From late July to mid-September, tech-exposed stocks in the S&P 500 rose 14% while the rest of the index fell 3%, underscoring a sharp concentration in returns. Microsoft led the Magnificent Seven after Azure growth materially exceeded expectations and Copilot adoption was strong. On July 30, Microsoft jumped more than 15%, its biggest one-day gain since 2008, adding about ~$450 billion in market value. The move was the largest single-day market-cap increase on record at the time.

Brent October futures settled at $93.78 a barrel, up 2.4%, while WTI October settled at $86.83. Crude transiting the Strait of Hormuz fell sharply from 21.6 million barrels a day to 4.9 million. Iran’s central bank governor said the country’s oil exports have virtually stopped. Global production in 2026 is forecast at 100.8 million barrels a day versus consumption of 102.7 million, widening the supply shortfall.

The US IPO market has raised $145.5bn in 2026, topping the full-year 2021 record of $142.4bn. SpaceX’s $75bn offering in June accounted for more than half of the total. SK hynix raised $26.5bn in the largest-ever US listing by a foreign company, while the Renaissance IPO Index is up 18.8% this year, beating the S&P 500. Anthropic and OpenAI have filed confidentially, keeping the pipeline active.

The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency said it received 40 de novo bank charter applications over the past 18 months, far above the fewer than four per year it saw from 2011 to 2014. Five digital asset companies received conditional national trust bank approvals on 12 December 2025, and a Circle unit won final approval on 10 July 2026. A rewritten chartering rule took effect on 1 April 2026, and the regulator said the U.S. banking system is open again.

Alphabet raised its full-year capital expenditure guidance to $205 billion and said Google Cloud backlog climbed to $514 billion. About 60% of its recent capex went to servers, with the remaining 40% directed to facilities and connectivity. The company holds more than $240 billion in cash and marketable securities, giving it flexibility to fund AI buildout even as free cash flow temporarily turns negative. CEO Sundar Pichai said roughly 90% of Fortune 100 companies now use the Gemini Enterprise model in some form.

Global central banks bought 286.5 tonnes of gold in the second quarter, up 62% from a year earlier. Poland’s central bank added 51 tonnes, taking its total reserves to about 632 tonnes. Buying continued even as gold retreated from a January peak of $5,597 to around $4,379 in August. A survey found 45% of central banks plan to increase gold holdings within a year.

Berkshire Hathaway’s Q2 13F filing shows a sharp increase in its stake in Google parent Alphabet, lifting the holding to about $36.6 billion and making it the portfolio’s third-largest position behind Apple and American Express. Roughly 60% of the 48.1 million shares added came via a $10 billion private placement, with the rest bought in the open market. The filing also shows Berkshire trimmed Ally Financial by 7% and cut Capital One by 58%.

AI company Anthropic said second-quarter revenue exceeded $11.5 billion, jumping from $787 million a year earlier and rising from $4.73 billion in the first quarter. The company also reported positive adjusted operating income for the quarter. Anthropic’s annualized revenue run rate surpassed $47 billion in May, compared with OpenAI’s run rate of more than $40 billion. The AI boom has also lifted the IPO market, with $256.4 billion raised through listings this year, excluding blank-check firms and other financial vehicles.

Social media platform Reddit is set to be added to the S&P 500 next week, a move seen as boosting the company’s standing and appeal to investors. Reddit shares surged nearly 11% on Friday after the announcement, though the stock remains down by more than 23% so far this year. The S&P 500 tracks the 500 largest U.S. stocks and serves as a benchmark for trillions of dollars in assets. To qualify, a stock must have traded publicly for at least 12 months, and Reddit has posted profits in almost every quarter since going public in 2024.