Wall Street Soars as Qualcomm Ignites the AI Race

Some Mondays feel like the week hits the ground running, this was one of them.

Wall Street kicked off with fresh record highs, fueled by renewed optimism around U.S.–China trade talks and a solid start to the week for corporate earnings. The Dow Jones added 0.7%, while the Nasdaq climbed a remarkable 1.9%.

Markets Ride a Wave of Optimism

The tone was distinctly upbeat after news that U.S. President Donald Trump and China’s Xi Jinping plan to meet later this week to discuss a new trade framework. The mood was reinforced by reports that Beijing may postpone export restrictions on rare earth metals, while Washington considers dialing back its threatened 100% import tariffs.

The dollar softened slightly, and gold - that old safe-haven friend - dipped below $4,000 per troy ounce, down nearly 9% from its peak earlier this year.

As traders like to say, when gold fades, risk appetite reigns.

Qualcomm Joins the AI Super-League

The undisputed star of the day was Qualcomm (QCOM | +11.09%), which soared after unveiling its AI200 and AI250 data-center chips. Long known for its smartphone processors, the company under CEO Cristiano Amon is pushing aggressively into the AI server market, until now a playground dominated by Nvidia and AMD.

What makes Qualcomm’s pitch stand out is efficiency. The firm claims its chips deliver high performance at a fraction of the energy cost, music to the ears of data-center operators. The first batch ships next year, with Saudi start-up Humain already lined up as the inaugural customer.

It’s too early to say whether Qualcomm can seriously challenge Nvidia’s dominance, but at least the AI party just got another contender and investors clearly loved it.

Coffee Meets Carbonation

Another eye-catcher was Keurig Dr Pepper (KDP | +7.62%), which finally got a caffeine-boost from investors after months of skepticism surrounding its €16 billion takeover of JDE Peet’s, the owner of Douwe Egberts. Management reassured shareholders at its investor day that the deal’s financing would be “capital-efficient,” aided by a $7 billion investment from private-equity giants Apollo and KKR.

Even more intriguing: by late 2026, Keurig plans to split into two listed companies, a Global Coffee Company and a Beverage Company. In other words, Keurig and Dr Pepper are heading for a conscious uncoupling.

Mergers, Movers and Misses

It was also a big day for biotech. Avidity Biosciences (RNA | +42.42%) exploded higher after agreeing to a $12 billion takeover by Novartis (NVS | –0.94%), which plans to spin off part of the business into a separately listed entity.

Tesla (TSLA | +4.31%) extended its rally, benefiting from the improving U.S.–China trade tone, logical, since China now accounts for over 20% of its sales. Meanwhile, iRobot (IRBT | –33.87%) got vacuumed out of favor after revealing that its hunt for a buyer has hit a dead end.

At the other end of the spectrum, miners of rare earths such as MP Materials (MP | –7.4%) and USA Rare Earth (USAR | -8.36%) slumped after Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent hinted that Beijing might delay its export restrictions — not great news for those who thrive on scarcity.

Looking Ahead

The week is far from over.

nvestors are bracing for a deluge of earnings from the Magnificent Five - Microsoft (MSFT), Alphabet (GOOGL), Apple (AAPL), Amazon (AMZN) and Meta Platforms (META) - together worth nearly a quarter of the S&P 500’s total market cap. Add Wednesday’s Federal Reserve rate decision, and we’re set for fireworks.

If Wall Street keeps this momentum, I might have to swap my morning coffee for a celebratory espresso shot, courtesy of Keurig, naturally.

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Kristoff - ChartMill

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