S&P 500: +1.23%
NASDAQ 100: +1.69%
My portfolio: +0.53%

Market pulse

U.S. equities finished the period higher, with technology regaining market leadership despite considerable volatility beneath the index surface. Unlike the previous period, the technology-heavy NASDAQ 100 outperformed the broader market.

The most important market driver was the continuing debate over AI investment and semiconductor valuations. The period began with a strong rebound in AI-related shares, helped by Broadcom’s extended supply relationship with Apple. That recovery was interrupted on 7 July, when Samsung’s exceptionally strong results failed to meet the market’s elevated expectations. This triggered another sharp semiconductor selloff as investors questioned whether the enormous amount of capital being invested in AI infrastructure would generate sufficient returns.

The AI trade subsequently recovered. Nvidia benefited from reports that China could permit selected domestic AI companies to purchase limited quantities of its H200 processors. Broadcom continued to receive support from its Apple relationship, while Micron rebounded after presenting plans for more than $250 billion of U.S. investment through 2035. SK Hynix’s successful U.S. listing and Meta’s strong rally further reinforced demand for selected AI-related companies toward the end of the period.

Geopolitical and monetary-policy concerns nevertheless constrained the rally. Renewed tension between the United States and Iran pushed oil prices and Treasury yields higher, increasing the risk that energy costs could keep inflation elevated. The FOMC minutes also showed that Federal Reserve officials remained concerned about inflation, preventing investors from fully dismissing the possibility of another rate increase.

The market’s internal message was therefore mixed but constructive. Investors were still prepared to buy AI exposure, but only where there was visible evidence of demand, monetization or strategic value. Companies perceived as highly valued, excessively crowded or dependent on future expectations were vulnerable to severe corrections.

Crowd vs. price

Investor attention remained concentrated in AI, but became increasingly selective. The market moved sharply between valuation anxiety and renewed confidence in structural AI demand.

The market rewarded companies with concrete evidence of AI demand, differentiated technology, recurring revenue or identifiable monetization opportunities. It punished companies whose valuations appeared to require near-perfect execution or whose recent rallies had already incorporated much of the expected future growth. This explains how several prominent AI-related companies could move in opposite directions during the same period.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Meta Platforms (META)

+14.81%

Meta was the strongest-performing holding over the period. The rally was supported by renewed confidence in the company’s ability to convert its enormous AI investment into both product improvements and additional revenue opportunities. Investors responded positively to reports that Meta could rent out surplus computing capacity, reducing concerns that its infrastructure spending would remain entirely dependent on advertising returns.

The company also benefited from enthusiasm around its expanding AI capacity, custom-chip development and generative-AI products. These developments encouraged investors to view Meta’s capital expenditure as a potentially monetizable technological asset rather than simply a cost burden. The clean read is that Meta rose because the market became more confident that its AI investment could strengthen its core platforms while also creating new revenue streams.

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Below you will find my full portfolio as of today 6 July 2026:

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Performance

S&P 500: +1.76%
NASDAQ 100: +0.72%
My portfolio: +0.98%

Market pulse

U.S. equities finished higher in a holiday-shortened trading window, but the strength was uneven. The S&P 500 rose 1.76%, materially outperforming the NASDAQ 100’s 0.72% gain. The market opened the period with a relief rally after the previous week’s AI and technology selloff, helped by quarter-end positioning and a rebound in mega-cap technology. But the rally lost momentum on 1–2 July as the semiconductor and AI-hardware trade sold off again. The result was a positive week for the broader market, but a much more mixed one underneath the index surface. Index closes moved from 7,354.02 to 7,483.24 for the S&P 500 and from 29,118.24 to 29,329.21 for the NASDAQ 100.

The most important macro catalyst was the softer June employment report. Nonfarm payrolls rose by only 57,000, unemployment held at 4.2%, and prior months were revised lower. That reduced immediate Fed-hike fears and helped broader risk appetite, especially in blue-chip, defensive, and rate-sensitive parts of the market. But the benefit did not flow evenly into the most crowded AI hardware names. On 2 July, Reuters reported that the semiconductor index fell 5.4% for a second straight day, while the Nasdaq declined even as the Dow reached a record.

