Stocks rise, oil prices fall, while South Korean AI darling SK Hynix leaps in its Wall Street debut

U.S. stocks finished modestly higher on Friday as oil prices eased and investors returned to the AI trade, with South Korean memory-chip maker SK Hynix drawing the most attention in a blockbuster Wall Street debut.

The session blended three different market stories: a steadier tone in equities, a softer crude market and a huge new listing from one of the world’s most important chip suppliers. AP reported that the S&P 500, Dow Jones Industrial Average and Nasdaq all ended the day higher, while Brent crude fell to about $75.71 a barrel.

SK Hynix’s U.S. listing was the standout. The company raised $26.5 billion in its American depositary receipt offering, and multiple reports said the deal made it the largest U.S. listing by a foreign company. Its ADRs were priced at $149 before trading began on Nasdaq.

The stock then moved sharply higher in first-day trading. Reports put the gain at roughly 14% to 17%, with the shares opening near $170 and at one point indicated around $174.

A major AI hardware debut

The debut matters because SK Hynix sits at the center of the AI memory-chip supply chain. The company is a major supplier of advanced memory used in high-performance computing and AI systems, and demand for those chips has become one of the defining investment themes of the current market cycle.

That demand helped drive the scale of the offering. The $26.5 billion raise was widely described as record-setting for a foreign issuer in the United States, underlining how large global capital markets remain willing to back companies linked to artificial intelligence infrastructure.

The Wall Street debut also gave U.S. investors direct exposure to a company that has become strategically important in the semiconductor ecosystem. As AI investment has broadened beyond software into the hardware stack, memory suppliers have increasingly benefited from investor focus on the physical buildout behind large language models and other compute-intensive applications.

Market backdrop and oil

The broader market tone was calmer than the geopolitical backdrop might have suggested. Oil prices had been volatile amid Middle East headlines, but Friday’s move lower reflected a slightly reduced sense of immediate tension after reports that U.S.-Iran conflict risks may be contained.

A Wall Street Journal report said oil futures retreated on prospects that U.S.-Iran tensions could be contained, while AP noted that President Donald Trump said the Iran ceasefire was over but talks could continue. Together, those reports helped explain why crude pulled back even as the situation remained unsettled.

The oil move matters for more than energy investors. A softer crude price can ease pressure on inflation expectations, support consumer spending and reduce some of the concern that geopolitical shocks will spill into a broader market selloff. For now, traders appeared willing to look past the most acute risk premium in oil.

Other earnings movers

Earnings season was still active beneath the headline market moves. AP reported that Delta Air Lines posted strong quarterly profits but its shares fell, while WD-40 rose after earnings.

Those reactions showed that investors were still sorting through company-specific results even as the broader market story centered on SK Hynix and the oil backdrop. In other words, the day was not just about one debut or one geopolitical theme; it was also another reminder that earnings, rates, commodities and AI enthusiasm are all competing for attention at the same time.

What investors are watching next

The immediate question is whether SK Hynix’s ADRs can hold above the offering price after the first session and whether the opening-day demand proves durable. The early jump confirmed strong interest, but the next trading day will show whether buyers continue to treat the stock as a core AI infrastructure play.

Oil is the other variable. If Iran-related headlines intensify again, the recent easing in crude could reverse quickly. If tensions stay contained, the market may keep rotating back toward semiconductors and other AI-linked names.

For now, the market picture is straightforward: stocks were firmer, oil was softer and SK Hynix’s arrival on Nasdaq gave investors a fresh, and very large, way to bet on the AI hardware boom.