U.S. stocks are back and fully embracing the artificial intelligence trade, following a brief respite triggered by faster inflation prospects and rising Treasury bond yields.
OpenAI, the company that fired the starting gun on the current AI rally in late 2022, filed private documents with the SEC Monday that outlined its plans to go public in the coming months.
That follows similar paperwork filed by rival Anthropic last week, which carries a private market value of nearly $1 trillion and comes just days ahead of the planned $1.8 trillion listing of Elon Musk's SpaceX.
Apple, meanwhile, unveiled its new Siri AI assistant, which included new features and capabilities that had first been expected to launch sometime last year. The underwhelming event -- a rarity for a company that has led industry innovation for decades -- also included a farewell message from outgoing CEO Tim Cook.
The mere fact that markets returned to their AI fixation on Monday suggests last week's talk of a near-term pullback seems premature.
Peace talks in the Gulf region are said by President Donald Trump to be back on track, and the recent hostilities between Israel and Iran have halted. A "final deal" looms, the president assured.
That's lopped several dollars from global oil prices, produced an easing in Treasury bond yields, and stoked risk appetite -- tied in large part to the improving AI sentiment.
The market's ability to believe in both an AI future that has yet to be fully articulated and a peace deal with Iran that is even more uncertain remains the key characteristic of this extraordinary spring rally.
The fact the Strait of Hormuz, the crucial oil shipping route, remains effectively closed, and the path to AI profitably remains similarly hard to traverse, seem like subjects for another day. The bulls are back in charge now, and that's all that matters.
-- Martin Baccardax
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OpenAI Confidentially Files IPO Paperwork. What Lies Ahead.
Confirming it truly is the year of the Big IPO, OpenAI disclosed it confidentially filed paperwork to go public. The announcement was anticipated and comes a week after rival artificial intelligence firm Anthropic filed its paperwork and just days from the year's most anticipated debut so far: SpaceX.
-- ChatGPT's parent firm hasn't decided on the timing of the initial public
offering, saying it may not be immediate. That's because there are still
things it wants to do that are easier as a private company, it explained.
The offering will test investors' appetite for stakes in AI labs.
-- Anthropic said on May 28 that it raised $65 billion in a private funding
round that valued the company at $965 billion post-money. That is higher
than the valuation OpenAI reached in a March funding round, at $852
billion post-money. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has an optimistic vision for
the future.
-- In a blog post, Altman and Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki said OpenAI is
currently building an automated AI researcher. They expect that by March
2028, "we may have a significant fraction of our research being done by
AI systems in tandem with our own researchers."
-- Altman and Pachocki also said they think AI should be available to
everyone to use as much as they need, where and how they need it. That's
not an easy goal. Growing demand for AI means there needs to be more
investments into the infrastructure needed to power the tech.
What's Next: OpenAI has disputed reporting by The Wall Street Journal that it is missing its own revenue targets, falling short of user benchmarks, and is worried about meeting its future spending contracts if sales aren't able to expand at a quicker pace.
-- Angela Palumbo
Why SpaceX Stock May Drop to Earth After IPO
Initial public offerings have rocketed so far this year, which is great for SpaceX as it sits on the launchpad for a Friday debut. But even a dizzying liftoff might not bode well for the space and satellite company's stock. The bigger most IPOs are, the harder and faster they come crashing back to Earth.
-- This year, the average first-day gain from an IPO's offering price has
been a juicy 15.2%, according to Renaissance Capital. But it doesn't take
long for the pullback to start. After just a month, the average gain was
down to 13% above the offering price.
-- AI chip maker Cerebras Systems sums up the trend. Cerebras surged nearly
70% when it started trading on May 14. But just shy of trading a month,
the stock now sits at roughly $238 a share, down from $311 on its first
trading day -- a drop of almost 25%.
-- Big IPOs tend to struggle over the 12 months following their debut,
according to strategists at Jefferies. Since 2000, they said, IPOs with a
market valuation above $10 billion enjoyed a 26.5% return on average from
their opening price within their first week of trading. By the end of
their first full year of trading, the returns fall to just 3.5%.
