Kimi K3 Tops Arena Benchmark Today, U.S. AI Stocks Slide 2-4% Ahead of Options Expiration

According to BlockBeats, Kimi K3 was released today (July 17) and topped Arena's front-end code benchmark with a score surpassing Claude Fable 5's 1631 and GPT-5.6 Sol's 1618, reviving "AI East vs. West" debate among Western analysts. In response, U.S. AI and semiconductor stocks fell in pre-market trading, with Nvidia down 2.51%, memory stocks including SanDisk, Seagate, and Western Digital sliding 2-4%, Micron falling 2.99%, and AMAT and LRC each dropping over 4%, according to BIT (bit.com) market data.

Today marks U.S. stock options contract expiration, potentially triggering unusual trading pressure and volatility as traders adjust hedging positions. Separately, SpaceX's Starship test flight aborted less than one second before liftoff, causing SPCX to fall over 4% pre-market. Netflix slid 11.34% as Q2 results met expectations but Q3 guidance showed decelerating sales growth for a second consecutive quarter.