The S&P 500 ended the week at 7,740.85, marking a 1.2% increase and placing it within 0.7% of its record high. The Nasdaq also saw gains, contributing to the best weekly performance for all three major indices since August. Conversely, the 10-year Treasury yield closed near 5.16%, up 16 basis points for the week, after reaching its highest intraday level since 2007 on Thursday. Crude oil prices, specifically WTI crude, dropped 2% to $92.75, and Brent crude fell to $104.45, following reports of U.S.-Iran discussions on reopening the Strait of Hormuz. Gold finished the week between $4,260 and $4,290, anticipating a weekly loss exceeding 2%.
Significant financial activity included the AI infrastructure sector, with Cipher Digital extending its Fluidstack lease to secure $9 billion in contracted revenue, a $5.2 billion increase, and CleanSpark closing on $2.276 billion in senior secured notes to fund data center construction. These deals, alongside the $11.6 billion Anthropic-Akamai deal, highlight the growing role of public markets and credit in funding the AI capital expenditure cycle. The Federal Reserve is reportedly planning to reindex bank oversight thresholds, potentially raising the top tier from $700 billion to $1 trillion and the lower tier from $100 billion to $150 billion, which could trigger mid-cap bank M&A and adjust regulatory impact on regional bank earnings. JPMorgan upgraded Welltower's stock to Overweight, citing attractive implied cap rates.
MGM Resorts is now in talks to acquire People Inc, a reversal from People's abandoned $18 billion bid for MGM the previous day. This comes after MGM's stock tumbled 9-11% on Thursday as the initial takeover premium dissipated. Separately, Sysco and Sysco Holdings completed a C$1.5 billion senior-notes offering, with proceeds allocated for the cash portion of the Jetro Restaurant Depot acquisition. Oracle issued a force majeure notice delaying Project Jupiter, its New Mexico data center, while Meta's stock rose 13% for the week despite a 3.5% Friday drop, driven by its AI product push and the unveiling of a new AI device. The week also saw geopolitical news, including a U.S.-China trade truce extension and President Xi Jinping's push for the U.S. to oppose Taiwan independence during his meeting with President Trump.
In other market news, real estate stocks faced a slump, with the S&P 500 Real Estate Index Sector decreasing by 1.36% week-over-week. Telecom tower REITs Crown Castle and SBA Communications were notable losers, down 7.14% and 6.97% respectively, due to bearish outlooks. Conversely, Host Hotels & Resorts gained 2.66%, leading gainers in the sector. McDonald's saw its stock fall about 5.7% after reporting flat traffic, while General Mills indicated an expected increase in cost inflation from 4% to 6% by its fourth quarter. AMD crossed a $1 trillion valuation on Monday. SoftBank also sold about $11.1 billion in bonds, with the majority earmarked for an OpenAI payment.