The market’s internal message was clear: investors were still willing to buy AI exposure, but they became more selective about where. Software, cybersecurity, enterprise AI, and selected blue-chip names performed well. Crowded semiconductor, memory, server, and AI-infrastructure names were punished. The S&P 500 held up better because breadth improved outside chips, while the NASDAQ 100 lagged because of its heavier exposure to semiconductors and mega-cap technology.

Crowd vs. price

Investor attention remained concentrated in AI, but price action became more discriminating. The market rewarded companies with software-like margins, visible recurring revenue, and immediate AI-adjacent demand.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

CrowdStrike (CRWD)

+10.67%

CrowdStrike was one of the strongest U.S.-listed holdings, rising more than 10% over the period. The move was driven by a combination of bullish analyst commentary, strong platform-security demand, and positioning around its 4-for-1 stock split, which began trading on a split-adjusted basis on 2 July. Wells Fargo’s checks pointed to continued enterprise spending on platform-based cybersecurity, while CrowdStrike’s recent results showed strong ARR growth, record net new ARR, and continued momentum in AI-security products. The clean read is that CrowdStrike worked because investors treated it as a high-quality AI-security infrastructure company rather than a generic software name.

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Performance

S&P 500: −1.95%
NASDAQ 100: −4.24%
My portfolio: −4.26%

Market pulse

U.S. equities finished lower in a holiday-shortened trading window, with the NASDAQ-100 falling 4.24% and materially underperforming the S&P 500’s 1.95% decline. The main driver was a sharp unwind in the crowded AI and semiconductor trade. Investors moved from rewarding AI exposure to questioning the cost, financing, and timing of AI infrastructure returns. The pressure was most visible on 23 June, when the semiconductor index fell sharply as investors scrutinized debt-funded AI spending and priced in a more hawkish Federal Reserve path.

The selloff was not evenly spread across the market. High-valuation AI infrastructure names, semiconductors, and OpenAI-adjacent stocks were hit hardest, while healthcare, software, and some defensive or enterprise-technology names held up better. On 26 June, the S&P 500 ended only slightly lower, but AI-related chip stocks sold off again, and Reuters reported that the chip index fell 5.3% that day and 7.9% for the week. Healthcare was one of the few clear havens, helped by strong moves in names such as Eli Lilly and Moderna.

The result was a sharp reversal from the prior week’s risk-on tape. Last week, investors rewarded AI scarcity and memory pricing power; this week, they punished capital intensity, debt financing, and long-duration AI payoffs. The NASDAQ-100 underperformed because it has heavier exposure to mega-cap technology, semiconductors, and AI infrastructure. The S&P 500 held up better because defensive sectors and healthcare cushioned the broader index.

Crowd vs. price

Investor attention remained concentrated in AI, but price action became far less forgiving. The market stopped treating all AI exposure as positive and started separating companies with immediate earnings power from companies whose AI upside depends on massive upfront spending, debt financing, and future monetization.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Eli Lilly (LLY)

+9.97%

Eli Lilly was one of the strongest holdings in the portfolio, rising almost 10% as investors rotated into healthcare and rewarded company-specific catalysts. The biggest driver was renewed confidence in Lilly’s obesity-drug franchise after the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge program improved the access story for drugs such as Zepbound and Foundayo. The rally was reinforced by positive European regulatory news: Lilly announced that the EMA’s CHMP recommended Jaypirca for adults with chronic lymphocytic leukemia across all lines of therapy. The broader market backdrop also helped, because healthcare became a haven as investors moved out of crowded technology and semiconductor names. The clean read is that Lilly went up because investors saw both defensive growth and renewed upside in its GLP-1 pipeline.

