The Midday Tape
Risk is on across the board at midday, but under the hood it is a chip story with a twist: the rally is real, broad, and lopsided all at once.
Semis lead, but not evenly.
The S&P proxy (SPY) is up 2.2% and the Nasdaq-100 tracker (QQQ) is up 3.4%, with small caps (IWM) also firmly higher at 2.6%, a sign this is not a narrow mega-cap-only move. Applied Materials (AMAT) is the standout, up 10.5%, with Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) up 11.8% and Broadcom (AVGO) up 9.1%. The spark: a "chip stocks are 38% off their peak, time to buy the dip" call circulating on the desk, pulling bargain hunters back into names that have been beaten down for months. Apple (AAPL) is riding the same wave, up 2.5%.
Nvidia is the odd one out.
While its chip peers rip higher, Nvidia (NVDA) is down 3.8%, the lone red mega-cap in the group. The headline driving the divergence: Google is reportedly turning up the heat on Nvidia with new AI compute offerings, a competitive threat that traders are reading as a share-of-wallet risk for Nvidia even as it lifts sentiment for alternative AI infrastructure plays like AMD and Broadcom. That split, chips up broadly but Nvidia specifically sold, is the defining cross-current of the session.
Crypto-adjacent names catch a bid.
Galaxy Digital (GLXY) is up 7.7% alongside fresh headlines on a tokenized securities venue featuring its shares and a Morgan Stanley price-target update, while desk chatter frames bitcoin and monero as the "best coins for a market in despair." Quantum and crypto-mining proxies are more mixed: D-Wave Quantum, Rigetti, Cipher Mining and Applied Digital all saw price-target trims this morning even as the broader speculative tape runs hot.
Single-stock movers.
Surgery Partners (SGRY) is in focus after receiving an updated acquisition offer from HealthSpan. SiriusXM (SIRI) is on the move following the appointment of Anjali Sud as CEO. Kamada (KMDA) posted record results and raised 2026 guidance. Peloton (PTON) launched a $600 million notes offering tied to a refinancing push. On the downside, Veracyte (VCYT) saw its price target slashed to $35 from $65, and Construction Partners (ROAD) was cut to $100 from $135, both notable negative analyst resets.
Still ahead this afternoon.
The bulk of today's earnings load lands after the close, a heavy slate that includes Constellation Energy, The Trade Desk, Take-Two Interactive, AST SpaceMobile, Lucid, MARA Holdings and Archer Aviation among dozens of others. With no major macro print on the tape today, the next real catalyst for direction is that after-hours earnings wave.
Bottom line: the tape is risk-on and broadening out, but the Nvidia-versus-the-rest-of-semis split shows this is a stock-picker's AI trade, not a uniform one, with the afternoon earnings deluge poised to decide whether the dip-buying holds into the close.