The S&P 500 rose 0.58% on Wednesday 21 October, its third gain in a row. The AI hardware slide that started on 8 October paused, and several of its biggest losers rebounded. Weekly figures below run from the 14 October close.
AI Hardware Rebound
Today's rebound follows three weeks of selling, and most of it came on lighter volume. SMCI (+9.55%) closed at $35.57 on 1.91x average volume. After Tuesday's close it released an unaudited preliminary fiscal first-quarter revenue estimate of $18.5bn to $19.5bn, against its own guidance of $14.5bn to $15.5bn, with gross margin of 12.0% to 12.5%. The company said final results can differ materially, and the shares remain 14.17% below their 23 September close. DELL (+5.27%) rose to $485.88 on 0.84x average volume as investors read the update as evidence of firm AI server demand. It is still 4.21% below its 14 October close, the day of the Barclays downgrade.
BE (+7.13%) closed at $238.53 before Thursday's results. Elon Musk said on SpaceX's earnings call that power and cooling now limit AI deployment more than chips do. He did not name Bloom, so the link rests on sector logic. CIEN (+5.67%) closed at $361.34 with no company news. Optical peers also rose (LITE +3.43%), and the stock sits below its 50-day and 200-day averages.
FLEX (-14.05% wk) kept falling to $86.25. The sources name no single cause, with the Axiom spin-off valuation, the EPC Power closing and the hot inflation print all in the frame.
IT Services Rotation
This theme continues from last week, when money moved out of AI infrastructure and into IT services. ACN (+11.77% wk) closed at $240.26 after its first investor day in four years, which set fiscal 2029 targets and a record $11.5bn cash return. Baird downgraded it to Neutral on valuation on Wednesday and the shares still rose 0.48%. CTSH (+11.33% wk) closed at $69.55 with no company news and a 5.28% jump on 15 October as the main step. IT (+12.16% wk) closed at $219.57 after Truist and Wells Fargo raised targets following its Symposium. It was flat on the day (-0.03%), and its 5.89% gain on 15 October has no sourced cause.
Credit Bureaus
EFX (+16.77% wk) closed at $175.57 after Tuesday's 11.33% jump on third-quarter results. It beat on adjusted EPS ($2.26 against $2.20) and cut full-year revenue guidance by about $80m. It slipped 0.55% on Wednesday. EXPN.L (+10.76% wk) closed at 2,986.00p, up 2.72% and 2.65% in the last two sessions as the Equifax print eased worries about AI disruption. Experian itself had no news, and Wednesday's volume was 0.61x average. FICO (+10.50% wk) closed at $795.21 with no confirmed cause, and it remains 51.61% lower for the year after the mortgage-scoring changes at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
Life Sciences Tools
CRL (+9.33%) closed at $344.87, a 52-week high, on 2.9x average volume. Trade sites credit a UBS upgrade to Buy with a $357 target and a multi-year plan called Pathway to Purpose, while AlphaStreet sees sector buying. No company document backs either explanation. ILMN (+5.57%) closed at $282.86 with no confirmed trigger, and Danaher gained 4.29%. Illumina trades at 46.2 times forward earnings after a 110.54% rise this year.
Earnings Reactions
HAS (+19.42% wk) closed at $114.00, a 52-week high, after a third-quarter beat on Tuesday and a 4.09% gain on Wednesday as Citigroup, BNP Paribas Exane and Wells Fargo raised targets. About $55m of tariff refunds and $40m of Magic sales pulled forward from the fourth quarter flattered the quarter.
NFLX (-5.31%) closed at $65.04 and touched a 52-week low of $64.10 on 3.04x average volume. Management cut its advertising sales outlook and guided fourth-quarter revenue growth below consensus. The shares are down 28.52% this year.
T (-6.45%) closed at $21.91 on 2.17x average volume, even though revenue rose 5.3% and it raised its 2026 EPS outlook. Postpaid phone additions of 379,000 missed Goldman's 416,000 estimate, and fears about SpaceX Starlink as a mobile rival returned. Verizon fell 2.20% and T-Mobile 2.54%.
One-Offs
SKYD (+10.85%) closed at $7.87 on 2.09x average volume. Bloomberg reported that John Malone said SpaceX could invest $8bn to $10bn in the company, though he did not say talks exist. A rebound from the 14 October warrant markdown is the other explanation, and the sources cannot split the two. ECHO (+7.23%) closed at $92.64 after a Zacks upgrade to strong-buy and the SpaceX results. No source names it as a direct beneficiary.
DDOG (+6.50%) closed at $273.09 as Bernstein's upgrade and further target increases kept working through the shares. At 91.5x forward earnings, the price assumes AI usage growth continues.
DXCM (-6.39%) fell to $80.26 on 2.05x average volume with no announcement. One outlet blames pre-earnings positioning, which is unconfirmed. HLT (+10.44% wk) closed at a 52-week high of $362.25. Analyst target raises, a lodging rally on 15 October and the move from the NYSE to Nasdaq announced on 20 October are the likely drivers, and the stock sits above the $356.09 consensus target.
What to watch
- 22 October: Bloom Energy (BE) reports after the close.
- 27 October: Hilton (HLT) results.
- 28 October: Flex (FLEX) reports.
- 29 October: Cognizant (CTSH), DexCom (DXCM) and Illumina (ILMN) report.
- 3 November: Super Micro (SMCI) and Gartner (IT) report, with Dell's (DELL) next test in the sector after that.
- 4 November: Charles River (CRL), Datadog (DDOG) and Fair Isaac (FICO) report.
- 9 November: Skydance (SKYD) reports.
- 18 November: Experian (EXPN.L) first-half results.