The Weekend Rip
Happy Weekend! | | Megacap tech carried stocks higher this week, but the calm at the index level masked a brutal rotation underneath. Microsoft, Amazon, and Alphabet added roughly $1.5T as strong cloud growth validated massive AI spending, while chips, memory, optical networking, and other momentum favorites suffered a historic unwind. Falling inflation, a Fed hold, and Trump’s tariff pause supported risk appetite, but rising oil and the Iran war kept geopolitical risk firmly in play. Next week, investors will test whether the AI rally can broaden—or whether the market’s widening cracks finally reach the indexes. | Let's recap and prep you for the week ahead. | Monday : Falling oil lifted defensives and the Dow, but a brutal chip selloff left the broader market stuck in neutral. Nvidia’s circular-financing web and China’s fresh semiconductor threat turned the AI trade into the day’s punching bag. Applied Digital’s revenue blowout kept infrastructure bulls alive after hours, while Wednesday’s Fed decision remained the bigger test. | Tuesday : Falling oil and strong defensives kept most stocks afloat while another semiconductor rout split the market beneath the surface. Boeing, PayPal, Coca-Cola, and Royal Caribbean rewarded earnings buyers, but memory and optical-networking names absorbed another brutal reset. Bloom Energy’s billion-dollar quarter sparked the biggest after-hours reversal, with the Fed and mega-cap earnings waiting Wednesday. | Wednesday : Inflation anxiety and the Iran war pushed investors out of risk while energy offered the market’s only real shelter. A deepening memory-chip rout and Meta’s post-earnings drop punished expensive AI bets, but Microsoft proved strong cloud growth can still earn a pass on giant spending. The Fed held rates, three officials wanted a hike, and Kevin Warsh left September hanging over Thursday’s inflation report. | Thursday : Microsoft’s record-setting $450B surge erased early tech weakness and pulled the market firmly into risk-on mode. Amazon and AXT showed that AI spending can translate into cloud growth and semiconductor profits, while Apple, Reddit, Coinbase, and Roblox learned that headline beats were not enough. Cooler inflation and Trump’s tariff pause helped the rally, but fresh U.S.-Iran strikes kept oil and geopolitical risk hanging over Friday. | Friday : Megacap tech kept the market pointed higher, but the rally narrowed as small caps and most sectors slipped. Amazon, Alphabet, and Microsoft added roughly $1.5T this week by showing AI spending can produce cloud revenue, while Apple and Meta were punished for weaker payoffs. Rising crude and a historic momentum unwind beneath AI infrastructure kept the risk-on mood from feeling remotely calm. | This week's Stocks Top 25 showed how momentum movers fared vs. the indexes. | Here are the closing prices: | |
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