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Performance

S&P 500: +0.93%
NASDAQ 100: +2.60%
My portfolio: +5.17

Market pulse

Between the June 12 and June 18 closes, U.S. equities finished higher in a holiday-shortened trading window, with the NASDAQ-100 gaining 2.60% and materially outperforming the S&P 500’s 0.93% gain. The dominant macro driver was relief around the U.S.–Iran interim peace agreement and the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz, which pushed oil lower, reduced inflation fears, and supported risk assets. Reuters described the June 15 move as a classic relief rally, with major indexes and bonds rising while oil fell to a three-month low.

The week was not purely risk-on, though. The market sold off sharply on June 17 after the Federal Reserve signaled that its next move could be a rate hike, putting pressure on long-duration growth and software names. The rebound on June 18 was concentrated in semiconductors, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index up 6.4%, helped by Intel’s Apple-related rally and renewed enthusiasm for AI infrastructure. The result was a selective tape: memory, AI compute, semiconductors, and scarce growth assets outperformed, while overextended software, IT-services, and legacy-networking names were punished.

Crowd vs. price

Investor attention remained concentrated in AI, but the market became more discriminating. The winners were companies where investors saw scarcity, pricing power, or forced demand.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Micron Technology — MU

+15.52%

Micron rose 15.52%, from $981.61 to $1,133.99, driven by a sharp re-rating of the AI memory cycle. The biggest immediate catalyst was a wave of analyst target increases ahead of earnings, with investors increasingly treating Micron as a scarce AI-infrastructure supplier rather than a normal cyclical memory company. The rally was reinforced by Apple’s warning that rising memory and storage costs were becoming hard to absorb, which validated the view that memory suppliers still had pricing power. Underneath the move, Micron’s recent numbers already supported the thesis: record revenue, very high gross margins, sharply higher DRAM and NAND pricing, and guidance for another record quarter. The clean read is that investors bought Micron because AI-driven demand had turned memory into a high-margin bottleneck, and the June headlines suggested the upcycle was still accelerating.

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Below you will find my full portfolio as of today 16 June 2026:

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Performance

S&P 500: +0.65%
NASDAQ 100: +2.34%
My portfolio: –0,74%

Market pulse

Between the June 5 and June 12 closes, U.S. equities finished higher despite a sharp midweek drawdown. The NASDAQ-100 gained 2.34%, materially outperforming the S&P 500’s 0.65% gain, because the strongest rebounds were concentrated in AI, semiconductors, memory, and server-CPU names. The dominant macro driver was the interaction between U.S.–Iran war risk, oil prices, inflation, and Fed expectations. Escalation headlines and hotter inflation data pressured stocks around June 10, while the market rebounded sharply after Trump called off planned strikes, oil prices fell, and investors began pricing lower geopolitical and inflation risk. Underneath the index move, the tape remained highly selective: Intel, Micron, and Arm were rewarded as AI-infrastructure beneficiaries, while Super Micro Computer, Adobe, and Oracle were punished where AI growth came with dilution, margin pressure, capex intensity, or weaker monetization. The move was not a rejection of AI infrastructure; it was a sharper sorting of winners and losers inside the AI trade.

Crowd vs. price

Investor attention remained concentrated in AI, but the market became more discriminating. The winners were companies where investors saw scarcity, validation, or improving strategic positioning.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Intel — INTC:

+25.61%

Intel was the strongest performer of the period, rising 25.61% from the June 5 close to the June 12 close. The main catalyst was a reported Google order for more than 3 million TPUs to be manufactured by Intel in 2028, which gave investors a concrete hyperscaler datapoint for Intel Foundry. That was followed by Bank of America’s rare double upgrade from Underperform to Buy and a price-target increase to $135, reinforcing the idea that Intel could benefit from both AI server CPU demand and the industry’s need for advanced manufacturing capacity outside TSMC. The rally was amplified by Intel’s depressed starting point after the previous semiconductor rout. The clean interpretation is that Intel was re-rated as a potential AI-infrastructure and foundry comeback story, though the rally still carries execution risk because much of the enthusiasm rests on future customer wins rather than near-term revenue.

