S&P 500 closes 0.7 percent higher as Anthropic lifts AI stocks

The S&P 500 gained 53 points or 0.7 percent to 7,677 points on October 26. The index rebounded as Anthropic's IPO filing improved sentiment around artificial intelligence stocks, Reuters reported.

Tesla was the strongest major stock move, rising 5.2 percent after Barclays upgraded the shares to overweight from equal-weight. Meta fell 1.9 percent after announcing plans to raise up to USD 95 billion for AI infrastructure, Reuters said.

Why did the S&P 500 rise Monday?

Anthropic filed for an initial public offering and disclosed rapid revenue growth alongside steep losses. The filing renewed interest in AI-linked shares after recent concern over debt-funded data-center spending.

Chip and semiconductor shares led the rebound. The technology sector rose 1.5 percent, while advancing issues outnumbered decliners by 1.36 to 1 on the New York Stock Exchange, according to Reuters.

Tesla leads the stock moves

Tesla reached its highest close in more than three months after the Barclays upgrade. Lumentum gained about 8 percent and Coherent rose about 6 percent among the best-performing S&P 500 stocks. Meta moved lower as investors assessed its planned equity financing.

The broader index recovered last week's losses and finished 12.1 percent higher for the year. The S&P 500 remained 1.8 percent below its all-time high set earlier in October, the Associated Press reported.

What comes next for the S&P 500

• October 27, 2026, 8:30 a.m. ET: September durable goods orders, with a 1.40 percent consensus forecast versus a 0.07 percent decline previously, Morningstar lists.
• October 27, 2026, 10:00 a.m. ET: October consumer confidence, with an 80.7 consensus versus 81.9 previously, CNBC reports.
• October 27, 2026, 10:00 a.m. ET: September new home sales, with a 645,000 consensus versus 684,000 previously, Morningstar lists.
• October 28, 2026, 2:00 p.m. ET: The Federal Reserve is scheduled to announce its policy decision during a week when Alphabet and Microsoft also report earnings, CNBC reports.

S&P 500 price data for October 26, 2026

The S&P 500 closed at 7,676.77 points on October 26, 2026, up 53.09 points or 0.70 percent from 7,623.68 points, according to Reuters. The session ended 7,676.77 points above the previous close of 7,623.68 points.

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