It was a volatile week on Wall Street, but the three major indexes still ended with solid gains. Investors weighed persistent U.S.-China trade tensions, a prolonged government shutdown, the kickoff of the third-quarter earnings season, and renewed concerns about the health of regional banks.
For the week, the S&P (SP500) gained +1.7%, while the blue-chip Dow (DJI) added +1.6%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (COMP:IND) advanced +2.1%.
As the market swayed to the events of this week, these were among the top trending stocks:
Quarterly results from major banks took the spotlight this week. The biggest upside was seen by Wells Fargo (WFC), which finished Tuesday’s trading higher by 7% after beating expectations with its Q3 earnings. Morgan Stanley (MS) was another standout among financial earnings, with the stock climbing 5% after Q3 earnings posted a strong beat, bolstered by robust investment banking and equities activity.
Loan defaults at two regional banks fueled worries and triggered a slump in the stock market. Zions Bancorporation (ZION) dropped 13% on Thursday after reporting a charge-off on a loan issued by a subsidiary, while Western Alliance Bancorp (WAL) fell 11% after disclosing loans to the same borrowers. Investors are also watching the private credit sector closely following the failures of subprime auto lender Tricolor Holdings and auto parts supplier First Brands Group. Major banks, including JPMorgan Chase & Co. (JPM) and Jefferies Financial Group (JEF), reported losses linked to these cases.
Broadcom (AVGO) shares rose after the company announced a partnership with OpenAI (OPENAI) to build 10 gigawatts of custom AI accelerators. OpenAI will design the chips and systems, while Broadcom will oversee their development and deployment.
AST SpaceMobile (ASTS) fell as Barclays downgraded the firm to an investment rating of “underweight” from “overweight”. Analyst Mathieu Robilliard justified the move by saying that the stock is currently overvalued.
Micron (MU) fell amid a Reuters report that the chipmaker plans to stop supplying server chips to data centers in China after the business failed to recover from a 2023 government ban on its products in critical Chinese infrastructure.
Bloom Energy (BE) rose after announcing a $5 billion strategic partnership with Brookfield Asset Management (BAM) to become the preferred onsite power provider for Brookfield’s global artificial intelligence factories.
Astera Labs (ALAB) plunged following news of AMD’s (AMD) new partnership with Oracle (ORCL) to deploy 50,000 GPUs beginning in the second half of 2026.
Oracle (ORCL) said at its Financial Analyst Day on Thursday that it expects AI infrastructure projects to deliver gross margins of 30%–40%. The company also projected annual earnings per share of $21 by fiscal 2030. Oracle (ORCL) also hosted an AI World event in Las Vegas this week, where it revealed its new AI Data Platform, agents, and a wide array of new partnerships.
Papa John’s (PZZA) jumped after a report that Apollo Global (APO) made a $64 a share bid for the pizza chain, according to a StreetInsider report.
Nebius Group (NBIS) introduced its latest AI cloud – Nebius AI Cloud 3.0 “Aether” – delivering enterprise-grade features that give organizations the trust, control, and simplicity they need to run their most critical AI workloads in production and at scale. However, shares fell over 16% in the week.