Stock Market Update

[BRIEFING.COM] The announcement of a partnership between Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 209.82, +45.16, +27.42%) and OpenAI culminated in strong early performances across chipmaker names, sending the Nasdaq Composite (+0.7%) to a new record high, while the S&P 500 (+0.4%) sits just a handful of points beneath its own record level. 

Mixed sector strength keeps the DJIA (-0.2%) beneath its flatline, though it is off of its session lows. The small-cap Russell 2000 (+0.9%) is outperforming, while the S&P Mid Cap 400 (+0.4%) also posts a healthy gain.

The information technology sector's (+0.9%) early advance underpins the outperformance of the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite over its peers. 

Shares of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD 209.82, +45.16, +27.42%) climbed this morning after the company announced a deal with OpenAI that entails a 6-gigawatt agreement to power OpenAI's next-generation AI infrastructure across multiple generations of AMD Instinct GPUs. Notably, AMD has issued OpenAI a warrant for up to 160 million shares of AMD common stock, with vesting milestones linked to a combination of deployment volume targets and AMD's stock performance.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index is up 3.9%, with Micron (MU 195.27, +7.44, +3.96%) moving higher after catching an upgrade to Overweight from Equal Weight at Morgan Stanley, with a target of $220.

While the information technology sector's top-weighted standing means it is the driving force behind today's index level gains, the energy sector (+1.0%) actually holds the widest gain of the seven S&P 500 sectors in positive territory. 

The sector benefits from a $0.95 increase in the price of oil to $61.83 per barrel, an increase of 1.6%. 

OPEC+ announced a 137,000-barrel-per-day output increase for November, confirming reports from last week that suggested an output hike of this size, while dispelling rumors of a 500,000-barrel increase. 

The consumer discretionary sector (+0.6%) also holds a nice gain, with Tesla (TSLA 448.39, +18.56, +4.32%) trading higher today after the company teased a product launch on social media with tomorrow's date. 

In other corporate news, Fifth Third (FITB 43.30, -1.11, -2.51%) is acquiring Comerica (CMA 79.30, +8.75, +12.40%) for $10.9 billion, or $82.88 per share, in an all-stock transaction. If completed as expected in 1Q26, the merger will create the nation's ninth-largest bank with approximately $288 billion in assets.

Verizon (VZ 41.48, -2.20, -5.03%) moves lower after announcing that former PayPal CEO Dan Schulman will become its new Chief Executive Officer, replacing Hans Vestberg, who will remain as a special advisor through October 4, 2026.

There were no economic data releases today, and the ongoing government shutdown could prevent the release of data later this week, though the stock market remains unbothered by this development.