Stocks

South Korea’s ultrawealthy investors pared back Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix in the third quarter, posting net sales of about 864.8 billion won and 718.9 billion won, respectively, the largest sell-offs among domestic stocks. Clients with at least 1 billion won in financial assets recorded combined net selling of more than 1.5 trillion won across the two names, underscoring broad profit-taking. They also shifted toward preferred shares with dividends and covered-call ETFs that make monthly distributions, while some added leveraged ETFs for higher-risk exposure, according to a Korea Economic Daily analysis.

Nvidia shares set a record intraday high of $237.88 on October 2, leaving the stock up about 26% year to date. The company recently authorized an additional $150 billion in share repurchases, supporting investor sentiment. Wall Street remains bullish, with analyst Joseph Moore maintaining a Buy rating and a $300 price target, calling the current valuation attractive.

NVIDIA shares hit a record high of more than $237 on Friday morning, lifting the company’s market value to about $5.7 trillion and pushing it closer to the $6 trillion milestone. The rally has been supported by expectations that demand for AI agents will boost semiconductor demand. The company has gained about 27% so far this year and announced a record $150 billion increase to its stock buyback plan. CEO Jensen Huang’s net worth rose to $203.2 billion, making him the world’s seventh-richest person.

Anthropic says in its IPO filing that its technology could pose risks to humanity and to economic stability, while the company also faces tighter government scrutiny. The filing says the U.S. government ordered federal agencies in February 2023 to stop using its models, the Department of Defense labeled it a supplier-risk vendor, and the Commerce Department imposed worldwide export restrictions on certain models that were later lifted. Anthropic is seeking a $2 trillion valuation, but revenue from government contracts accounts for less than 1% of total revenue.

Anthropic’s private valuation has climbed 22-fold since June 2024, based on mutual-fund reported marks. The increase has outpaced both Nvidia and the Nasdaq 100 by about 10 times, even as Anthropic remains privately held, according to Bloomberg ETF analyst Eric Balchunas. After a May 2026 financing, the company’s post-money valuation reached $965 billion. Anthropic also said its annualized revenue run rate hit $65 billion by the end of July, up from about $9 billion at the end of 2025.

Micron Technology’s Q4 FY26 results showed sharp increases in DRAM and NAND prices, with margins surging as supply-demand conditions tightened. The company has already secured more than 35% of its projected 2030 revenue through long-term agreements that include pricing bands and customer cash prepayments, extending revenue visibility. Despite a forward P/E as low as 5.5x, investors still need to watch AI capital-spending trends after 2028 and broader cycle risks.

Nike is standing by its dividend even as results weaken and the company rolls out a cost-cutting restructuring. CFO David Denton said the dividend remains a key priority, after Nike returned $610 million to shareholders in the latest quarter. The company pays $0.41 a share quarterly, a yield of nearly 5% and among the highest in the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The stock fell as much as 10% on Oct. 2 after weak guidance, even though EPS of $0.48 edged past the $0.43 consensus.

GameStop CEO Ryan Cohen bought 450,000 shares on Sept. 29 for about $10.6 million, lifting his stake to about 40.9 million shares, or roughly 8% of the company. He previously purchased $20.4 million of stock on Sept. 10 and another $26.3 million on Sept. 21. Board director Nat Turner also bought 10,462 shares. The insider buying comes as GameStop shares are down 10% over the past 12 months and 44% over five years, and after eBay rejected a $56 billion takeover offer from GameStop.

AI cloud provider CoreWeave has raised the hourly rental price for its hosted NVIDIA GPUs twice in recent months, lifting rates 25% in July and then another 10% over the following two to three months. UBS five-star analyst Karl Keirstead rated the stock Buy and set a $120 price target. CoreWeave said short-term contracts signed in the third quarter were worth about $40 million in annualized revenue per megawatt, and it reported roughly $104 billion of revenue backlog at the end of June. The company also added more than $25 billion of new customer commitments early in the third quarter and recently priced $3.7 billion of convertible notes.

Energy shares inched higher as oil prices recovered from early losses. The Group of Seven agreed to release 100 million barrels of crude oil and fuel from emergency stockpiles within four months and not to restrict oil exports, French President Emmanuel Macron said. The move aims to curb surging prices for diesel and other fuels.