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Performance

S&P 500: −2.59%
NASDAQ 100: −4.53%

Bitcoin: −17.83%

My portfolio: –5,4%

Market pulse

Between the May 29 and June 5 closes, U.S. equities reversed sharply from record-high momentum into a concentrated risk-off selloff. The NASDAQ-100 fell 4.53%, materially underperforming the S&P 500’s 2.59% decline, because the damage was concentrated in AI, technology, and semiconductor stocks. The week began with continued enthusiasm around AI infrastructure, but that optimism cracked after Broadcom’s results failed to meet the market’s elevated AI-chip expectations. The decisive macro blow came on June 5, when the May jobs report showed 172,000 payrolls added and unemployment unchanged at 4.3%, pushing investors to price in a more hawkish Federal Reserve path and reducing hopes for rate cuts. Broadcom’s disappointing AI guidance, rising rate fears, Middle East/oil-related inflation concerns, and stretched positioning after a nine-week rally combined to trigger a violent valuation reset across crowded tech and chip names. The move was not a rejection of the AI infrastructure theme, but a sharp repricing of expectations: investors demanded more proof, better visibility, and lower tolerance for anything short of perfection.

Crowd vs. price

Investor attention remained concentrated in AI infrastructure, but the market became far more selective. Marvell was the clear outlier: it rose because investors saw it as a validated AI-infrastructure winner after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang publicly described it as a potential “next trillion-dollar company,” reinforcing confidence in Marvell’s custom-chip, networking, and data-center role. By contrast, Qualcomm, Broadcom, and Intel were hit by different versions of the same problem: expectations had become too high, valuations were stretched, and investors started punishing companies where the AI story looked competitive, delayed, or not strong enough to justify the prior rally. Bitcoin was hit even harder because crypto faced both macro pressure and its own internal selling cycle: ETF outflows, forced liquidations, weaker speculative appetite, and capital rotating toward AI and large tech-related opportunities.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Marvell Technology (MRVL): +28.52%

Marvell was the standout performer of the period, rising 28.52% from the May 29 close to the June 5 close. The main catalyst was Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s Computex endorsement, where he described Marvell as a potential “next trillion-dollar company.” That comment mattered because it validated Marvell’s position inside the AI infrastructure ecosystem, especially in custom chips, networking, optics, and data-center interconnect. The rally was also supported by Marvell’s own growth outlook: the company has forecast that its custom-chip business could exceed $10 billion in revenue by fiscal 2029, while its latest quarterly results showed record revenue and strong AI-related data-center demand. The stock did fall sharply on June 5 during the broader semiconductor selloff, but the early-week AI rerating was large enough to leave Marvell strongly positive for the full period.

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Below you will find my full portfolio as of today 2 June 2026:

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Performance

NASDAQ 100: +2.89%

S&P 500: +1.43%

My portfolio: -0,29%

Market pulse

Between the May 22 and May 29 closes, U.S. equities rose strongly, with the NASDAQ-100 gaining 2.89% and the S&P 500 gaining 1.43%. The market’s main engine was AI infrastructure: semiconductors, memory chips, cloud infrastructure, servers, and enterprise software led the rally, while defensive and China-exposed names lagged. Micron’s surge, Dell’s AI-server strength, Oracle’s cloud re-rating, and broader semiconductor momentum helped push the NASDAQ-100 ahead of the S&P 500. Geopolitics also helped risk appetite: reports of progress toward a U.S.-Iran ceasefire extension and possible easing around the Strait of Hormuz lowered oil-price pressure and supported equities. The main offset was macro: April PCE inflation rose to 3.8% year over year, core PCE hit 3.3%, and consumer-pressure data showed households cutting back. Overall, the week was a clear “AI and earnings beat macro” rally: investors acknowledged inflation, rates, and consumer risks, but paid up for companies with direct exposure to the AI capex cycle.

