CNBC Daily Open: The S&P touches a new high

This report is from today’s CNBC Daily Open, our international markets newsletter. CNBC Daily Open brings investors up to speed on everything they need to know, no matter where they are. Like what you see? You can subscribe here.

Intraday record for the S&P 500
U.S. markets popped on Wednesday. The S&P 500 touched a new intraday high, though it pulled back by the closing bell. Asia-Pacific stocks were mixed on Thursday. China’s CSI 300 advanced roughly 1%, leading gains in the region, as authorities urged state-owned funds and insurers to buy shares. South Korea’s Kospi index retreated 0.8% on the release of disappointing gross domestic product figures.

South Korea GDP misses expectations
South Korea’s economy expanded 1.2% year on year in the fourth quarter, according to advance figures. That missed out on the 1.4% expected by a Reuters poll, and was lower than the 1.5% growth in the country’s third quarter of 2024. However, the full-year GDP increase came in at 2%, higher than 2023’s 1.4% expansion.

SK Hynix’s operating profit jumped more than 2,000%
Shares of SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest memory chipmakers, fell around 2.7% after the firm warned that demand in 2025 is uncertain. That said, the South Korean chipmaker posted a record operating profit of $8.08 trillion won ($5.6 billion) in the fourth quarter, a staggering 2,236% higher than in the same period last year, thanks to strong sales of high bandwidth memory used in generative AI chipsets.

Dimon says tariffs aren’t all bad
JPMorgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon said U.S. President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs could lead to positive outcomes, despite fears of higher prices and trade wars. “If it’s a little inflationary, but it’s good for national security, so be it,” Dimon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin on Wednesday at Davos, alongside comments on “hugg[ing[ it out” with Elon Musk and the stock market being “kind of inflated.”

Musk undercuts Trump’s Stargate
Musk dismissed the Stargate project, a joint venture between OpenAI, Oracle and Softbank to invest up to $500 billion in artificial intelligence infrastructure, that Trump announced Tuesday. “They don’t actually have the money,” Musk wrote Tuesday in response to an OpenAI post on X, undermining Trump’s announcement.

[PRO] Diversify away from U.S. stocks: Morgan Stanley
With the S&P 500 index touching a new all-time high Wednesday, U.S. stocks remaining pricey and valuations appearing stretched, investors should make sure to keep a diversified portfolio, according to Morgan Stanley Wealth Management. The bank advised investors to invest in these assets instead of overconcentrating in U.S. stocks.

The S&P 500 shook off the December doldrums to touch a new intraday high of 6,100.81 on Thursday. While the broad-based index pulled back to 6,086.37 when the closing bell rang, it’s just a hair away from its all-time high of 6,090.27.

It marks a change in gear from December, during which the S&P lost 2.5% as expectations of fewer rate cuts from the U.S. Federal Reserve reverberated through the market. Technology stocks — no surprises there — were the main driver of the benchmark’s advance on Thursday.

Shares such as Oracle and Nvidia popped on Trump’s announcement of Stargate, the mega investment deal in AI infrastructure. Netflix jumped 9.7% as investors cheered the streaming service’s surge in fourth-quarter earnings and paid memberships. It seemed like the stock market was shifting lanes back to the heyday of 2024, when the S&P broke over 50 closing records.

Jamie Dimon, however, is striking a more cautious tone.

“Asset prices are kind of inflated, by any measure. They are in the top 10% or 15%” of historical valuations, Dimon told CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.

He’s not necessarily suggesting that brakes will be slammed or an impact is imminent, but that there needs to be a firm base of support to sustain such horsepower behind stocks.

“You need fairly good outcomes to justify those prices,” Dimon said. “Having pro-growth strategies helps make that happen, but there are negatives out there, and they can tend to surprise you.”

That notion’s echoed by J.P. Morgan’s asset management division.  

“The number one risk that we’re looking at heading into this year are the valuations, which is why we feel very strongly that you need to have earnings back this up,” Phil Camporeale, multi-asset portfolio manager at J.P. Morgan Asset Management, told CNBC’s “Money Movers.”

While Trump’s pro-business and low-tax policies might provide the ignition spark, corporations, ultimately, are the engine that keep stocks going.

— CNBC’s Hugh Son, Samatha Subin, Alex Harring and Sarah Min contributed to this report.