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July 30, 2026 - 22:08
5 minutes
(Bloomberg) — A rebound in giant chipmakers lifted stocks as dip buyers emerged on speculation that the artificial-intelligence trade that has powered the bull market has more room to run.Following a rout in one of the most-crowded bets, a gauge of semiconductor giants rose the most since April 2025. The Nasdaq 100 added 3.4% a day after entering a technical correction. Microsoft Corp. surged 16% on strong cloud growth. Those rallies outweighed a disappointing forecast from Meta Platforms Inc. In late hours, Amazon.com Inc. jumped after its results.Large gains occurred in shares that, as of the first quarter, had been top holdings of Situational Awareness, the hedge fund led by former OpenAI researcher Leopold Aschenbrenner that earlier sold a big chunk of its holdings to Citadel after liquidating equities caught up in the AI rout.Bloom Energy Corp., Sandisk Corp. and CoreWeave Inc. each soared more than 20% after falling sharply earlier in the month.“Despite near-term volatility, the outlook for US equities remains constructive, supported by strong corporate earnings, ongoing AI adoption, a resilient economy, and favorable financial conditions,” said Sameer Samana at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.Solid consumer spending and business investment signaled underlying strength even as economic growth moderated in the second quarter. Long-term Treasuries underperformed a day after the Federal Reserve held rates steady despite elevated inflation. The dollar fell. The yen jumped, stoking speculation of intervention.The recent equity weakness appeared more consistent with a reset in a market that had become overheated than a breakdown in the primary trend, according to Keith Lerner at Truist Advisory Services Inc.“The bull market remains intact,” he said.Thursday’s rally in chipmakers trimmed their July plunge to 21% — which is still set to be the biggest monthly slide since 2008. Despite the insatiable demand for all things related to AI, the group has been under intense volatility after a massive stock-market run, with lofty expectations leaving little room for disappointment.“We remain constructive on the AI growth story, but believe investors should manage concentration risk by broadening their exposure to defensive tech stocks,” said Ulrike Hoffmann-Burchardi at UBS Chief Investment Office.Elsewhere, oil fell on signs shipping across the Strait of Hormuz has picked up despite hostilities in the Middle East. Short-dated UK government bonds climbed after the Bank of England left rates unchanged and pointed to easing domestic inflationary pressures.Corporate Highlights:Meta Platforms Inc. said it has already committed almost $700 billion in future spending, through long- and short-term agreements, related to AI data centers, cloud computing and more. Alphabet Inc.’s Google DeepMind unveiled an AI model for robots that allows humanoid machines to coordinate movements across their entire bodies. Oracle Corp. said it would expand a partnership with Google Cloud to bring Gemini AI tools to its business customers. Qualcomm Inc. Chief Executive Officer Cristiano Amon said demand for smartphones remains strong, but the growing costs of making the devices are keeping the market down. China’s DeepSeek is planning a massive AI data center in Inner Mongolia, according to people familiar with the matter. What Bloomberg Strategists say…“The rebound in tech and momentum stocks looks more like a positioning squeeze than the start of a durable risk-on move.”—Michael Ball, Macro Strategist, Markets Live. For the full analysis, click here.Some of the main moves in markets:StocksThe S&P 500 rose 1.7% as of 4 p.m. New York time The Nasdaq 100 rose 3.4% The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 1.2% The MSCI World Index rose 1.7% CurrenciesThe Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.9% The euro rose 0.6% to $1.1532 The British pound rose 0.8% to $1.3472 The Japanese yen rose 2.5% to 159.38 per dollar CryptocurrenciesBitcoin rose 2.2% to $64,835.26 Ether rose 2.2% to $1,923.67 BondsThe yield on 10-year Treasuries declined one basis point to 4.67% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.15% Britain’s 10-year yield declined five basis points to 4.98% The yield on 2-year Treasuries declined four basis points to 4.24% The yield on 30-year Treasuries advanced one basis point to 5.21% CommoditiesWest Texas Intermediate crude fell 0.9% to $83.67 a barrel Spot gold rose 1.2% to $4,116.73 an ounce –With assistance from Chris Nagi and Lu Wang.©2026 Bloomberg L.P.
