Just as many thought the Fed rate hike would put the kibosh on stocks, the recent trend on the majors - down seven of eight sessions - was reversed beginning Thursday, with the rally extending through Friday and topped off by Monday's record-shattering run on the NASDAQ.
Closing at an all-time high, the NASDAQ was spirited by semis, as Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) crossed the $1 trillion market capitalization threshold with a gain of 9.95%, while Intel (INTC) surged 12%.
Mag7 stocks, especially META Platforms (META), which exploded by more than 11%, joined the party. (BTW: the film, "The Social Contract", covering the origins of Facebook, is a worthwhile two hours of movie magic, currently offered free with ads on Youtube.)
The rest of the Mag7:
Alphabet Inc Class C (GOOG) gained 1.88%
Apple (AAPL) was up a modest +0.85%
Tesla Inc (TSLA) added +3.03%
Amazon.com (AMZN) rose +1.87%
Microsoft MSFT tacked on +1.59%
NVIDIA (NVDA) pushed ahead by +2.30%
By the looks of things, there's no end to the AI revolution. While there has been more than enough coverage given to the dangerous CAPEX expenditures by the hyperscalers and to infrastructure demand for data centers, none of that seems to matter to investors who continue to pile into the same stocks that are leading the charge to a better world, guided by AI and implemented by robotics.
It's hard to argue with the logic nor the returns. Year-to-date, the NASDAQ is up 16.69%, the S&P has gained 13.43%, and the Dow is bringing up the rear at a paltry 8.29%. The "new" economy, in shades of the 1998-2000 internet boom (and bust) has outpaced the industrials by a wide margin. Naysayers who predict an end similar to the 2000 NASDAQ have missed out on gains or misled investors on the benefits of owning growth stocks.
Bitcoiners were also rewarded for their patience after the Senate failed to reach cloture on the CLARITY act last week. The granddaddy of crypto-currencies raced ahead by seven percent on Monday, hitting $87,000 for the first time since late January. The logic, according to crypto crusading Michael Saylor of Strategy (MSTR), is that bitcoin is better off without government definitions, regulations, and rules regarding its use. Once again, it's difficult to dispute that kind of thinking. Governments, whether they be authoritarian, socialized, or democratic, tend to muck up just about anything they lay their hands upon. Perhaps Americans might all be better off being enemies of the state, so to speak, largely ignoring laws, reporting requirements, and legislation that only seems to slow human progress. Austrian economists would offer a loud cheer for that, if there are any to be found.
While Money Daily has roundly criticized bitcoin and crypto in general as little more than speculative froth in an open-ended marketplace, the true believers - akin to gold bugs and silver stackers - might just have something going with this nebulous currency and course change for humanity. Leaving government in the dust of progress does have its appeal, after all. Surveillance, taxes, fees and other regalia of government control are so 1900s. This is a new century. The irony is that with midterm elections just six weeks away, more and more people don't really care who "represents" them. Americans have grown weary of being told what to do, how to think and lied to by elected officers. It may not show up at the polls, but in everyday life, people are just not paying much attention to the parasites in state capitals and Washington D.C. They desire more freedom and less control. If they don't get it out of the people they vote for, they'll simply take it themselves.
It's not like people haven't risen up against governments in the past, but America's case may be more subtle and nuanced. For the poor, welfare, disability, and food stamp fraud keeps the wolf from the door. Those stuck in the middle rungs of the income ladder have it the hardest, as their labor is taxed and the money taken before they ever see it. Their choices for survival run the gamut from taking second jobs to working off the books or striving to move up in corporate environments. That's why the middle class has shrunk in America. It has become a real struggle to support a family, own a home, and keep up appearances without going deep into debt. The alternative is to drop out, become poor, and take advantage of the generosity of the Nanny State.
Wealthy people in America - the top 10% of income earners, and the top 1% - have the best of it. They make the majority of their money from business investments and returns on stocks and bonds. They are taxed liberally, but have a variety of means to thwart the IRS and enough money to hire accountants to achieve lower tax take-out.
All told, Americans are taxed at onerous rates and must struggle to find ways to beat the system. This has been par for the course for more than 50 years as the federal debt burden has grown to outrageous size and the welfare-warfare empire has expanded. Almost all of the federal budget covers just four main elements: the military, Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, and interest on the $40+ trillion debt, which is growing faster than the other three main components.
Government has managed to keep all of these plates spinning for longer than anyone could have reasonably expected and will probably continue to do so as the debt rises past $45, $50, even $60 trillion. In the meantime, they risk losing control of the general public.
But, maybe that's why stocks have no ceiling and continue to rise. The government needs to keep the game going, the rich are perfectly willing to play along, the middle class has no choice, and the poor get a free ride.
Everybody's happy.
At the Close, Monday, September 21, 2026:
Dow: 52,048.83, +366.19 (+0.71%)
NASDAQ: 27,122.09, +599.55 (+2.26%)
S&P 500: 7,764.70, +114.20 (+1.49%)
NYSE Composite: 24,086.66, +87.91 (+0.37%)
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