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August 17, 2026 – 12:10

(Bloomberg) — Technology stocks lifted global equities after stellar revenue growth at Anthropic PBC bolstered the view that massive spending on artificial intelligence will be sustained. The dollar touched a three-month low.

Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5%, while those for the S&P 500 gained 0.1%. Storage and semiconductor makers including Sandisk Corp. and Micron Technology Inc. rallied in premarket trading. Brent closed in on $90 a barrel as fighting between Israel and Iran-backed Hezbollah dealt the latest setback to efforts to end parallel wars in the Middle East. Treasuries were mixed.

AI-linked stocks are reasserting their leadership after a volatile July that saw investors rotate into economically sensitive sectors. Fresh evidence of surging demand for the technology came from Claude chatbot maker Anthropic, which told prospective investors its second-quarter revenue jumped at least 14-fold from the same period in 2025, according to documents seen by Bloomberg.

Traders were also parsing quarterly disclosures of large institutional investors, with Berkshire Hathaway Inc. adding to its stake in Alphabet Inc. The Google owner rose 0.7% in premarket trading.

“We continue to see strong risk appetite among institutional investors, particularly in areas where earnings are strongest, such as US equities and technology,” said Marija Veitmane, head of equity research at State Street Global Markets.

In commodity markets, gold briefly topped $4,400 an ounce to extend a two-week advance as a weaker dollar made bullion cheaper for many buyers. Copper advanced toward a record, with a key spread in London widening to extreme levels in a sign of competition for prompt supply.

The health of US consumers will be in focus this week when retailing giants such as Walmart Inc. and Home Depot Inc. report earnings. Recent data showed spending cooled in July after a strong first half, while households are also growing concerned about worsening business conditions and rising inflation.

“Any signs of stress in the outlook, against a backdrop of slower hiring and higher borrowing costs, could challenge the resilient growth narrative,” said Laura Cooper, global investment strategist and head of macro credit at Nuveen.

Minutes of the Federal Reserve’s July monetary policy meeting could also attract interest. While traders have pushed back expectations for the next quarter-point Fed hike to January, bond investors are increasingly worried about heavy government borrowing and persistent fiscal concerns.

“The recent run of softer economic data has reduced the urgency for near-term tightening, so the minutes may carry less weight,” Cooper said. “But, in a regime of the Fed keeping their cards close to the chest, any signals could be of outsized importance.”

Corporate News:

Alphabet Inc. is looking to raise about A$5 billion ($3.6 billion) in what would be its debut bond offering in Australia, people familiar with the matter said, as US tech firms binge on debt to fuel AI spending. Stripe Inc. has finalized an agreement to acquire OpenRouter Inc. for more than $7 billion, according to people familiar with the matter. Alibaba Group Holding’s open-weight models have accumulated more than 3 billion global downloads in the past six months, eclipsing Meta Platforms Inc., Alphabet and domestic peers to become the world’s No. 1 artificial-intelligence model. AstraZeneca Plc is stopping a clinical trial of the experimental drug volrustomig after it didn’t look set to help fight lung cancer better than existing therapies. Some of the main moves in markets:

Stocks

The Stoxx Europe 600 was little changed as of 11:08 a.m. London time S&P 500 futures rose 0.1% Nasdaq 100 futures rose 0.5% Futures on the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.2% The MSCI Asia Pacific Index rose 0.3% The MSCI Emerging Markets Index rose 0.5% Currencies

The Bloomberg Dollar Spot Index fell 0.2% The euro rose 0.2% to $1.1594 The Japanese yen was little changed at 159.20 per dollar The offshore yuan was little changed at 6.7394 per dollar The British pound rose 0.1% to $1.3557 Cryptocurrencies

Bitcoin rose 0.4% to $63,266.91 Ether rose 0.6% to $1,891.88 Bonds

The yield on 10-year Treasuries was little changed at 4.69% Germany’s 10-year yield was little changed at 3.20% Britain’s 10-year yield declined one basis point to 5.02% Commodities

Brent crude rose 1.2% to $89.54 a barrel Spot gold rose 0.5% to $4,396.26 an ounce This story was produced with the assistance of Bloomberg Automation.

–With assistance from Neil Campling.

©2026 Bloomberg L.P.