Major US indexes closed higher on Monday, with the S&P 500 up 0.70 percent and the Nasdaq Composite gaining 0.82 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.28 percent. The move came as AI related stocks recovered some of their recent losses.
Those gains followed weeks of investor nervousness about whether the huge amounts of debt funding AI data centers and infrastructure can be justified by actual revenue, given steep valuations across the sector. That worry eased somewhat after news broke that Anthropic, the company behind the Claude AI models, had filed paperwork for a stock market listing, a move investors took as a vote of confidence in the industry's near term prospects.
Tuesday morning, futures on the Nasdaq 100, S&P 500, and Dow were all modestly higher as traders looked ahead to a packed earnings calendar. Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon are all due to report results later this week, alongside Coca-Cola, Visa, and Boeing on Tuesday. Nvidia shares traded close to flat following news of an expanded partnership with Meta Platforms on AI models. Oil prices stayed elevated, with Brent crude trading near 116 dollars a barrel and US benchmark crude near 102 dollars, keeping a watchful eye on inflation ahead of the Fed's decision.
The optimism rippled across global markets. Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped nearly 2 percent, led by chip stocks, while South Korea's KOSPI surged around 4 percent on the Anthropic news, with Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix both climbing sharply. South Korea also reported third quarter economic growth of 1.0 percent, more than three times the central bank's earlier forecast, a reading tied in part to strength in semiconductors. Markets in Hong Kong and mainland China were more mixed, with the Hang Seng Index and Shanghai Composite both slipping on earnings disappointments and renewed questions about AI valuations there.
Big Tech earnings from Microsoft, Alphabet, and Amazon land this week alongside the Fed's rate decision, a combination likely to drive significant swings in AI related shares.
Why did Asian markets react so strongly to a US company's IPO filing?
Anthropic's filing was read as a bullish signal for the broader AI sector, lifting chipmakers and tech suppliers across Asia that feed into AI hardware and software supply chains.
Is oil pushing inflation higher right now?
Crude prices have stayed elevated, which analysts say is one factor keeping inflation pressures alive just as the Fed weighs its next move.