum After Samsung Earnings Beat Forecast

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

South Korean chipmaker SK Hynix surged after competitor Samsung Electronics’ quarterly earnings were predicted to beat the market.

Expectations for SK Hynix’s performance increased. Samsung Electronics predicted a significant increase in its first-quarter operating profit on Tuesday, exceeding analyst expectations. This resulted from the increasing demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure, which strained supply and raised chip prices.

Korea Investment and Securities considerably increased its projection of SK Hynix’s operating profit for the year.

The primary reason for this increase was the notable price increases for both DRAM and NAND chips. This increase led to a 28% increase in operating profit, which was greater than estimated

SK Hynix’s share price rose by 15%, surpassing both the market’s 7% increase and Samsung’s 8.7%. SK Hynix is the second-biggest producer of memory, after Samsung Electronics. SK Hynix shares increased by 15% to 1,050,000 won ($712.20) each, outpacing both the market’s 7% increase and Samsung’s 9% gain.

The second-biggest memory chip producer after Samsung Electronics, SK Hynix, will release its January–March earnings later this month.

Intel Stock Surges 4% as It Joins Elon Musk’s Massive Terafab AI Chip Project

Posted on by Olumide Adesina

Intel C has joined Elon Musk’s long-term endeavor to create semiconductors for Tesla Inc. (TSLA), SpaceX, and xAI, indicating an unexpected development in the chipmaker’s attempt to make a comeback.

Intel Eyes Breakout Above $70 After Bold Ireland Move

Intel announced on Tuesday that it will assist the so-called Terafab project in “refactoring” the technology in a chip factory.

This phase of the development process contributes to chips being more robust or dependable.  The chipmaker’s shares increased by 4.2 percent to $53 in New York trading on Tuesday.

Musk’s ambitious plan to eventually produce his own chips for robotics, artificial intelligence, and space data centers is known as the Terafab project. The project intends to generate an enormous amount of computing power annually, roughly one terawatt of capacity.

Although Musk’s businesses have never produced chips, Tesla already designs its own. He now envisions doing that on a scale to compete with Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing.

Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan stated, “Terafab represents a step change in how silicon logic, memory, and packaging will be built in the future.”

Intel is honored to collaborate closely with Elon on this extremely important project. “Terafab’s goal of producing 1 TW/year of compute to power future advances in AI and robotics will be accelerated by our ability to design, fabricate, and package ultra-high-performance chips at scale,” Intel added in its post. Musk stated in March.

The CEO spent a large portion of the previous year eliminating positions and other expenses. However, he also drew significant investments from Nvidia Corp. and the US government. and SoftBank Group Corp., which gave it a stronger foundation. Intel agreed last week to repurchase half of an Irish plant it had previously sold to Apollo Global Management for $14.2 billion. The action was interpreted as an indication of trust in the chipmaker’s operations.