Andy Chen

The top leaders of China and the U.S. met in the United States, alongside reports that U.S.-Iran negotiations were seeking to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. U.S. stocks recovered part of their losses, with technology stocks leading the gains. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.31% to 51,349.98; the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.01% to 26,939.37; and the S&P 500 Index dipped 0.02% to 7,704.13.

On September 24, Eastern Time, Meta Platforms (META) reached an intraday price of $777.89, hitting a nearly one-year high. Following the Meta Connect event, JPMorgan raised its price target on the company from $820 to $920 while maintaining an Overweight rating. The core reason is that the monetization path for Muse is becoming increasingly clear, leaving the bank more optimistic about Meta's growth potential beyond advertising.

U.S. stock indexes surged in the short term while crude oil prices fell, reflecting market expectations of a de-escalation in tensions. According to Reuters, negotiators from the U.S. and Iran are in New York exploring a phased path to end the war, with key proposals including Iran reopening the Strait of Hormuz and the U.S. lifting its economic blockade against Iran. New diplomatic developments in the conflict, which has lasted nearly seven months, have provided the market with expectations of easing tensions.

On September 24, Oracle (ORCL) fell as much as 5% in pre-market trading and dropped over 7% after the market opened. Sparking market concerns was a force majeure notice issued by the company regarding Project Jupiter, a large-scale data center in New Mexico. Investors' focus is shifting from massive AI orders to delivery timelines and capital recovery. According to Bloomberg, Oracle has sent a formal notice to developer Stack Infrastructure, seeking to delay payments if the project fails to become operational as planned in 2028. This move does not imply exiting its position as the primary tenant, nor does it mean a payment waiver has been granted. Oracle maintained that the project is proceeding according to schedule, but did not specifically address the notice itself.

On September 24, Eastern Time, shares of Micron (MU) pulled back for two consecutive days after hitting a recent high of $1,100. Reportedly, the U.S. International Trade Commission (USITC) voted to launch an investigation into dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) products involving Micron Technology, as well as several server manufacturers that use such chips in their products.

U.S. stocks fell as the 10-year U.S. Treasury yield reached its highest level since July 2007, while a rebound in crude oil prices also weighed on equities. Tech and consumer shares led the declines, while software stocks bucked the trend and gained. By the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.68% to 51,511.59; the Nasdaq Composite Index dropped 1.13% to 26,936.04; and the S&P 500 Index declined 0.75% to 7,706.03.

On September 23, Eastern Time, McDonald's (MCD) shares came under renewed downward pressure, falling over 6% intraday to record their largest single-day decline since March 2020 and approaching a four-year low. The stock has fallen in 9 of the past 11 trading sessions. Investors are assessing the impact of a major franchisee support plan on the company's short-term cash flow, as well as whether the initiative can sustain long-term growth.

On September 23, Eastern Time, the U.S. Treasury market remained under pressure as the 10-year Treasury yield rose to 5.093%, hitting its highest level since July 17, 2007. Federal Reserve officials delivered a series of hawkish signals, while the latest services and manufacturing data further heightened market concerns over additional interest rate hikes.

Michael Burry recently posted on Substack stating that he has increased his short positions on Micron Technology (MU), Nebius (NBIS), the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX), and Palantir (PLTR), describing the bet as "fairly large." His core rationale for being bearish on Micron is that the current memory shortage is primarily caused by capacity reallocation; once the supply of standard DRAM recovers, prices could come under pressure.

U.S. President Trump stated that U.S. officials held a meeting with an Iranian delegation, with falling oil prices driving stocks higher and sending the Nasdaq Composite Index to a record high. Memory stocks led the gains, while bank stocks declined. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.36% to 51,863.69; the Nasdaq Composite Index rose 0.45% to 27,244.28; and the S&P 500 Index finished nearly flat at 7,764.64.

OpenAI introduced GPT-6 Sol and GPT-6 Luna with a straightforward goal: to make the GPT-6 series accessible to more users. While GPT-6 Astra remains the most capable model, Sol and Luna handle daily office tasks, programming, and computer operations at a lower cost. OpenAI stated that the new models focus on optimizing speed and cost, cutting API prices to half of GPT-5.6's promotional rates.

On September 22, Eastern Time, Anthropic announced the launch of Claude Opus 5.5, focusing on three core areas: enhanced capabilities for complex tasks, lower operating costs, and greater safety in usage. Compared with Opus 5, the cost for typical tasks has been reduced by 40%, while output speed has increased by over 30%; prices for input, output, and cache reads have also been lowered accordingly.

On September 22, Eastern Time, the Nasdaq Composite Index hit a new record high, peaking at 27,272 points; the Nasdaq 100 Index crossed 30,000 points on September 21, serving as an important symbol of market sentiment; meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average was falling. The direct catalyst behind the Nasdaq's gain came from renewed capital inflows into tech stocks, coupled with pulling-back oil prices, a temporary easing of interest rate pressures, and the continued expansion of demand for AI infrastructure. At the sector level, memory chip stocks led the gains today, with SanDisk (SNDK) surging over 8% intraday to break through the $1,900 mark, while Micron (MU) and SK Hynix ADR (SKHY) rose more than 3%.

As macroeconomic factors diminished following the Federal Reserve's rate hike, the AI narrative in US equities continued, further strengthening rally momentum. Meanwhile, pullbacks in US Treasury yields and crude oil prices helped boost market trading sentiment, sending US stocks surging. Tech stocks led the broader market, with chip stocks among the top gainers. At the close, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.71% to 52,048.83; the Nasdaq Composite Index gained 2.26% to 27,122.09; and the S&P 500 Index climbed 1.49% to 7,764.70.

Less than two weeks after its launch, Meta's (META) personal AI agent app, Muse, has topped the US app store charts. As of Monday, the app ranked first on Apple's iOS free smartphone app chart, surpassing OpenAI's ChatGPT, Polymarket, and Kashi, while leading rival products such as Anthropic's Claude and SpaceXAI's Grok, as well as Meta's own Meta AI.

SpaceXAI (the AI division under SPXC, formerly xAI) launched Grok 4.7 on September 21, positioning it as its most capable model generation for coding and knowledge work to date. Pricing remains unchanged from Grok 4.6 at $2 per million input tokens and $6 per million output tokens. On CursorBench 4.0, which specifically evaluates long-duration coding tasks, Grok 4.7 achieved 46.3%, 5.9 percentage points higher than Grok 4.6. The company stated that on this benchmark, the model leads the frontier of cost-performance within its price tier.

Meta Platforms (META) will hold its annual product event, Meta Connect 2026, from September 23 to 24 local time. As the company expands the focus of Connect from VR to AI, AR, smart glasses, and the metaverse, the market expects this year's conference to highlight hardware iterations and advancements in its AI strategy.

On September 21, according to US tech media outlet The Information, OpenAI and Anthropic are close to reaching a legally binding agreement under which the two leading AI companies will "stress-test" each other's commercial models to proactively identify safety vulnerabilities.

On September 21, Eastern Time, AMD (AMD) shares surged 9%, topping $600 for the first time to reach an all-time high, with its total market capitalization climbing to nearly $1 trillion. Year-to-date, AMD's stock price has gained over 180%. Behind this rally is the market's repricing of the CPU, an "old chip." Over the past two years, the spotlight on AI computing power has been focused almost entirely on GPUs; however, as AI evolves from "answering questions" to "autonomously executing tasks," the importance of CPUs is quietly making a comeback.

Minneapolis Fed President Neel Kashkari stated that US inflation remains elevated, with price pressures no longer confined to oil prices driven up by the war in Iran, but spreading to multiple sectors of the economy.