Crowd vs. price

Investor interest remained concentrated in AI infrastructure and high-growth technology, but the market became more selective. The strongest price action came in names where investors could connect AI demand to near-term revenue, margins, or backlog, such as Micron and Oracle. SoFi Technologies also benefited from a separate momentum cycle around stablecoins and digital finance. By contrast, stocks where the AI story looked more expensive, less profitable, or more uncertain were punished: Alibaba fell because investors focused on margin compression and cash burn, while Intel sold off as valuation and competitive concerns resurfaced. Defensive consumer staples also lagged as capital rotated out of slow-growth safety and into AI beta.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Micron Technology (MU): +29.29%

Micron’s 29.29% rally between the May 22 and May 29 closes was driven primarily by a sharp valuation reset around AI memory. The immediate trigger was UBS raising its price target to $1,625 from $535, which pushed the stock sharply higher and briefly lifted Micron toward the $1 trillion market-cap club. The deeper story was that investors increasingly viewed Micron as a strategic bottleneck in the AI infrastructure cycle rather than as a normal cyclical memory-chip company. Demand for AI memory, supply constraints, pricing power, and long-term customer agreements all supported the bull case. Dell’s strong AI-server commentary later in the week added confirmation that downstream data-center demand remained strong. In short, Micron rose because the market started pricing it as a scarce AI-infrastructure supplier with improving margins, not merely as a commodity memory stock.

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Performance

NASDAQ 100: +1.22%

S&P 500: +0.88%

My portfolio: –2,23%

Market pulse

Between the May 15 and May 22 closes, U.S. equities finished higher despite a volatile macro backdrop: the NASDAQ-100 rose 1.22%, while the S&P 500 rose 0.88%. The main story was a tug-of-war between geopolitical stress, inflation pressure, and Treasury yields on one side, and AI-led earnings momentum on the other. Early in the period, the U.S.–Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz risk pushed oil prices and inflation expectations higher, lifting Treasury yields and pressuring richly valued growth stocks. Later in the week, equities recovered as investors reacted to signs of possible progress in U.S.–Iran talks and renewed strength in AI-linked technology. Nvidia’s results confirmed strong AI infrastructure demand, but the stock itself sold off in a “sell-the-news” move, while beneficiaries such as AMD, CrowdStrike, and Vistra rallied sharply. Overall, the week’s index gains masked a clear internal split: AI infrastructure, cybersecurity, and power-generation names outperformed, while crowded mega-cap technology and some platform stocks lagged.

Crowd vs. price

Relative investor interest continues to rise among names on my list.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Vistra (VST): +11.88%

Vistra rose 11.88% between the May 15 and May 22 closes, driven primarily by a sharp repricing of its exposure to AI-related electricity demand. The key catalyst was PJM’s decision to accelerate its backstop/data-center power procurement timeline to September 2026, which increased investor confidence that independent power producers with dispatchable and nuclear generation could monetize tightening capacity conditions sooner than expected. Vistra was especially well positioned because of its PJM nuclear fleet and existing long-term power agreements with Meta covering more than 2,600 MW of nuclear energy. The move was reinforced by strong recent Q1 results, reaffirmed EBITDA and free-cash-flow guidance, heavy hedging of 2026 generation volumes, and an ongoing buyback program. In short, the market treated Vistra less like a conventional utility and more like a scarce power-infrastructure beneficiary of the AI data-center buildout.

