Wall Street Claws Back From Its Worst Week Since June as the AI Trade Reboots
The Nasdaq jumped about 1% and bitcoin reclaimed $82,000 Monday, a day after chipmakers suffered their longest losing streak since 2008 and credit worries rattled the AI trade.
Stocks rebounded Monday morning as investors stepped back into beaten-down AI and chip names, clawing back some of the ground lost in a rough prior week that handed the Nasdaq its worst stretch since late June. The tech-heavy index was up roughly 1% in midmorning trading, with the S&P 500 gaining about 0.5%.
The prior week had been ugly: the S&P 500 fell nearly 2%, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index posted its longest losing streak since 2008 as doubts crept in over whether the enormous sums being poured into AI infrastructure would pay off — another newsroom's closer look at how CoreWeave's debt troubles helped drag chipmakers into that slump traces exactly how the financing fears took hold. Monday's bounce was led by exactly those AI-adjacent names — Applied Digital surged 8%, while TeraWulf and IREN each jumped 6%, reversing a financing-driven selloff from the week before.
Not everyone is convinced the scare is over
The rally came with caveats. CNBC flagged that credit stress at Oracle is threatening to unwind confidence in the broader AI bull market, as investors scrutinize how heavily AI infrastructure buildouts are being financed with debt. Goldman Sachs, for its part, told clients it still expects a year-end rally for the S&P 500 — though the bank cautioned that revenue from AI spending may not catch up to the billions of dollars companies are pouring into it anytime soon.
CREDIT STRESS IS THREATENING TO UNWIND THE AI BULL MARKET
Bitcoin added to the risk-on mood, climbing 1.6% to reclaim the $82,000 level, according to a Reuters market report, while shares of Strategy — the publicly traded company that holds the largest corporate bitcoin stockpile — also rose in early trading. Elsewhere, 30-year mortgage rates held near 7.4% and gold ticked up about 0.1% to roughly $4,168 an ounce, suggesting investors haven't fully abandoned safer bets even as they dip back into risk.
Monday's numbers are intraday and premarket readings rather than a final close, and traders cautioned the week's real test will come from a fresh batch of earnings — including several AI-infrastructure-linked names — due later this week.