October 11, 2026 — Wall Street closed out a turbulent week within touching distance of record highs, as investors shook off a bond-market wobble and an artificial-intelligence scare to bet on a blockbuster third-quarter earnings season that begins in earnest on Tuesday with the big banks.
The S&P 500 rose 0.6 per cent on Friday to finish at 7,811.54, just below Tuesday’s record close, capping a 1.2 per cent weekly gain. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed 423 points, or 0.8 per cent, to 51,654.95, while the Nasdaq Composite added 0.6 per cent to close at 27,366.17. All three benchmarks finished the week higher.
The rally came despite the 10-year Treasury yield touching its highest level since 2002 midweek and Brent crude holding above $100 a barrel. Analysts say the market’s resilience rests on unusually high expectations: Wall Street actually raised third-quarter profit forecasts during the quarter, against the typical pattern of cuts, with a record 72 companies issuing positive guidance. Consensus growth now sits near 30 per cent, concentrated in semiconductors, energy and technology.
Thursday brought a sharp reminder of that concentration risk, when a report that OpenAI’s annualised revenue was running at about $50 billion — well below earlier estimates — sent chip stocks tumbling. Markets steadied on Friday after a follow-up report that the company still expects to reach or exceed $70 billion by year end.
Attention now turns to the banks, whose results will test whether the AI investment boom is translating into broad corporate profits. With consumer sentiment at a five-month low and households still squeezed by elevated prices, strategists say the earnings tape needs to be as broad as the price tape has been narrow.
Beneath the headline numbers, the week’s action was unusually broad: nine of eleven S&P sectors advanced, led by utilities, consumer staples and energy, while technology was one of only two sectors to decline. Small caps sat out the rally, and crypto fell for a second straight week. Traders have now nearly priced out the chance of an October rate rise — a remarkable shift that sets up a high-stakes autumn for both the Federal Reserve and corporate America.
