AI Stocks Halt Worldwide Sell-Off      11/06 09:29

   AI stocks are bouncing back Friday and recovering some of their brutal 
sell-off from the last two days. The rest of the U.S. stock market is mixed 
following a whirlwind few days of Wall Street trying to sort out what this 
week's sweeping victories by Democrats in the U.S. midterm elections will mean 
for the economy.

   NEW YORK (AP) -- AI stocks are bouncing back Friday and recovering some of 
their brutal sell-off from the last two days. The rest of the U.S. stock market 
is mixed following a whirlwind few days of Wall Street trying to sort out what 
this week's sweeping victories by Democrats in the U.S. midterm elections will 
mean for the economy.

   The S&P 500 rose 1% to trim its loss for the week to 2%. The Dow Jones 
Industrial Average was down 107 points, or 0.2%, as of 10 a.m. Eastern time, 
and the Nasdaq composite was 1.8% higher.

   The relative steadiness for Wall Street halted what had been a worldwide 
tumble for stocks. Indexes dropped 6% in Tokyo and 6% in Seoul following the 
U.S. market's plunge on Thursday. European indexes have fewer stocks tied to 
the artificial-intelligence industry, but Germany's DAX nevertheless lost 2.3%.

   Friday's biggest lift for the S&P 500 came from Nvidia, the chip company 
that's become the face of the boom and possible bust of the AI frenzy. Its 
stock climbed 6.5%, coming off drops of 9.3% and 3.2%.

   It and other companies tied to the build-out of AI data centers tumbled this 
week on worries that Democratic victories in statehouses across the country 
could mean a slowdown in further construction, particularly in Texas. Voters 
across political parties say they're wary about AI and don't like increases to 
power bills caused by data centers.

   That built on top of worries already rattling the industry that further 
construction of AI data centers may slow because of how expensive it's become 
to borrow money. Before that, even, critics were saying AI stock prices had 
shot too high and were in a bubble.

   But political power in Washington will still be split between a Democratic 
Congress and a White House run by Republican President Donald Trump, who 
retains the power to veto. That could limit federal efforts to rein in AI data 
center construction.

   In the meantime, companies in the industry still see strong growth ahead.

   IREN, a company that delivers data centers, compute and software for AI 
training, reported stronger results for the latest quarter than analysts 
expected. Its stock jumped 19.1%, and it also announced two new contracts 
signed since the end of the quarter.

   "We own the land, the power and the data centers under all of it, which 
gives us more ways to fund growth and lets us set its pace," co-CEO Daniel 
Roberts said.

   Lam Research, a company whose equipment and services help make 
semiconductors, climbed 10.9% after announcing a program to send up to $25 
billion to its investors by buying back shares of its own stock.

   That helped other stocks that have benefited from the buildout of AI data 
centers recover some of their own sharp losses. CoreWeave, which rents out 
access to AI chips to customers over the cloud, rose 5.7%. GE Vernova, which is 
helping to power data centers, added 3.9%. Micron Technology, which sells 
memory for computers, leaped 9.5%.

   Outside of AI, the U.S. stock market was mixed, and more stocks fell within 
the S&P 500 than rose.

   Axon Enterprise tumbled 5% after the seller of Tasers reported weaker 
results for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also announced a $1.2 
billion investment in Skydio, a drone technology company.

   Charter Communications sank 5.3% after the internet and video provider 
reported a loss for the latest quarter, when analysts were expecting a profit.

   In the bond market, Treasury yields recovered some of their sharp drops from 
earlier in the week, triggered by tumbling stock prices and hopes that split 
control of Washington could limit how much more the U.S. government adds to its 
debt.

   The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.86% from 4.84% late Thursday. It 
had topped 5.30% last month when worries about inflation, higher interest rates 
and rising government debt were spiking.

   Helping to support yields was a report showing U.S. employers hired many 
more workers last month than economists expected. It's the latest signal that 
the U.S. economy continues to chug along despite high inflation.

   A separate report suggested that sentiment among U.S. consumers unexpectedly 
improved. The preliminary report from the University of Michigan said sentiment 
rose for lower- and middle-wealth Americans but fell for those with the largest 
stock portfolios.

   Perhaps more importantly for the bond market, the survey also said 
expectations for inflation in the coming year eased for Americans. That could 
prevent a vicious cycle where expectations for high inflation drive behavior 
that only worsens inflation.