Stocks Rebound After Tech Rout as Bitcoin Climbs: Markets Wrap
(Bloomberg) — Dip buyers drove a rebound in US stocks, betting that fears over artificial intelligence’s disruptive impact and the spending plans of its frontrunners were overdone. Bitcoin rose as the risk-off tone subsided.
S&P 500 contracts erased declines of as much as 1% to climb 0.5%. Gold and silver found support at the end of a week that saw investors pulling back from recent popular trades. Bitcoin bounced nearly 5% after sliding to the lowest level since October 2024. In Europe, Stellantis NV slumped 25% as it booked €22 billion ($26 billion) in charges.
Futures for the Nasdaq 100 climbed 0.6% after the index’s biggest three-day slump since April. Amazon.com Inc. dropped 8.2% in early trading on plans to spend $200 billion this year on AI infrastructure, an increase that outpaced cloud revenue growth. Companies tied to Bitcoin and the AI buildout advanced.
Investors have been spooked by developments on two fronts: the rollout of models from AI startup Anthropic that threaten to render large swaths of software services redundant, alongside the eye-watering spending plans of tech companies. Four of the biggest tech firms plan to invest around $650 billion this year in data centers and the equipment required to run them.
The retreat is allowing investors to separate stocks facing genuine risk or overvaluation from those caught up in the broader risk-off rout, as the AI rally of the past three years continues to broaden beyond the sector’s largest names.
“This is an opportunity for us as active investors to take the baby that has been thrown out with the bath water, because there’s still names out there that we believe will come out very well,” said Fabiana Fedeli, chief investment officer for equities, multi-asset and sustainability at M&G Investments.
Treasuries fell, led by the short end of the curve, unwinding some of Thursday’s steepening that had pushed the gap between 10-year and two-year yields toward the widest in more than four years. The dollar dipped 0.1%.
The spread has widened due to a combination of interest-rate cut expectations and concern over persistent inflation and the fiscal deficit. Money markets are betting that a Federal Reserve led by Kevin Warsh will cut rates twice this year after Chair Jerome Powell’s term ends.
For Mohit Kumar, chief strategist for Europe at Jefferies, a mix of the Trump administration’s recent focus on affordability and a weakening employment picture could open the door to further rate cuts.
“Our view remains that we could get a scenario where growth is robust and yet employment is weakening due to the impact of AI,” Kumar wrote. “A Warsh-led Fed could end up being more dovish than what the market currently expects.”
Corporate Highlights:
Carlyle Group Inc. exceeded the goals that Chief Executive Officer Harvey Schwartz had set for fee-related earnings and asset growth in 2025, while posting fourth-quarter results that surpassed Wall Street estimates. Stellantis NV will take roughly €22 billion ($26 billion) in charges linked to a sweeping overhaul of its operations as high costs and muted electric-vehicle sales force the automaker to adjust its strategy. Societe Generale SA launched a €1.46 billion buyback program after posting fourth-quarter profit that beat estimates, as Chief Executive Officer Slawomir Krupa reinforced his pledge to focus on investor payouts. Amazon.com Inc. shares dropped after the company announced plans to spend $200 billion this year on data centers, chips and other equipment, worrying investors that its colossal bet on artificial intelligence may not pay off in the long run. Some of the main moves in markets:
Stocks
The Stoxx Europe 600 rose 0.4% as of 11:26 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures rose 0.5% Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.7% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.4% The MSCI Asia Pacific Index was little changed The MSCI Emerging Markets Index fell 0.3% Currencies
The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro rose 0.1% to $1.1792 The Japanese yen was little changed at 157.05 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.9362 per dollar The British pound rose 0.4% to $1.3589 Cryptocurrencies
Bitcoin rose 4.4% to $65,873.01 Ether rose 4.1% to $1,923.43 Bonds
The yield on 10-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 4.19% Germany’s 10-year yield declined two basis points to 2.82% Britain’s 10-year yield declined three basis points to 4.52% Commodities
Brent crude rose 0.2% to $67.71 a barrel Spot gold rose 2.4% to $4,892.49 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.
–With assistance from Neil Campling and James Hirai.
©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
