Stock Market Live January 2: S&P 500 (VOO) Rises on Last Day of Week, First Trading Day of 2026

In further bullish news for AI investors, Aletheia Capital analyst Warren Lau double-upgraded semiconductor manufacturing equipment giant ASML Inc. (Nasdaq: ASML) from sell to buy with a $1,500 price target this morning.

“We think the upsides will be driven by stronger EUV demand from DRAM suppliers, resilient DUV orders from China in FY26E, and critically, a potential surge in TSMC demand in FY27E,” said Lau. “We think TSMC alone could install 40–45 EUV tools as it may expand advanced capacity by 40–50% in 2027E, potentially lifting total EUV units to 75–80 units, near ASML’s full capacity.”

The analyst is predicting “mid-teens” revenue growth for ASML in fiscal 2026, accelerating to “mid-twenties” growth in fiscal 2027, numbers Lau says “are well ahead of [both ASML’s] guidance and consensus forecasts.”

ASML stock is soaring in response, up more than 8%.

Bernstein SocGen Group analyst Mark Li raised his price target on outperform-rated Micron Technology (Nasdaq: MU) stock to $330 this morning.

“Micron’s report suggests an upside risk to our 2026 forecast,” said the analyst, noting he sees DRAM prices rising perhaps 20% or 25% in fiscal Q2 2026, but “Micron’s FQ2 guidance suggests even stronger price increase in the near term.”

Put another way, Li is more conservative in his forecasts than is Micron itself. Still, Li predicts “DRAM prices to continue rising from the start of 2026, as AI makes data center demand balloon but supply expansion takes time,” and that is good news for Micron stock.

The real question is whether the news is as good as Micron thinks it is, and as good as the company’s guidance for $18.7 billion in Q2 revenue, and $8.19 per share in Q2 earnings, makes it look.

For now, investors are betting on Micron being right, and the stock is up more than 8% this morning.

Raymond James analyst Srini Pajjuri started off 2026 by resuming coverage of Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) stock — but don’t get too excited.

Pajjuri only gives Apple a market perform rating (so hold). “Despite strong fundamentals and improving product cycles, we believe Apple’s current valuation appropriately reflects these strengths, limiting near-term upside,” says the analyst.

“Much of [Apple’s] value is already well understood by investors. Further, given the broad user base (now ~2.4 billion), we believe incremental gains from technology upgrade cycles will become more difficult to attain, much less move the needle. The relative success of the iPhone 17 refresh cycle has likely driven much of the recent share gains, and while we don’t discount the value generated by this growth … with a valuation several turns above the 5-year average P/E, we remain on the sidelines at this time.”

Long story short, Apple stock may have gotten not too big to fail — but too big to succeed much at all.