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Below you will find my full portfolio as of today 22 May 2026:

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Note: Resent due to a technical error with Substack


Performance

NASDAQ 100: −0.38%

S&P 500: +0.13%

My portfolio: +2,02%

Market pulse

Between the May 8 and May 15 closes, U.S. equities were broadly flat but volatile: the S&P 500 rose 0.13%, while the NASDAQ-100 fell 0.38%. The main story was a tug-of-war between continued optimism around AI, semiconductors, mega-cap technology, strong Q1 earnings, and equity inflows on one side, and a late-week macro shock on the other. That shock was driven by rising oil prices linked to the Iran/Hormuz crisis, hotter inflation data, and a sharp move higher in Treasury yields, which reduced appetite for richly valued growth stocks. U.S.–China summit headlines and resilient economic data added mixed signals: they supported confidence in corporate demand but also reinforced concerns that the Federal Reserve would have less room to cut rates. Overall, the week’s modest index moves masked a clear underlying rotation: AI and earnings momentum pushed markets to fresh highs midweek, only to be erased by inflation and rate fears by Friday.

Crowd vs. price

Despite jitters in the market over inflation and rate-hike fears, relative investor interest remains robust.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Nvidia (NVDA): +4.70%

NVIDIA rose 4.70% between May 8 and May 15, driven primarily by renewed optimism about access to China and continued demand for AI infrastructure. The strongest catalyst was news that the U.S. had cleared selected Chinese firms to buy Nvidia’s H200 chips, which reduced the export-control overhang and helped push the stock sharply higher on May 14. That move was reinforced by Jensen Huang’s presence around the Trump–Xi Beijing summit, strong expectations ahead of Nvidia’s upcoming earnings, record prior-quarter data-center results, and broader investor inflows into technology and semiconductor funds. Supply-chain signals also supported the rally, with Foxconn pointing to strong AI server demand and rising cloud-provider capex. NVIDIA’s gain was partly reduced by Friday’s broader selloff in growth stocks as inflation fears and Treasury yields rose, but the company-specific China and AI-demand catalysts were strong enough for the stock to end the period comfortably positive.

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Below you will find my full portfolio as of today 13 May 2026:

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Performance

NASDAQ 100: +5.50%
S&P 500: +2.33%
My portfolio: +7.56%

Market pulse

Between the May 1 and May 8 closes, U.S. equities advanced primarily on a technology-led earnings rally rather than a broad-based improvement in every part of the market. The NASDAQ-100 outperformed the S&P 500 sharply, reflecting heavy buying in AI, semiconductor, and mega-cap technology names, helped by strong chip demand, AMD’s upbeat data-center outlook, major moves in Nvidia, Micron, SanDisk, and Intel, and continued optimism around AI infrastructure spending. The broader S&P 500 was supported by an unusually strong Q1 earnings season, with a high share of companies beating profit expectations and earnings growth running at its strongest pace since 2021. A better-than-expected April jobs report on May 8 reinforced the soft-landing narrative and helped push the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record closes. The main counterweight was the U.S.–Iran conflict and Strait of Hormuz oil volatility, which pressured stocks early in the week but became less damaging as oil prices retreated from their highs. Overall, the week’s gains were real but concentrated: AI and earnings did the heavy lifting, while geopolitics, oil, and Fed-rate uncertainty remained the main risks under the surface.

Crowd vs. price
The broad market regime has shifted bullish this week. Relative investor interest is still showing robust recovery.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): +26.25%

AMD’s more than 26% rise between the May 1 and May 8 closes was driven primarily by a sharp post-earnings re-rating of its AI and data-center growth outlook. The decisive catalyst was AMD’s Q2 revenue guidance of roughly $11.2bn, ahead of Wall Street expectations, alongside stronger-than-expected Q1 results and a 57% year-over-year jump in Data Center revenue to $5.8bn. Investors responded not just to the earnings beat, but to the broader thesis that AMD is becoming a more important AI-infrastructure supplier across both GPUs and server CPUs, particularly as inference and agentic AI workloads expand demand beyond Nvidia-style training accelerators. Large hyperscaler relationships with Meta, OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, AWS and others gave the market more confidence that future demand is visible rather than speculative. Analyst price-target increases and a broader semiconductor rally then amplified the move, while falling oil prices and improved macro risk appetite helped the stock-specific catalyst translate into a very large weekly gain.

