Morning Comment Norway-06/17/2026

Research evidence excerpt

Morning Comment Norway-06/17/2026

Morning Comment Norway

17 JUN 2026

Foreign markets S&P 500 intraday

7,570

• US – US equities were mostly lower in Tuesday trading. Dow set a fresh

record close, though S&P 500, Nasdaq, R2K all lower after three-straight 7,560

gains, giving back some of Monday's big rally. Semis/memory and software 7,550

among biggest drags. Market took a bit of a breather after a three-day run 7,540

higher that saw SOX run up by nearly 16%.

7,530

• Asia – Asian equities mixed in quiet Wednesday trade. Taiwan 7,520

underperforming with semis taking cues from overnight weakness in US.

Markets settling following recent run-up on dovish Middle East 7,510

developments. Attention has seemingly moved on following deal 7,500

16:00 17:00 18:00 19:00 20:00 21:00

announcement. In economic news, Japan export growth quickened to

strongest since Nov-2022, underpinned by tech components and autos.

Import growth also stronger than expected as tech device imports offset US and Asia indices (at time of publication)

sharp drop in crude. 1.00%

0.64% 0.71%

• Oil prices – WTI and Brent up 0.3% and 0.2% today. Increased confidence 0.50%

that the U.S.-Iran MOU will be signed in Switzerland this Friday.

Today’s research focus 0.00%

-0.12%

• SMOP – Smartoptics design and sell fibre optical hardware for the mid- -0.50%

market, which has become less contested following a decade of -0.57%

consolidation. And yet more so by component shortages forcing category -1.00% -0.89%

leaders to prioritize the largest accounts as market growth surges on -1.15%

hyperscaler data centre spend. We believe Smartoptics target to outgrow -1.50% Dow S&P 500 Nasdaq Nikkei 225 Hang Seng Shanghai

the market by 2-3x over the next five years and find consensus to

underestimate the growth potential.