Stocks Climb in Late Hours on Meta’s Big AI Wagers: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Wall Street’s wagers on artificial intelligence regained traction, with stocks rising in late hours as solid results bolstered confidence in the trade that has powered the bull market.
An exchange-traded fund tracking the S&P 500 rose after the close of regular trading. Tesla Inc.’s profit beat estimates, assuaging worries about increased investments into new areas such as AI. Meta Platforms Inc. boosted its capital spending outlook and announced plans to create a new class of nonvoting stock, part of efforts to escalate its bet on the technology.
“Our investments are paying off, the core business is strong, and we’re seeing velocity across the board,” Meta’s Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said in Wednesday’s report.
In regular hours, tech shares powered gains as a blowout earnings report from SpaceX eased concern over whether the AI investment boom can prove sustainable. Super Micro Computer Inc. jumped on solid preliminary figures. The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1%.
Investors’ anxiety over the durability of the AI trade had recently surged amid fears that the substantial upfront capital spending the technology needs will take longer than expected to translate into profits and productivity gains.
“So, does this signal that the worst is over when it comes to the selloff across tech, and in particular chip stocks, seen since the beginning of this month? Maybe,” said David Morrison at Trade Nation. “Certainly, there has been yet another impressive start to the earnings season.”
“Despite hedge funds sharply reducing tech exposure, the market isn’t giving up on AI,” said Mark Hackett at Nationwide. “Investors simply want to see the payoff, and SpaceX earnings may be an early sign of that.”
Billionaire Ken Griffin said investors are “almost certainly” in the midst of an AI bubble as many companies are still grappling with just how much they’ll spend on the technology and how it will transform the economy.
BlackRock Inc. Chief Executive Officer Larry Fink warned that delays in building data centers could raise computing costs and threaten economic growth as demand for AI accelerates.
“If we don’t build out these data centers, it is actually more inflationary because the cost of compute is so high right now,” Fink said in an interview on Bloomberg Television Wednesday, on the sidelines of the Berlin Global Dialogue event. “And the faster we can build out more data centers, the more compute we have, the faster we can bring down the cost.”
Elsewhere, oil whipsawed after its settlement. The US State Department issued an ordered departure for non-emergency personnel and their families from Saudi Arabia because of the growing threat from Houthi militants in neighboring Yemen.
Corporate Highlights:
Texas Instruments Inc., the biggest maker of analog and embedded processing chips, gave a strong revenue forecast for the current period, lifted by demand from automotive and industrial customers. International Business Machines Corp. reported sales that topped analysts’ estimates, saying it had recovered most of the infrastructure deals that were delayed earlier this year. Southwest Airlines Co. cut its guidance for the full year, as soaring jet fuel costs squeeze profits across the US airline industry. AT&T Inc. showed strong gains in internet and mobile phone customers in the third quarter, but it wasn’t enough to assuage market concerns about the looming entry of SpaceX into the consumer cellular market. Philip Morris International Inc. lowered its annual profit forecast due to currency movements, as it warned that rising energy costs from the Middle East conflict and strikes from Russia’s war on Ukraine are taking a toll. What Bloomberg Strategists say…
“A durable tech recovery hinges on hyperscalers narrowing the gap between the rising cost of building AI and the cash flows available to finance it.”
—Tatiana Darie, Macro Strategist, Markets Live. For the full analysis, click here.
Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 1.1% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.7% The MSCI World Index rose 0.6% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index was little changed The euro was little changed at $1.1233 The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3395 The Japanese yen was little changed at 158.19 per dollar Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 2.1% to $84,490.04 Ether rose 1.8% to $2,491.6 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 5.12% Germany’s 10-year yield advanced two basis points to 3.42% Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 5.38% Commodities
West Texas Intermediate crude rose 0.1% to $97.92 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.2% to $4,134.47 an ounce ©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
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