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Performance

NASDAQ 100: +1.49%
S&P 500: +0.91%

My portfolio: –1%

Market pulse

Between the New York close on 24 April and the close on 1 May 2026, U.S. equities advanced primarily because strong first-quarter earnings – especially from mega-cap technology and AI-linked companies – overwhelmed macro headwinds. The Nasdaq 100’s outperformance versus the S&P 500 reflected renewed confidence that AI and cloud spending is translating into revenue and profits, although the trade briefly stumbled on concerns about AI growth and semiconductor valuations. The main counterweights were the Iran-related oil shock, elevated gasoline and energy-driven inflation, and a Federal Reserve that held rates steady but sounded more divided and less eager to cut. Resilient GDP and jobless-claims data reassured investors that the economy was still expanding, while the hot PCE inflation print kept bond-yield and valuation pressure in the background. Net-net, it was an earnings-led, tech-led rally climbing a wall of oil, inflation and Fed-risk worries.

Crowd vs. price

Revival in relative investor interest continues.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Alphabet Inc / GOOG: +11.95%

Alphabet’s near-12% gain between the 24 April and 1 May 2026 closes was driven primarily by a decisive Q1 earnings beat that reframed the company’s AI story. The key catalyst was Google Cloud, where revenue surged 63% to $20bn and backlog nearly doubled to more than $460bn, giving investors evidence that Alphabet’s heavy AI spending is converting into contracted commercial demand. At the same time, 19% growth in Search & Other and all-time-high search queries eased fears that generative AI would undermine Google’s core advertising business. The company’s stronger operating margins, EPS beat, TPU monetization plans and raised dividend added to the positive reaction. In short, the market rerated Alphabet from an AI capex-risk story into one of the clearest AI revenue winners among the major U.S. technology platforms.

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Performance

NASDAQ 100: +2.37%
S&P 500: +0.55%
My portfolio: +4.00%

Market pulse

U.S. equities finished the week ending Apr. 24, 2026 higher but unevenly, with the NASDAQ-100 up 2.37% versus a more modest 0.55% gain for the S&P 500. The decisive positive driver was a renewed AI and semiconductor surge, led by Intel’s much stronger-than-expected outlook and a record 18-session advance in chip stocks, which pulled the tech-heavy Nasdaq complex sharply ahead of the broader market. At the same time, trading was repeatedly whipsawed by U.S.–Iran headlines, the Strait of Hormuz, and oil prices near $100, with ceasefire and peace-talk optimism producing rallies and renewed escalation fears triggering pullbacks. Strong Q1 earnings and resilient U.S. macro data supported risk appetite, but the rally was narrow: software stocks sold off on AI-disruption concerns, Treasury yields edged higher, and Fed succession uncertainty remained a secondary overhang until the DOJ dropped its probe into Jerome Powell late in the week.

Crowd vs. price

The recovery in relative investor interest mentioned the previous week continued.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD): +24.94%

AMD surged 24.94% over the week ending Apr. 24, driven mainly by a powerful AI-related reassessment of the server CPU market. The decisive catalyst was Intel’s stronger-than-expected quarter and upbeat outlook, which convinced investors that AI inference and agentic AI workloads are creating much greater demand for CPUs than previously assumed. That read-through directly benefited AMD’s EPYC server CPU franchise and was amplified by aggressive analyst target increases, including Stifel’s move to $320 and D.A. Davidson’s upgrade to Buy with a $375 target. The rally was further supported by AMD’s large AI infrastructure commitments with OpenAI and Meta, a broader semiconductor sector surge, and fading concerns over the return on hyperscaler AI capex. AMD-specific headlines, including its France AI collaboration and new Ryzen launch, added incremental support, but the core driver was the market’s shift from a GPU-only AI narrative to a broader AI compute cycle in which AMD is seen as a major beneficiary.

• Relative crowd interest: Trend: upwards. Momentum: bullish.

