AI Deals Push U.S. Stocks to Record Highs

U.S. stocks have continued to set records, with the S&P 500 and Nasdaq hitting all-time highs and the market on track for its seventh winning week in nine. The rally has been driven by enthusiasm for artificial intelligence and large interlocking deals—AMD jumped 23.7% after announcing a deal with OpenAI that could give OpenAI up to 160 million AMD shares (roughly a 10% stake), and Nvidia has pledged up to $100 billion to OpenAI—lifting valuations across the sector. That concentration of capital among chipmakers, cloud providers and infrastructure firms, including links to Oracle and CoreWeave, has boosted indexes but prompted warnings that the flow of money could create a mirage of growth and risk a sharp correction if AI productivity gains prove limited or delayed. Outside tech, markets were shaped by corporate moves including Fifth Third’s all-stock bid for Comerica and a CEO replacement at Verizon, while the U.S. government shutdown has delayed key jobs data. Treasury yields edged up on mixed services reports, volatility remained muted (VIX around 16.4), and investors continued to price in eventual Fed easing.