S&P 500 Gains 1.15% for the Week as Utilities and Staples Lead; Chips Fall After OpenAI Revenue Report

S&P 500 week close: 7,811.54 (+1.15%) Nasdaq Friday close: 27,366.17 (+0.64%) Sentiment: bullish

The S&P 500 closed the week ending 9 October 2026 at 7,811.54, up 88.82 points or 1.15%, after a record close of 7,818.93 on Tuesday, as utilities, staples and energy each gained more than 3.5% while chip stocks fell on a Financial Times report that OpenAI's revenue runs about $20 billion below earlier figures. XP.US rose 49.86% for the week after Flávio Bolsonaro led the first round of Brazil's presidential vote. The 10-year Treasury yield touched 5.365% on Wednesday, its highest since April 2002, then closed the week at 5.244%, down 3.3 bps.

The week on Wall Street

The S&P 500 rose 0.66% on Monday 5 October and 0.58% on Tuesday to 7,818.93, its first close above 7,800, then fell 0.22% on Wednesday and 0.47% on Thursday before Friday's 0.59% gain to 7,811.54. NVDA.US set a record close of $238.90 on Monday, and Schneider Electric's $205-a-share cash offer lifted PTC.US 33.49% the same day.

CEG.US gained 12.25% on Tuesday after Google agreed a 20-year deal to buy power from 890 megawatts of new nuclear capacity, and VST.US added 10.77%; the two ended the week up 15.76% and 15.33%. On Wednesday the 10-year yield touched 5.365% before a $39 billion auction cleared at 5.3%, and September Fed minutes said most officials expect another rate increase by year end.

Thursday's Financial Times report put OpenAI's annualized revenue near $50 billion against the $70 billion widely reported. NVDA.US fell 2.94% that day, and five chip stocks subtracted about 47 bps from the S&P 500 while energy and staples added about 20 bps. On Friday, AMZN.US rose 3.29% and MSFT.US 2.38% as software recovered; for the week AMZN.US gained 4.34%, MSFT.US 3.39% and NVDA.US lost 2.00%.

The Dow gained 0.93% to 51,654.95 and the Nasdaq 0.64% to 27,366.17, while the Russell 2000 fell 0.91% to 2,806.98. The VIX ended at 14.84, down 3.07%.

Sector scorecard (5-day)

Utilities (XLU.US) rose 3.97% in the week to 9 October 2026, the best of the 11 SPDR sector funds, while technology (XLK.US) fell 0.52%, the worst.

• Best: Utilities (XLU.US) +3.97%, with CEG.US +15.76% and VST.US +15.33% on the Google nuclear agreement.
• 3.60% was the weekly gain for both energy (XLE.US) and staples (XLP.US); Brent settled at $104.72 on Friday after Hurricane Isaias shut 62.9% of Gulf of Mexico oil output, per Reuters.
• 2.79% for health care, 2.55% for consumer discretionary and 2.32% for financials ranked fourth to sixth.
• Worst: Technology (XLK.US) -0.52%; industrials -0.41% after CAT.US fell 5.75% on Wednesday on an FTC and USDA farm equipment inquiry.
• Dispersion (best minus worst): 4.49 pts.

Top movers, week ending 9 October

Brazil-listed shares took 3 of the top 5 places; the iShares MSCI Brazil fund gained 14.01% for the week. TMUS.US fell 9.20% and VZ.US 9.30% after Friday's SpaceX spectrum purchase, while tower owner CCI.US gained 19.87%. HUM.US rose 11.20% after CMS restored its largest Medicare Advantage contract to 4 stars.

Friday US session

• S&P 500: 7,811.54 (+0.59%)
• Nasdaq: 27,366.17 (+0.64%)
• Dow: 51,654.95 (+0.83%)
• VIX: 14.84 (-3.70%)
• Russell 2000: 2,806.98 (+0.46%)

AMZN.US, MSFT.US and Oracle added about 30 bps of the S&P 500's 59 bps gain on 9 October 2026 as software recovered from Thursday's OpenAI report. SpaceX agreed to buy up to 14 MHz of 800 MHz spectrum from Grain Management for its Starlink Mobile service; TMUS.US fell 13.27%, VZ.US 8.75% and CCI.US rose 15.60%. HUM.US gained 11.56% on its star ratings.

The University of Michigan's preliminary October sentiment index fell to 46.3 from 48.1, its lowest since May, against a 47.6 forecast. The 10-year yield rose 1.3 bps to 5.244%. Gold futures rose 1.43% to US$4,216.30.

Macro themes that played out

The Fed raised its target range to 3.75% to 4.00% on 16 September 2026, and the minutes of that meeting, released on 7 October, said most participants saw another increase as likely appropriate by year end. The New York Fed's September consumer survey put median one-year inflation expectations at 3.9%, the highest since May 2023. ISM services prices rose to 74 from 72.6 on 5 October, and the August trade deficit widened to $105.6 billion on 6 October.

The 10-year auction on 7 October cleared at 5.3%, the highest auction yield since 2000, and Thursday's $22 billion 30-year sale drew a 2.54 bid-to-cover against a 2.41 average. The 10-year fell 4.6 bps after that sale. The US Dollar Index ended the week at 102.23, up 0.30%. Brent rose on nine tanker attacks near the Strait of Hormuz and the Isaias shut-ins; President Trump posted on Thursday that the US would not attack Iran before the 3 November midterm elections.

Week ahead, Monday to Friday (ET)

• Mon 12 Oct: Columbus Day. NYSE and Nasdaq trade regular hours; the cash bond market is closed. Cleveland Fed President Hammack speaks.
• Tue 13 Oct: JPMorgan, Goldman Sachs, Citigroup, Wells Fargo, Johnson & Johnson and UnitedHealth report. September existing home sales; Fed Governor Waller and Boston Fed President Collins speak.
• Wed 14 Oct, 8:30am: September CPI. Bank of America, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock and ASML report; Fed Governor Bowman speaks.
• Thu 15 Oct, 8:30am: September retail sales, September PPI and weekly jobless claims, plus the October Philadelphia Fed index. TSMC holds its third-quarter call at 2:00am ET; Charles Schwab reports.
• Fri 16 Oct, 8:30am: September import and export prices, then September industrial production. Fed Chair Warsh speaks.
• Wed 28 Oct: the next FOMC decision, after the September CPI and retail sales prints.

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