Investors are doing just as well this year by shunning AI. How to invest if the tech trade keeps fizzling
An S&P 500 index without AI stocks is beating the traditional index. These sectors and stocks could be winners if the AI trade keeps fraying.
What it means
- What to watch: Strong tech demand tends to show up first in suppliers' order books — the chip and equipment makers hear it early.
- How the stock is trading: $^GSPC +0.64% in the latest session.
- Timing: It landed during trading hours — the market got to read it live, so the session move beside it may already carry the reaction.
Where the stock stands
$^GSPC last traded at $7,672.60, +0.64% on the session. That puts it 2.2% shy of its 52-week high of $7,844.52 and 21% clear of its low of $6,316.91 — in the upper part of the range. Over the year it has ranged 24% from low to high: a moderate band — lively, not wild. These are latest-session quotes, not live prices — the live tape is on the $^GSPC page.
How much coverage it is getting
In the last 30 days Wook has filed 105 stories about $^GSPC — 30 of them this week. At its 30-day pace you would expect about 25 a week, so this week is somewhat busier than usual. Across those stories the wording ran 42% bullish, 47% neutral and 11% bearish. This one reads bullish, so it sits with a sizeable part of the run — it has company, but it is not the consensus. 12 came from CNBC; the rest came from other outlets, so this is a story more than one newsroom is chasing. 12 related stories — same name or same desk — are lined up beside this one if you want the whole thread.
The bigger picture
Tech and AI stories mostly come down to spending: what the giants commit to chips, data centers and software, and whether any of it turns into revenue. Guidance and supply constraints tend to move these names far more than a shiny product launch does.
What to watch next
For the receipts, the $^GSPC page has the full chart, the filings and the valuation model these figures come from. Comparing how two or three outlets frame the same story is the fastest way to separate the facts from the angle. And Wook AI, up top, will happily do the math — how far $^GSPC sits from its high, or how this week's coverage stacks up.
How this analysis was made
CNBC published it, and Wook filed it under Tech & AI. It reads bullish at medium severity because of “beat” in the wording, with nothing on the bearish side to offset it. It was matched to $^GSPC. The preview above is the publisher's own wording.
The tone and severity labels come from a fixed word list — no editor, no AI, no crystal ball — so they describe how a story is worded, not what happens next. They are not a forecast or a recommendation, and a same-day move does not mean this story caused it. Not investment advice.
Discussion
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What happened after this published
CNBC published this on October 26, 2026. $^GSPC has moved -0.27% ($7693.07 to $7672.60). Measured from the first print available after publication, against the latest available quote. This comparison does not isolate the story's effect.