Andy Chen

In September 2026, Nvidia retained its top spot globally with a market capitalization of $5.56 trillion, followed closely by Apple, Alphabet (Class A), and Microsoft. Meta Platforms saw the largest shift in the September global market cap rankings: the company surged 29%, pushing its market cap to $1.88 trillion and overtaking Broadcom to rank eighth. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 9.1% in September, accelerating noticeably from a 1.98% gain in August. However, internal divergence within the index persisted, with TSMC, SK Hynix, and Micron Technology strengthening while Broadcom fell 4.3%.

On September 30 Eastern Time, after Micron Technology (MU) released its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 financial results (for the period ended September 3) after U.S. market close, its stock price reversed earlier losses to rise 2%. Micron's Q4 revenue reached $54.229 billion, up approximately 30.81% quarter-over-quarter from $41.456 billion in the previous quarter and up approximately 379.27% year-over-year from $11.315 billion in the same period last year. This surpassed market expectations of $51.5 billion, beating estimates by about 5.30%.

The U.S. annualized PCE growth rate slowed to 3.4% in August, pushing U.S. Treasury yields lower. U.S. stocks ended mixed, with mega-cap tech stocks leading the gains. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.86% to 50,906.05, the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 0.24% to 26,861.06, and the S&P 500 Index slipped 0.25% to 7,651.54.

According to a person familiar with the matter, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is reviewing the product safety of artificial intelligence companies, including OpenAI and Anthropic, to investigate whether they comply with consumer protection laws. The move comes after a series of high-profile cybersecurity incidents brought heightened attention to the safety risks of AI models.

Micron Technology (MU) will report its fourth-quarter fiscal 2026 financial results after the U.S. market close on September 30. The options market currently projects a potential price move of up to 7.65% following the release. Based on the current stock price of approximately $1,070, if the results beat market expectations, the stock could rise to $1,152, recovering all losses since July and returning above the key technical level of the 0.786 Fibonacci retracement ($1,144).

U.S. President Donald Trump announced that nearly 1 million Americans who purchased insurance through the federal health insurance exchange will receive a $500 rebate each. The White House stated that rebate checks will be mailed starting October 1, 2026, covering 30 states that use the federal plat

US stocks edged lower as US Treasury yields climbed to multi-year highs again. Some tech stocks rebounded, with optical communications shares leading the gains and bank stocks leading the declines. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.26% to 51,349.92; the Nasdaq Composite Index slipped 0.09% to 26,797.54; and the S&P 500 Index dropped 0.17% to 7,670.84.

According to people familiar with the matter, after postponing its initial public offering (IPO) plans, OpenAI aims to raise at least $30 billion in a new funding round, targeting a valuation of approximately $1.4 trillion (excluding the funds raised in this round).

OpenAI announced the launch of GPT-6.1 Sol, an upgraded version of GPT-6 Sol that focuses on enhancing agentic coding, computer use, and professional work capabilities. OpenAI stated that GPT-6.1 Sol approaches the performance of GPT-6 Astra across multiple benchmarks, while its standard input and output token prices are approximately one-fifth those of Astra. Additionally, the AI agent Dot was also unveiled.

Axios reported on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter, that OpenAI's annualized revenue is approaching $70 billion based on its current operational performance. By comparison, when Bloomberg News reported in August, OpenAI's annualized revenue run rate stood at "over $40 billion."

On September 29, Eastern Time, Oracle (ORCL) shares rose 5%, reclaiming the $140 mark. Oracle and intelligent data infrastructure provider NetApp announced plans to launch OCI NetApp Storage Service, natively integrating NetApp ONTAP's data management capabilities into Oracle Cloud Infrastructure (OCI). This fully managed service is expected to be generally available within the next 12 months.

On September 29 ET, Bloom Energy (BE) surged over 13% in early trading, erasing all of the previous day's losses and hitting a new recent high. Morgan Stanley maintained its "Overweight" rating and $310 price target on the stock, noting that contracted projects, multi-gigawatt partnerships, and strong 2026 guidance are expected to cushion the impact of standalone project delays on near-term earnings.

U.S. stocks fell across the board on Monday, weighed down by news of OpenAI slowing model training and a sharp rise in U.S. Treasury yields. AI hardware stocks faced a sell-off, with memory, chip, and optical communication stocks leading the declines.

Anthropic announced the launch of its new model, Claude Sonnet 5.5. As the second product in the Claude 5.5 series, it delivers an output speed more than 30% faster than the previous-generation Sonnet 5, requires fewer tokens to complete the same task, and reduces single-task costs by up to 30%.

On September 28, Eastern Time, Al Jazeera reported that the United States is willing to consider easing sanctions on Iran and unfreezing frozen assets if "concrete progress" is made on the Iranian nuclear issue. U.S. officials stated that the U.S. and Iran are engaged in active discussions through intermediaries, but no agreement will be reached if the nuclear issue cannot be resolved.

On September 28 Eastern Time, the three major US stock indexes fell across the board, with the Nasdaq Composite Index dropping over 1% and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index falling more than 3%. At the sector level, AI hardware stocks plummeted, with chip, memory, and optical communications stocks all suffering sell-offs. Among them, SK Hynix (SKHY) fell 6.20%, SanDisk (SNDK) dropped 6.05%, and Micron Technology (MU) slid 4.22%. Qualcomm (QCOM) fell 6.71%, Intel (INTC) dropped 6.18%, AMD (AMD) slid 5.37%, Marvell Technology (MRVL) declined 4.81%, and Corning (GLW) fell 4.50%.

On September 28, Eastern Time, Tesla (TSLA) shares fell 3%, with the company expected to release its third-quarter 2026 delivery figures on October 2. Investment banks JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs both lowered their delivery forecasts, primarily due to weaker-than-expected performance in the U.S. and Chinese markets. Additionally, the Trump administration's plan to relax fuel efficiency standards has introduced policy variables to its automotive business.

On September 22, Eastern Time, the Nasdaq Composite Index reached a new high, while bank stocks generally came under pressure. Wells Fargo (WFC) fell 3.92%, UBS (UBS) dropped 3.66%, JPMorgan Chase (JPM) declined 3.42%, Bank of America (BAC) fell 3.04%, and Citigroup (C) lost 1.91%.

Apple (AAPL) stock hit a record high on September 22, Eastern Time, just 10 days after Apple's fall launch event. However, how far this rally can go depends not on the product event, but on the actual demand for the iPhone 18 Pro series. JPMorgan's latest research report provided the first positive signal: the global average delivery wait time for the iPhone 18 Pro extended from 7 days in the first week to 23 days in the second week, with order momentum surpassing that of the iPhone 17 series over the same period last year.

On September 16, Broadcom (AVGO) hit a recent intraday low of $335.80, pulling back 32% from its all-time high of $494.20 and almost entirely erasing its year-to-date gains. Yet just a few months ago, Broadcom was hailed by the market as the most certain winner in AI computing power; now, it has become a poster child for unfulfilled expectations. The root of this shift traces back to its Q2 FY2026 financial report released on June 3. While AI semiconductor revenue reached $10.8 billion—up 143% year-over-year—and Q3 guidance projected over 200% year-over-year growth, management merely reiterated its target of "exceeding $100 billion in AI chip revenue by FY2027" as unchanged, declining to raise it. Market expectations, already priced at a P/E ratio of around 90x, lost the fuel to expand further, sending the stock price into a continuous decline. As the share price dropped, its valuation also underwent a reset. Could this now mark a turning point for the stock?