Stocks Rise as Tech Megacaps Step Up AI Spending: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — US stocks resumed their advance as technology megacaps unleashed further spending to build out the infrastructure that powers artificial intelligence. Gold and silver hit record highs.
Contracts on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 erased losses to advance 0.2%. Meta Platforms Inc., among the first AI heavyweights to report, said it would invest as much as $135 billion this year, well above estimates near $110 billion. Its shares rose nearly 8% in premarket trading after delivering a stronger-than-expected sales outlook.
Microsoft Corp., by contrast, slid 6.6% after its own plans for bigger spending was accompanied by slowing growth in cloud sales. Manufacturers of AI processing and storage capacity such as Sandisk Corp., Micron Technology Inc. and Western Digital Corp. were up by 1.5% or more.
“We’re back to the theme that we’re not seeing monolithic growth for all the tech companies,” said Rory McPherson, chief investment officer at Magnus Financial Discretionary Management. “Capex spending has increased across the board. The market is just rewarding the ability to monetize it, while placing question marks on companies that aren’t able to do that.”
Gold climbed above $5,500 an ounce as precious metals extended their blistering rally. Silver extended its year-to-date advance to around 63%. Copper surged by the most in 16 years, fueled by a wave of speculative trading in China.
“We still have some exposure to gold but at these prices I wouldn’t be that long on it,” said Dan Boardman-Weston, chief investment officer at BRI Wealth Management. “You need it for diversification and it’s been wonderful over the past two years, but now I’m minding my exposure to it.”
What Bloomberg Strategists Say:
“The speculative frenzy in gold is intensifying even with indicators suggesting that it is exceptionally overbought. There’s an increasing possibility of a quick correction that could send bullion back below $5,000 an ounce.”
Brent crude futures, meanwhile, hit $70 a barrel for the first time since September after US President Donald Trump warned Iran to make a nuclear deal or face military strikes. Treasuries fell amid concern that rising commodity prices will add to inflation.
The dollar fell as much as 0.3% before trimming the loss. The greenback has suffered this year as investors bet on the greenback’s long-term decline. Unpredictable policy making and ballooning deficits have added to the woes, with the currency on track for its worst month since June.
The dollar hasn’t acted like a haven currency for a while as investors prefer tangible havens such as precious metals, DoubleLine Capital Chief Executive Officer Jeffrey Gundlach told CNBC.
“The risks of another major leg lower in the dollar remain elevated, even if our bias is for a short-term recovery, given the overall supporting macro and rates picture,” wrote strategists at ING Groep NV including Francesco Pesole.
Corporate Highlights:
International Business Machines Corp. has kicked off what’s expected to be a multi-billion wave of borrowing from the tech sector in 2026. Nvidia Corp., Microsoft and Amazon.com Inc. are in discussions to invest as much as $60 billion in OpenAI, the Information reported. SAP SE shares fell the most in more than five years as current cloud backlog in the fourth quarter slipped to a level that Chief Executive Officer Christian Klein previously said would be a “disappointment.” Microsoft’s spending surged to a record high and cloud sales growth slowed. Meta’s robust advertising business, which boosted its current-quarter outlook above estimates, is making it possible for the company to invest at record levels on artificial intelligence this year. Deutsche Bank AG closed out a record year for profit with higher trading income and announced a new share buyback, in a boost to Chief Executive Officer Christian Sewing a day after a raid on the lender’s Frankfurt offices. Samsung’s chip unit blew past expectations with a more than five-fold profit gain in the December quarter. Tesla Inc. revealed plans to invest $2 billion into Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk’s artificial intelligence company, xAI, while reporting higher-than-expected profit for the fourth quarter. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.3% as of 10:45 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures rose 0.2% Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.2% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average were little changed The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.2% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1950 The Japanese yen was little changed at 153.36 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9406 per dollar The British pound was little changed at $1.3796 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin fell 1.7% to $87,770.9 Ether fell 2.5% to $2,942.22 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.26% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 2.85% Britain’s 10-year yield was little changed at 4.55% Commodities
Brent crude rose 1.7% to $69.58 a barrel Spot gold rose 1.7% to $5,508.12 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Anand Krishnamoorthy, Rose Henderson and Subrat Patnaik.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
