US Markets Today: S&P, Nasdaq end higher as Anthropic IPO filing revives AI optimism; Tesla hits 3 month high

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The S&P 500 gained 0.70% and the Nasdaq rose 0.83%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average added 0.28%.

The move came as investors turned their attention to Anthropic’s plans to go public and what its filing says about the AI boom. The company disclosed steep losses alongside rapid revenue growth, highlighting the huge costs involved in developing increasingly powerful AI systems.

The filing also landed at a crucial time for markets, with investors already questioning whether the billions being poured into AI infrastructure will generate enough returns.

Anthropic puts AI spending back in focus

“Today's all about the Anthropic release, so we're back on a little bit of an optimistic tilt, I would say. But there's a lot in that release. It will be interesting to see how well things are received when they actually come to list,” JP Powers, chief investment officer at RWA Wealth Partners in Boston, told Reuters.

The filing helped lift sentiment across the AI trade. Neocloud companies including CoreWeave erased earlier declines, while Lumentum and Coherent were among the stronger performers in the S&P 500. The broader Philadelphia semiconductor index gained about 3%, although it remains nearly 12% lower for the month.

Meta also said it plans to raise up to $95 billion in equity to fund its AI expansion, including data centres, cloud computing power and other infrastructure.

Fed and megacap earnings add to market risks

Investors now face a packed week, with the Federal Reserve due to announce its policy decision on Wednesday and more than a third of S&P 500 companies scheduled to report earnings.

Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon are among the companies in focus, with their results likely to offer fresh clues on whether heavy AI spending is translating into growth.

Tesla also stood out, rising to its highest intraday level in more than three months after Barclays upgraded the stock to “overweight” from “equal weight”.

Markets are pricing in only a 12.7% chance of a Fed rate hike on Wednesday, according to CME FedWatch, but investors remain alert to persistent inflation pressures and the possibility that rates may not stay on hold for long, Reuters reported.