-- SpaceX has an estimated market valuation of $1.8 trillion, which is
almost 100 times trailing revenue for the past 12 months
What's Next: The mega IPO could be a sign of peak demand for AI stocks -- or even a broader market top, given how concentrated major indexes are around a small cluster of megacap tech companies. "The coming IPO wave may dampen forward market returns, mute further multiple expansion, and possibly interrupt sector trends," wrote strategists at BCA Research.
-- Paul R. LaMonica and George Glover
For Apple, 'Privacy' Overshadowed 'Agents' in AI Reveal
In marked contrast to recent AI presentations from Alphabet and Microsoft, Apple shied away from drawing too much attention to so-called agents at its developer's conference. In fact, as it unveiled its new Apple Intelligence features, the terms "agent" and "agentic" were mentioned only three times.
-- Agents are software that can use an AI model to accomplish a complex
series of tasks from a simple conversational command. A rapid increase in
agents has stirred new worries about cybersecurity and privacy. Two of
those three mentions were in reference to coding tools.
-- The terms "privacy" or "private" got 21 mentions, in contrast,
highlighting what Apple sees as a core difference with other Big Tech
companies, and a key advantage of Apple Intelligence. As he announced
Apple's new AI services, senior VP Craig Federighi was critical of other
companies' pursuit of AI.
-- He said some companies were racing forward, seemingly pursuing AI for the
sake of AI "without clear regard for the people -- all of us -- that it's
ultimately meant to serve." They leave the onus on users to defend their
privacy, he added.
-- An updated Siri that can answer specific questions better than before.
Safari will be able to organize open web tabs into topics. The web
browser will analyze different pages, identify similarities, and then
bring related tabs together. Safari will also be able to send alerts when
webpages are updated.
What's Next: Phone calls are also getting AI updates. Apple Intelligence can pull data from Mail, messages, and other apps during a phone call. So if a user is booking a flight, flight information will be pulled from an email and show up on the call screen.
-- Adam Levine and Angela Palumbo
In Weight-Loss Wars, Wall Street Likes Lilly Over Novo
Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk may have been the first to launch its blockbuster injectable and oral weight-loss drugs, but Eli Lilly seems to be emerging as Wall Street's favorite. Both companies made news at the American Diabetes Association's Scientific Sessions last weekend, but only Lilly's stock rose.
-- Lilly reported that its Foundayo pill was associated with significant
weight loss in women at every stage of menopause, based on Phase 3
clinical trials. And late-stage trials of its next-generation obesity
drug, retatrutide, showed meaningful improvements in knee osteoarthritis
pain and sleep apnea, along with substantial weight loss.
-- Novo crossed its own major milestone, as U.S. prescriptions for its
Wegovy obesity pill topped three million since launching in early
January. That's equivalent to one new prescription every five seconds,
Novo said, making it one of the biggest U.S. pharmaceutical launches in
history.
-- RBC Capital Markets analyst Trung Huynh called Lilly the meeting's clear
winner. Despite Novo's positive updates for CagriSema, its
next-generation GLP-1 medication, many analysts believe Lilly is
positioned to pull ahead of Novo, amid concerns about the commercial
potential of CagriSema.
-- Goldman Sachs analyst Asad Haider told Barron's that Lilly was going to
continue to dominate the GLP-1 market across both existing therapies --
oral and injectables -- and "next-generation." Even though Novo's Wegovy
pill came out first, he said Lilly's Foundayo is easier to make and has
greater international potential.
What's Next: Citi Research analyst Geoff Meacham says Lilly's portfolio of GLP-1 medications isn't built around singular blockbusters. He views Lilly's selective amylin agonist, eloralintide, a once-weekly injectable and potential obesity treatment, as another potential winner, noting its potentially best-in-class tolerability and efficacy.
-- Mackenzie Tatananni, Callum Keown, and Janet H. Cho
Costco's Pricing Strategy Keeps Shoppers Engaged
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June 09, 2026 06:51 ET (10:51 GMT)
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