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US stocks advanced on October 26, 2026 as semiconductor shares rallied following Anthropic’s public IPO filing, renewing investor interest in artificial intelligence companies after two consecutive weeks of losses for major technology-heavy indexes.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 212 points, or 0.4%, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each rose 0.3%.
- The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 212 points, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite gained 0.3% as Anthropic’s IPO filing supported semiconductor stocks.
- Nvidia, Micron, Broadcom and AMD advanced, while oil prices declined and neocloud companies faced renewed concerns over AI infrastructure spending.
- Investors are pricing in a 90% probability that the Federal Reserve will maintain interest rates at 3.75-4%, as Apollo questions AI’s financial returns outside the technology sector.
Chipmakers led gains among AI-related stocks after Anthropic, the developer of the Claude chatbot, submitted its registration statement for a proposed public offering.
The company reported revenue of $16.29 bn for the six months ended June 2026, up 1,304% from $1.16 bn in the corresponding period a year earlier. Anthropic intends to list on the Nasdaq under the ticker ANT.
Investors are watching the offering for indications of whether demand for AI-related equities can strengthen after recent selling pressure across technology stocks.
Nvidia and semiconductor stocks gain following Anthropic IPO filing
Shares of Nvidia climbed 1.4%, while memory chipmaker Micron Technology gained 2.3%.
Broadcom advanced 1.5%, and Advanced Micro Devices rose 1.3%, reflecting renewed interest in companies supplying technology used in artificial intelligence infrastructure.
Anthropic’s filing provided a fresh indication of commercial demand for AI software, although the sector continues to face questions about the capital required to support growth.
The rally followed a difficult week for Wall Street, when rising oil prices and selling across multiple industries pressured major stock indexes.
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite recorded their second consecutive weekly declines.
Technology shares had also faced pressure from concerns about the financing arrangements of companies expanding AI computing capacity.
Neocloud stocks fall as concerns grow over AI infrastructure debt
Shares of specialized AI cloud infrastructure providers continued declining despite gains among major semiconductor companies. CoreWeave fell 1.7%, while Nebius Group dropped 3.7%.
Neocloud companies build and operate computing infrastructure designed specifically for AI workloads, renting processing capacity to businesses developing or deploying AI applications.
The sector came under pressure last week as investors questioned whether some companies were accumulating excessive debt to finance their expansion.
Concerns intensified Monday after Elon Musk warned that more than 200 businesses operating in the sector face “guppy-level death”.
The comments added to existing investor concerns about financing risks and the sustainability of rapid infrastructure investment.
The divergence between rising semiconductor stocks and falling neocloud shares illustrated the different assessments investors are making about AI hardware suppliers and companies financing large-scale computing facilities.
Federal Reserve interest rate decision approaches
Investors are also preparing for the Federal Reserve’s monetary policy announcement Wednesday.
Federal funds futures indicated approximately a 90% probability that policymakers would leave interest rates unchanged at the current target range of 3.75%-4%.
The decision comes as financial markets assess the outlook for borrowing costs against elevated oil prices and uncertainty surrounding corporate investment in AI.
For technology and infrastructure businesses requiring substantial financing, interest rate expectations remain relevant to investment decisions and capital costs.
Apollo economist questions AI returns outside technology sector
Despite the renewed enthusiasm surrounding Anthropic’s IPO, Apollo chief economist Torsten Slok questioned whether substantial corporate spending on artificial intelligence has delivered measurable financial benefits outside the technology industry.
Slok said AI investment had produced “zero financial payoff” for corporate America beyond technology companies.
He pointed to a divergence between the Magnificent Seven technology companies and the remaining constituents of the S&P 500.
Revenue per employee and profit margins have been increasing among the Magnificent Seven, according to Slok, but both measures have remained broadly flat across the rest of the index.
He also said available indicators showed no evidence that AI adoption was accelerating productivity growth.
Slok argued that businesses outside the technology sector were beginning to reconsider their AI expenditures, increasingly treating spending on AI tokens as an operating cost that places pressure on profit margins.
The central question, he said, is whether falling AI usage costs will eventually allow companies outside the technology sector to improve revenue growth and profitability.
“The bottom line is that the AI story will be decided in the S&P 493, not the Mag 7, and so far, there is no evidence that revenue growth or margins are improving outside the tech sector,” Slok said.
His assessment presents a different perspective from the enthusiasm surrounding Anthropic’s revenue growth and the gains among semiconductor companies.
For investors, the distinction is between the expanding revenue generated by AI technology providers and the measurable financial returns achieved by businesses purchasing those services.
Monday’s market movements reflected that divide, with leading chipmakers advancing following Anthropic’s filing while AI infrastructure providers continued to face scrutiny over borrowing and capital expenditure.
