Global stocks rise as investors keep betting on AI boom

Global stock markets have climbed as investors continue to back the technology companies at the centre of the artificial intelligence boom.

In the United States, all three major indexes rose on Tuesday, led by the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite, which gained 1.18 percent.

The S&P 500 rose 0.6 percent, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average edged up 0.03 percent.

Five of the so-called Magnificent Seven technology stocks finished higher, with Tesla leading the group after gaining 4.04 percent.

Amazon rose 1.61 percent, while Apple and Alphabet advanced 0.93 percent and 0.9 percent, respectively.

Nvidia, currently the world’s most valuable publicly traded company, climbed almost 1 percent after announcing a $3bn investment in Meta’s equity offering.

Meta fell 1.64 percent, while Microsoft slipped 0.24 percent.

Other major technology winners included CoreWeave, Western Digital and Advanced Micro Devices, which rose 7.94 percent, 6.95 percent and 5.45 percent, respectively.

Asian markets followed Wall Street higher on Wednesday.

South Korea’s KOSPI posted the strongest gain, closing up 6.63 percent.

The rally came after SK Hynix, one of the world’s largest memory chip makers, reported blockbuster third-quarter results.

The company said operating profit had surged about 630 percent year-on-year to 83.33 trillion won, or $62.4bn.

SK Hynix shares jumped 10.89 percent following the announcement.

Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed 1.08 percent higher, while Taiwan’s TAIEX gained 2.04 percent.

Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index was up 0.33 percent shortly before the market closed.

“A rally in a host of AI-related stocks including neocloud group CoreWeave, data storage specialist Western Digital and IT solutions provider Super Micro Computing implies that investors aren’t over the AI craze just yet,” Dan Coatsworth, head of markets at AJ Bell in London, told Al Jazeera.

“These types of stocks have become a litmus test for the mood of the market. They typically fall when investors are worried that the AI story might be running out of steam, and they rise when animal spirits are running high around the technological revolution,” Coatsworth said.

“The big unknown is whether this is the start of a new AI stock rally, or just a relief bounce after a period where investors were starting to question how long positive momentum could be sustained,” he added.

Investors are now turning their attention to upcoming earnings reports from some of the biggest technology companies, looking for evidence that their vast AI spending is beginning to generate returns.

Microsoft and Alphabet are due to report results on Wednesday, followed by Amazon on Thursday and Apple on Monday.

The earnings season comes as debate continues over whether enthusiasm for artificial intelligence is pushing technology valuations too far.

On Monday, Anthropic filed paperwork for a highly anticipated initial public offering, reporting a net loss of $80.7bn in the first half of 2026 on revenue of $16.3bn.

Technology companies have committed hundreds of billions of dollars to AI infrastructure, raising comparisons with the speculative excess that preceded the dot-com crash in 2000.

Worldwide AI investment is forecast to reach $2.7 trillion in 2026 and $3.6 trillion in 2027, according to technology research company Gartner.

Oil prices also moved higher amid continuing conflict in the Middle East.

Brent crude futures rose nearly 2 percent and climbed above $116 a barrel, more than 60 percent higher than before the start of the US-Israel war on Iran.