Highlights for the morning: pause in Iran-Israel war, JPMorgan bets on AI stocks in Asia

Donald Trump announced a ceasefire between Israel and Iran. JPMorgan estimates that Asian tech stocks, especially in the semiconductor sector, could rise another 15-20% in 2025. Meta was interested in buying another AI startup before the Scale AI deal. Supermicro shares fell by 10% on the news about the placement of convertible bonds for $2 bln. These and other topics are covered in our review of key events by the morning of June 24.

Iran and Israel appear close to suspending their 12-day war after U.S. President Donald Trump unexpectedly announced a cease-fire, writes Bloomberg. «Officially Iran will begin a CUT OFF OF FIRE, 12 hours later Israel will do so, and 24 hours later the entire world will witness the OFFICIAL END of the 12-DAY WAR,» Trump wrote on social media.

Israel's reaction to Trump's words and the exact timing of the ceasefire remains unclear, but tensions appear to be easing. Iran has indicated that it has no intention of continuing retaliatory attacks against Israel beyond the morning hours. Although Israeli authorities remained silent overnight, a senior White House official said Trump had negotiated a ceasefire with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Israel agreed to the ceasefire on the condition that Iran would not launch new strikes, and Iranian authorities have signaled that they would honor those conditions, the official added.

«In my view, this truce will be sustainable and the war will indeed end,» said Dennis Ross, a former special envoy to President Bill Clinton now at the Institute for Near East Policy in Washington. - Iran has no interest in resuming hostilities anytime soon.»

Meta was in talks about a possible takeover of AI startup Runway before investing billions in Scale AI, a source told CNBC. Negotiations, he said, have not gotten very far. Meta declined to comment.

Runway is best known for its AI-powered video generation tools and this month made it into CNBC's Disruptor 50 ranking of the most innovative private companies. 

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been actively promoting ambitious plans in the field of artificial intelligence in recent months. In June, the company invested $14.3 billion in Scale AI, and was also in talks to acquire startups Safe Superintelligence and Perplexity AI. Although Zuckerberg failed to buy out Superintelligence, the company's CEO Daniel Gross and ex-GitHub CEO Nat Friedman will join the Meta team and work on AI products under the guidance of Scale AI founder Alexander Wang.

Shares of Super Micro Computer fell nearly 10 percent after the server maker announced plans to offer $2 billion in convertible bonds maturing in 2030, reports CNBC.

Supermicro, whose business has surged amid strong demand for Nvidia's artificial intelligence processors, said it intends to use the money raised for «general corporate purposes, including working capital financing to grow and expand its business.» The company also plans to spend about $200 million to buy back its own shares.

Even with Monday's drop, Supermicro shares remain nearly 40% higher than they were at the start of 2025. The company is considered one of the few server vendors able to quickly adapt systems to new Nvidia, AMD and Intel chips as soon as they are released. In May, Supermicro was awarded a major contract to supply equipment for a data center in Saudi Arabia during Trump's visit to the Middle East.

Supermicro «has emerged as the market leader in AI-optimized infrastructure,» Raymond James analysts noted in a May note, adding that 70% of the company's revenue comes from its AI business. They recommend buying the stock.

Investors, on the other hand, lost interest in Supermicro securities in March and April amid the trade war, and in May the company lowered its revenue forecast for fiscal 2025 and declined to reaffirm its previous target of $40 billion for 2026 due to uncertainty over duties and AI chips.

Asian tech stocks could rise another 15-20% this year, primarily due to strong momentum in artificial intelligence, according to JPMorgan's forecast, reports Bloomberg.

«AI will continue to lead the current growth phase amid increased data center capital spending in 2025 and greater confidence in growth in 2026,» the analysts wrote. - We do not recommend a significant reallocation of capital out of AI stocks over the next three months and prefer to stay with the leaders.»

AI companies are rapidly becoming key drivers of the region's stock markets, helped by strong domestic demand for automation and generative technologies. The Bloomberg Regional Semiconductor Index is up more than 12% YTD and is outperforming the overall Asian stock index. Steady demand for AI memory from large technology companies could support further growth.

JPMorgan's top favorites include the region's largest chip makers, including Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., SK Hynix, Advantest and Delta Electronics. Analysts believe these stocks will continue to appreciate over the next 12 months as demand remains robust and earnings forecasts continue to be revised upward.

Asia-Pacific markets rose on Tuesday following U.S. President Donald Trump's announcement that Iran and Israel had agreed to a cease-fire.

- Japan's Nikkei 225 index rose 1.2 percent, while the broader Topix index added 0.8 percent. 

- South Korea's Kospi was up 2.6 percent and the Kosdaq was up 2 percent.

- Australia's S&P/ASX 200 rose 0.9 percent.

- Hong Kong's Hang Seng Index climbed nearly 2 percent, while China's CSI 300 added about 1 percent.

- U.S. stock futures also went up after Trump's announcement, with Dow Jones futures up 0.5 percent, the S&P 500 up 0.6 percent and the Nasdaq 100 up 0.8 percent.

On the eve of the three key U.S. indices ended trading in the plus amid investors' relief that Iran's response to the U.S. strikes last weekend was restrained. The Dow Jones index added 0.9% to close at 42,581.78. The S&P 500 rose nearly 1 percent to 6,025.17 and the Nasdaq Composite added 0.9 percent to 19,630.97.

This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor