IXIC: Nasdaq Pumps 0.5% to Start New Month as OpenAI Lifts Yet Another Tech Name

Sam Altman’s firm with the Midas touch again — now it picked Amazon for a $38 billion cloud computing deal.

🚀 AI Hype Never Sleeps

• The Nasdaq Composite index IXIC rose 0.5% Monday, while the S&P 500 added 0.2% to start the new month on a cautiously optimistic note.
• The Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.5%, or about 226 points, as traders rotated out of industrials and into the fashionable AI trade.
• Once again, AI spending headlines carried the day. Investor excitement around the sector remains strong despite macro uncertainty and limited economic data thanks to the government shutdown.

💾 Amazon Gets the OpenAI Touch

• Amazon stock AMZN popped 4% to a fresh all-time high after OpenAI tapped the cloud giant for a $38 billion multiyear computing deal, part of its global race to secure server power for its ever-growing AI ambitions.
• The partnership will give OpenAI access to Nvidia-powered data centers operated by Amazon Web Services, with capacity expected to come online by the end of next year.
• The deal, while dwarfed by OpenAI’s $300 billion pact with Oracle and $250 billion commitment to Microsoft, is still a major win for Amazon, which has largely missed the AI wave this year.

💸 Earnings and Guesswork

• With the US government shutdown still blocking official data releases, traders have turned to corporate earnings to gauge economic strength.
• So far, more than half of S&P 500 companies have reported Q3 results, and the majority have topped analyst forecasts, helping steady sentiment amid all the macro noise.
• Outside equities, Bitcoin BTCUSD slid below $105,000 for the first time since October, and Ethereum dipped under $3,500 — both taking a breather after a choppy month.