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BlockBeats News, June 15th - Wall Street investment bank Bernstein stated in a recent report that semiconductor equipment companies are beginning to show signs of price hikes, and related stocks are expected to regain investor attention. Over the past few months, the market has been more focused on commodity-type tech stocks as price hike expectations have emerged in areas such as storage, analog chips, wafers, and packaging substrates. In contrast, equipment stocks, although benefiting from a long-term production expansion cycle, have lacked a clear price catalyst. However, Bernstein believes that the price hikes in the tech commodity sector will eventually translate into capital expenditure expansion, and equipment manufacturers themselves also have room to raise prices. Japanese equipment manufacturers are at the center of this change. The report points out that companies such as Tokyo Electron and Screen primarily price their products in yen, and over the past three years, the yen has significantly depreciated against the dollar, providing a basis for them to readjust prices. More importantly, manufacturers' attitudes are changing. Previously, equipment companies were cautious about price hikes, but now they have begun to reflect expedited delivery, material costs, labor costs, and the additional value brought by new models in their prices. Tokyo Electron hopes to boost its gross profit margin to over 50% through more aggressive pricing and bring its operating profit margin closer to 35%. Screen is also implementing a two-stage price hike: first, discussing inflation-related price adjustments with customers, and then seeking a higher selling price around new products and additional features. Bernstein believes that Kokusai may also follow this trend. This price hike logic is particularly beneficial for Japanese front-end equipment companies. In contrast, companies like DISCO, Lasertec, and Advantest have already experienced significant profit margin expansion, and their pricing currencies are more mixed, so the incremental impact of further price hikes may be more moderate. European equipment leaders are also benefiting from product upgrades. The report mentions that ASML's new generation EUV equipment may lead to a significant price increase, and advanced packaging equipment manufacturer Besi will also benefit from product structure improvements. In the current tight supply environment, high-end equipment manufacturers can not only raise prices for new products but may also charge a premium for faster delivery. Overall, Bernstein's assessment is that the investment logic for semiconductor equipment stocks is shifting from merely relying on customer production expansion to extending to price and profit margin improvements. With price hikes in areas such as storage and wafers driving a new round of capital expenditure, equipment vendors may also begin to reap the benefits of this cycle. For the market, companies like Tokyo Electron, Screen, Kokusai, and ASML will be key targets to watch to see if this round of price changes materializes.

(1) After a sharp overnight rise, U.S. Treasury bonds retraced slightly and the yield curve steepened modestly, as the memorandum of understanding between the U.S. and Iran is set to be signed this Friday. Oil prices declined further, with crude oil dropping about $4.50 to $80.31, marking the lowest level since the flash crash to $74.48 on April 17. (2) Trading volumes were solid, with 385,000 lots of 10-year Treasury futures traded as of 18:14 (UTC+8). However, traders reported very little buying interest on their trading desks. One trader remarked that they hardly saw any buy orders, but found better opportunities to sell. The market remained unusually calm given such a significant repricing. (3) S&P 500 futures rose by 90 points or 1.2%, Nasdaq futures were up 2.0%, the Nikkei index in overseas markets soared 5%, the CSI 300 index increased by 2.4%, and the Euro Stoxx 50 index was up 0.7%. (4) The U.S. dollar index fell to 99.50, EUR/USD rose to 1.11610, GBP/USD climbed to 1.3430, the Japanese yen strengthened slightly to 160.11, and gold rebounded strongly by nearly 3% to $4,337.53.

Foresight News reported that Pendle announced via Twitter that it has been selected for the Fortune magazine Crypto Innovators list. This list chose 30 projects from more than 150 nominations, with other selected entities including State Street, DBS Bank, SBI Holdings, and other traditional financial institutions. Pendle stated that on-chain fixed income has long lacked product types comparable to those in traditional finance. Floating yields are everywhere, but tools for locking in known interest rates or expressing definitive views on duration have never achieved large-scale implementation. Pendle’s goal is to fill this gap, and the protocol’s TVL has now reached several billion US dollars, with the share of the stablecoin yield market and institutional funds continuing to grow.