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Performance

NASDAQ 100: +6.20%
S&P 500: +4.54%
My portfolio: +5,92%

Market pulse

U.S. equities rallied strongly between the close of Friday, April 10 and the close of Friday, April 17, driven mainly by a sharp reduction in Middle East risk. Investor sentiment improved as hopes grew for progress in U.S.-Iran negotiations and Iran said the Strait of Hormuz was open to commercial shipping, triggering a steep fall in oil prices and easing fears that an energy shock would reignite inflation or force the Federal Reserve to stay tighter for longer. The rally was reinforced by a better-than-feared start to earnings season, especially in banks and large-cap technology, while renewed appetite for AI, software and semiconductor names helped the Nasdaq outperform the broader market. Falling oil also created a clear sector rotation: energy stocks lagged, while airlines, cruise operators, industrials and consumer-discretionary shares benefited from lower fuel-cost expectations. Finally, positioning amplified the move, as investors who had previously reduced U.S. equity exposure moved back into American stocks on the view that U.S. earnings and the technology sector remained more resilient than other major markets.

Crowd vs. price

Relative crowd interest surged in many of the names on my list as market recovered.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Microsoft (MSFT): +14%
Microsoft’s rally was driven less by a single earnings event and more by a sharp reset in investor sentiment toward its AI and cloud story. A positive KeyBanc survey eased concerns around Azure growth and Copilot adoption, showing stronger enterprise demand than investors had feared, while the broader market backdrop also turned supportive as easing Middle East tensions, falling oil prices and lower inflation fears revived appetite for mega-cap technology stocks. The move was amplified by Microsoft’s prior de-rating, after months of pressure over AI capital spending, OpenAI concentration risk and fears that new AI tools could disrupt its core software business. Additional news around AI compute capacity and recent Copilot product upgrades reinforced the view that Microsoft still has a credible route to converting heavy AI investment into durable cloud and software revenue.

• Relative crowd interest: Trend: upwards. Momentum: bullish.

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Optimism and risk appetite has returned to the market and the crowds are rushing back to high growth stocks. Below you will find my full portfolio as of today 17 April 2026:

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Performance (April 2 - April 10)

NASDAQ-100: +4.45%.

S&P 500: +3.56%.

STOXX Europe 600: +3.05%.

EURO STOXX 50: +4.10%.

OMXS30: +4.86%.

My portfolio: +2,61%

Market pulse

Between the April 2 and April 10 closes, global equities were driven primarily by a shift from acute Middle East and energy-supply panic to a ceasefire-led relief rally. The decisive catalyst was the temporary U.S.-Iran truce announced on April 8, which raised hopes for a reopening of the Strait of Hormuz and triggered a sharp fall in oil prices, easing immediate fears of an inflation shock and more aggressive central-bank tightening. Europe and other energy-importing markets benefited especially from that repricing, while semiconductors and AI-linked technology shares added extra support to U.S. benchmarks. The rebound was real, but not clean: continued disruption to physical energy flows, renewed violence in Lebanon, and a hot U.S. CPI print kept investors cautious and prevented a full normalization of risk appetite by week’s end.

Crowd vs. price

For the first time in a long while the crowds are starting to carefully rotate back to tech stocks.

Holdings & Watchlist Notes

Micron Technology (MU): +14.84%
Micron’s roughly 15% rise between Apr. 2 and Apr. 10 was driven primarily by a rapid easing in geopolitical risk after the U.S.-Iran ceasefire, which pushed oil sharply lower and triggered a broad rotation back into semiconductors and other high-beta growth stocks. That macro relief hit a stock that was already supported by unusually strong fundamentals: Micron had just delivered record results and aggressive guidance, memory pricing remained on a steep upward trajectory amid AI-driven supply constraints, and fresh read-throughs from KeyBanc, Samsung, SK Hynix, Broadcom and TSMC reinforced the view that the AI-memory upcycle remained intact. In practical terms, investors were re-pricing an already bullish Micron story once the war premium started to come out of the market.

• Relative crowd interest: Trend: upwards. Momentum: bullish.

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