Wall Street turns higher: Dow +1.1% as investors rotate out of AI stocks

Data as of: Closing prices Thursday 15 October 2026; Asia on Friday morning, 16 October (intraday levels)

Thursday, 15 October: after a weak start, US stocks closed higher. The Dow Jones rose 556.21 points (+1.1%) to 52,177.69. The S&P 500 added 25.12 points (+0.3%) to 7,744.06, close to last week's record. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite gained just 0.1% to 26,713.03, while the Russell 2000 (smaller firms) rose 1.4% to 2,767.27. For the week, the Nasdaq is still down 2.4% (AP).

Economic data were mixed. Producer prices (PPI, the prices businesses receive) in September were 6.3% higher than a year earlier, against 5.5% expected and the biggest rise since 2022. Retail sales grew 0.8% from the previous month, against about 0.4% expected. New claims for unemployment benefits came in at 199,000, versus 200,000 expected. Despite the hot inflation figure, the 10-year Treasury yield fell to 5.09% from 5.19% on Wednesday (AP, Zacks, FXStreet).

Money moved out of artificial-intelligence stocks and into other sectors. Nvidia lost 1.8% and was the biggest drag on the S&P 500. TSMC, the largest contract chipmaker, fell 1.8% despite record profit. CoreWeave recovered 5.9% after Wednesday's 15.5% plunge. Marsh rose 4.6% on better profit, Kimberly-Clark 4.7% and BNY 3.2%. Nike gained 5.2%, while Rocket Lab fell 6.6% after delaying its Neutron rocket's first launch to 2027 (AP, Motley Fool). US crude (WTI) rose 3% to $97.97 a barrel, while Brent was almost flat at $105.92. Gold gained about 1.6% (Reuters).

Friday morning: Asia is bouncing back after a dismal Thursday. According to Reuters, South Korea's Kospi is up 2.8% during the session, the Nikkei 225 1.8% and the Hang Seng 1.1%. Jakarta's index, however, plunged around 11% after MSCI said Indonesia no longer qualifies as an emerging market. Nasdaq futures are down 0.3% (intraday levels, not closing prices).