Nvidia Stock Gains 1.7% as Anthropic IPO Filing and Meta Share Sale Revive AI Trade Ahead of Big Tech Earnings

Nvidia shares rose nearly 2% on Monday as two developments renewed enthusiasm for artificial intelligence stocks: artificial intelligence company Anthropic filed for an initial public offering, and Meta Platforms unveiled a giant stock sale to fund its AI build-out. Investors also prepared for a week of major technology earnings and a Federal Reserve policy decision.

Nvidia shares gained $3.67, or 1.74%, to $214.63 in early trading on the Nasdaq at 10:14 a.m. EDT. Based on its share count, the rise gave the chipmaker a market value of more than $5 trillion. Nvidia remains the world's most valuable publicly traded company.

Even with Monday's gain, the stock is still about 11% below the record it set earlier this month. On Oct. 6, shares opened around $242 and the company's market value briefly reached about $5.84 trillion, approaching the $6 trillion mark.

AI catalysts

Two announcements helped lift AI-related shares early in the session.

Anthropic, the developer of the Claude AI models, said it had filed a registration statement with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for a proposed initial public offering. The company plans to list its Class A shares on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker "ANT." It said the number of shares and the price range had not yet been determined. Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are leading the offering.

The filing is one of the most anticipated listings of the AI era. Investors see it as a test of public market appetite for companies at the center of the AI boom.

Separately, Meta said it plans to raise up to $95 billion through stock sales to fund AI infrastructure. According to Meta's announcement, Nvidia, Advanced Micro Devices and Broadcom together expressed interest in buying up to $5 billion of the shares. Meta did not say how much each chipmaker might buy or confirm that any purchase agreements had been signed.

The plan begins with $35 billion of underwritten offerings and is to be followed by a $60 billion at-the-market program starting in early 2027. It is the first time Meta has issued new stock since 2013, according to Semafor.

"The move reflects the eye-watering levels of investment required to keep up in the AI arms race," Ben Wood of CCS Insight told CNBC.

The chipmakers' interest highlights how closely Nvidia's fortunes are tied to the spending plans of its largest customers. Meta has raised its 2026 capital spending forecast to between $135 billion and $145 billion. Much of that is going to data centers built with Nvidia's graphics processors.

Spending concerns

The rebound follows a rough stretch for AI stocks. Concern about the scale and financing of AI spending weighed on the sector last week, and the S&P 500 ended Friday with its second straight weekly loss.

Over the weekend, Tesla Chief Executive Elon Musk added to those worries. In posts on X, he said "debt markets have almost entirely shut off access to money" for AI-dependent companies and predicted that "the 200+ neoclouds are going to see guppy-level death and consolidation." Neoclouds are specialized cloud providers that rent out Nvidia-powered computing capacity.

Shares of neocloud companies, including CoreWeave, Nebius and Iren, fell in early trading Monday after the comments. Those companies are among Nvidia's significant customers.

Goldman Sachs has estimated that global AI infrastructure spending could reach about $7.6 trillion from 2026 through 2031.

Strong fundamentals

Nvidia's own results have kept beating expectations. In August, the company reported second-quarter revenue of $96.2 billion and forecast third-quarter sales of $105.8 billion to $110.1 billion. Demand for its latest AI chips continues to exceed supply.

Investors will get fresh signals on AI demand this week, when Alphabet, Microsoft, Amazon and Meta report quarterly results. Their capital spending forecasts are closely watched as an indicator of future orders for Nvidia's chips.

Fed and macro backdrop

The Fed begins a two-day policy meeting on Tuesday and will announce its decision Wednesday afternoon. Markets are pricing in about a 10% chance of a rate hike, according to Capital.com analyst Kyle Rodda.

Former Fed Vice Chair Alan Blinder said the central bank should give guidance "that doesn't quite say, but strongly hints, we're pausing now." He said he expects a "hawkish pause."

Oil prices eased on Monday on hopes for lower tensions between the U.S. and Iran. Brent crude fell to about $115 a barrel.

Major U.S. stock indexes rose modestly in early trading. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was up about 0.5% and the S&P 500 about 0.3%.

_This article is for information only and does not constitute financial advice._