Finance Evening | AMD Tops $1 Trillion, Meta Jumps 11%, and a Rare Market Signal Not Seen Since 1999

📊 North American Markets Today

Sources: Yahoo Finance, CNBC, Al Jazeera, Fortune, Fox Business, Euronews and CoinDesk.

1️⃣ AMD hits a record high, briefly topping a $1 trillion market cap

Source: Yahoo Finance

Chip stocks were back in the driver's seat on Monday (Sept. 21), with the PHLX Semiconductor Index (^SOX) surging more than 3%. An upcoming state dinner between President Trump and Chinese leader Xi Jinping, with numerous AI titans expected to attend, fueled optimism about the AI trade.

Chipmaker AMD soared to an all-time high above $610 a share, giving it a $1 trillion market cap during the trading session. Shares of CPU designer Arm Holdings and chipmaker Intel both rose 10% as Meta's new AI agent, Muse, sparked a broader rally among server CPU suppliers.

The sector also got other tailwinds, including a report last week that SK Hynix is exploring a deal with Intel. Intel shares have rallied more than 35% over the past month, while AMD and Arm Holdings are up nearly 30% over the same period and AI heavyweight Nvidia gained more than 4%. Wall Street sees little sign of a spending slowdown: BofA analyst Vivek Arya raised his 2030 chip market estimate from $2.7 trillion to $3.2 trillion, citing strong demand for data center capacity, advanced logic and memory equipment.

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2️⃣ Meta soars 11% as its AI assistant tops the App Store

Source: Yahoo Finance

Meta (META) stock rocketed more than 11% on Monday after Wells Fargo raised its price target on the company and Meta's Muse AI agent app hit the top spot on Apple's App Store.

Analyst Ken Gawrelski raised his price target from $640 to $796, pointing to Meta's recent successful AI model launches — including the latest Muse Spark offering and the Muse assistant — as proof the company "now has a story to tell" about its AI capabilities and services. That marks a sharp turnaround from last year, when Meta dealt with AI model delays and questions about its billions in AI infrastructure spending.

Since then, CEO Mark Zuckerberg has rebuilt Meta's AI lab, hiring Scale.AI co-founder Alexandr Wang as chief AI officer, and the company now offers several models in its Muse family. The price target change and strong Muse showing come ahead of Meta Connect on Wednesday, when Zuckerberg will deliver a keynote on the company's plans across AI and wearables.

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3️⃣ A great day for stocks on the surface — but a warning sign not seen since 1999

Source: CNBC

The stock market posted a banner day by nearly any measure on Monday: the Nasdaq Composite surged 2% to a new record and the S&P 500 jumped about 1.5%, now sitting less than 1% below a new high. But traders are buzzing about something unhealthy beneath the surface.

More S&P 500 stocks fell to new 52-week lows on Monday than rose to 52-week highs — 30 constituents hit new lows while only seven reached fresh highs. According to Jason Goepfert, founder of SentimenTrader and now an adviser at NextGen News, the last time the index advanced at least 1% to within 1% of a new 52-week high while new lows outnumbered new highs was Dec. 21, 1999, a few months before the Dotcom Bubble top; before that, the only other such instance was July 23, 1929.

Art Hogan, chief market strategist at B. Riley Wealth, said it comes down to where the leadership is coming from. He warned that the market "won't make new highs" if the Middle East war persists, energy prices stay high and the Fed keeps hiking. The S&P 500 has risen more than 13% in 2026 and more than 19% over the past six months.

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4️⃣ Trump's tariffs hit Canada's dairy farmers as US sales stall

Source: Al Jazeera

A 50% US tariff on $20bn in Canadian goods — including dairy products — that took effect on Aug. 22 has largely brought Canadian dairy exports to the United States to a standstill. Al Jazeera reported from the Fraser Valley in British Columbia.

Casey Pruim, a farmer in Abbotsford and chair of the BC Dairy Association, which represents about 400 dairy farmers in the province, said Canadian farmers don't individually decide which products are exported. Instead, they sell into the provincial milk-marketing system, which distributes milk to processors according to demand, including for US-bound products. If a processor loses US demand, it may need less milk, spreading the impact across the provincial pool.

Dylan Kruger, director of public affairs at BC Dairy, said "there is still considerable uncertainty around the impact of the US tariffs." Pruim warned that if processor demand is squeezed, farmers would be forced to dump their milk and, in the worst case, cut their herds — "Cows aren't like a tap; you can't just turn them on or off," he said. David Wiens, president of the Dairy Farmers of Canada, called the tariffs "completely unwarranted." Canada imposed retaliatory tariffs effective Sept. 8, including a 50% tariff on milk, cream and whey products and a 25% tariff on many cheeses imported from the US.

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5️⃣ The US economy's "structural transformation" has ended the low-cost era

Source: Fortune

President Donald Trump renewed his attacks on the Federal Reserve after it hiked its benchmark rate Wednesday, but economists say the Fed matters less than broader trends when it comes to longer-term borrowing costs. Steady growth, stubbornly high inflation, big tech borrowing heavily for data centers and large federal deficits all point to higher rates regardless of what the Fed does, analysts say.

As a result, the low-rate, low-inflation world that lasted nearly 15 years after the Great Recession is over, replaced by a higher-priced, higher-rate era. The average 30-year mortgage rate reached 6.95% last week, the highest in more than a year and a half. Joe Brusuelas, chief economist at RSM, said a big reason is the shift from a pre-pandemic economy with weak demand to one where healthy consumer and business spending collides with supply shocks and bottlenecks. "We've undergone a structural transformation of the economy," he said. "The regime change in inflation and interest rates is the outcome."

Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh highlighted the shift at the central bank's Jackson Hole conference last month, saying that after 2008 many assumed capital would sit idle because all the good ideas had been invented — "Well, times sure have changed," with "ever-expanding pools of capital pouring into AI-related infrastructure." The 10-year Treasury yield topped 5% this year for the first time since 2023, and inflation has outpaced average wage growth for five straight months.

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6️⃣ Jensen Huang rejects AI doomsday fears: 2030 won't be the end of the world

Source: Fox Business

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang said in an interview Friday that he disagrees with doomsday warnings that AI may contribute to the extinction of humanity within a decade. He told CBS News: "2030 is not going to be the end of the world. There is 0% chance that's going to be the end of the world."

"Scaring people is unnecessary. It is irresponsible," Huang added, saying predictions like those of former OpenAI and Anthropic researcher Jacob Coxon are "not grounded in science." He argued that existing legal frameworks for liability around cybersecurity and business damages should be the primary guardrails, rather than new regulations — "Don't let this doomsday narrative allow someone to relieve them of the laws that currently exist." Huang said companies like Nvidia have a built-in interest in ensuring AI safety.

President Trump has expressed a similar sentiment, opposing new AI regulatory frameworks on grounds it would give China an edge. Huang is among the tech leaders expected to attend a state dinner Trump will host for Chinese President Xi Jinping this week, with OpenAI's Sam Altman and Apple Executive Chairman Tim Cook also expected. Huang said he wants to discuss global standards for AI development with Xi.

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7️⃣ Qatar rules out a Hormuz bypass, launches a new investment platform

Source: Euronews

Qatar has ruled out using pipelines to bypass the Strait of Hormuz, saying the alternative would require new liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities outside the country that don't make economic sense. Saad Sherida Al-Kaabi, Qatar's Minister of State for Energy Affairs and CEO of QatarEnergy, said neighbouring countries had offered to let Qatar use an alternative route through their territories.

Al-Kaabi noted that LNG cannot simply be transported through a conventional gas pipeline — Qatar would have to send natural gas through the pipeline and build new facilities at the other end to turn it into LNG, duplicating the large facilities already being built as part of Qatar's North Field expansion; the decision was based on commercial and technical grounds. He also rejected US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent's prediction that the Strait of Hormuz could become "worthless" within two years, calling the assessment "completely wrong" because the strait carries trade in many products, not only oil and gas.

The North Field expansion aims to raise Qatar's LNG production capacity from 77 million tonnes a year to 142 million tonnes by 2030; the first production unit at the North Field East project is now expected to begin operating in the first half of 2027. Separately, Qatar's Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Sheikh Mohammed bin Abdulrahman Al Thani launched a new investment and economic growth platform called Doha Investment in New York, announcing more than $60bn in projects and investment opportunities over the next five years.

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8️⃣ Bitcoin tops $85,000 as a short squeeze forces out $648 million of bearish bets

Source: CoinDesk

Bitcoin extended its break above the top of its September range on Monday, trading at $84,984 in the late European morning — a gain of 5.4% over 24 hours that leaves it well clear of the $82,284 high of Sept. 4.

The move is being driven by forced buying more than fresh conviction: $746 million of positions were liquidated over 24 hours, of which $647.9 million were shorts, with a further $159.9 million in the past hour alone, 95% of that on the short side. Bitcoin shorts accounted for $277.5 million of the 24-hour total and ether shorts $122.8 million.

Open interest across the market rose 7.59% to $156 billion even as those shorts were closed out, and 24-hour volume was up 39% at $224 billion — a combination suggesting traders are replacing the positions being liquidated rather than stepping back. A total of 95 of the 100 CoinDesk 100 constituents were higher on the day, and the index rose 3.0%.

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9️⃣ US Social Security recipients may get a bigger boost in 2027, up to about 3.6%

Source: Fox Business

After August inflation data was released, several groups estimated that Social Security beneficiaries will see a larger cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) in 2027 than this year. By law, the annual COLA is calculated using the CPI-W for July, August and September; the 2026 COLA was 2.8%.

Bureau of Labor Statistics data showed consumer prices up 3.4% from a year ago in August, while the CPI-W was up 3.5%. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget (CRFB) estimated the 2027 COLA at 3.4%; AARP projected 3.6%; and The Senior Citizens League (TSCL) predicted 3.5%. TSCL said a 3.5% COLA would increase average benefit checks by $67.90 a month, from $1,940.08 to $2,007.98.

The final figure for the 2027 COLA will be officially announced on Oct. 14, after the release of September CPI data. Rich Johnson, vice president of financial security at the AARP Public Policy Institute, noted that many older adults rely on Social Security for the bulk of their income and that the sooner they get reliable information, the sooner they can plan; TSCL executive director Shannon Benton cautioned that no matter whether the final number lands higher or lower than predicted, seniors will probably end up disappointed in the long run.

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🔟 Apple settlement could mean a payout of up to $95 for some iPhone owners

Source: Fox Business

Apple customers may be able to collect up to $95 from a class action settlement stemming from a lawsuit alleging the company ran false advertisements about AI capabilities on devices that didn't have the tech fully integrated. Apple reached a $250 million agreement this spring to settle the case.

Under the terms, class members who submit valid claims would receive $25 per device, which may be adjusted up or down to a maximum of $95 per device depending on the total number of valid claims. To be eligible, a customer must be a US resident and have purchased an iPhone 15 Pro, iPhone 15 Pro Max or any iPhone 16 model between June 10, 2024, and March 29, 2025, while expecting the device to have Siri Apple Intelligence features.

Eligible customers must submit a valid claim form by Dec. 21, 2026, and may claim for each eligible device. A final approval hearing is scheduled for Feb. 24, 2027, in the US District Court for the Northern District of California in San Jose.

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