Nasdaq Closes at Record High as Meta, AMD, and Intel Surge on AI Optimism

TLDR

• Meta stock jumped over 11% after its Muse AI agent surpassed ChatGPT on the Apple App Store
• AMD crossed a $1 trillion market cap for the first time, gaining 10%
• The Nasdaq Composite hit a record closing high of 27,122.09 points
• Bitcoin surged above $86,000, an eight-month high, lifting crypto stocks
• Markets are watching the upcoming U.S.-China summit focused on trade and AI

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Meta Platforms surged more than 11% on Monday after strong early traction for its new Muse AI agent. Muse launched on September 9 and quickly climbed to the top of Apple’s App Store, overtaking OpenAI’s ChatGPT in downloads.

Meta Platforms, Inc., META

Amazon blocked Muse from accessing its retail site, but that did little to dampen investor enthusiasm. Meta also announced plans for a new subsea cable connecting the U.S. and France.

The moves came ahead of Meta Connect 2026, scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, where the company is expected to show off more AI developments.

Chip Stocks Join the Rally

AMD had a breakout day, gaining 10% and crossing the $1 trillion market cap milestone for the first time. Intel also jumped 12% as investors returned to the AI trade.

🇺🇸 BREAKING: AMD joins the $1 TRILLION club for the first time as AI demand sends the chipmaker to a record high.$AMD surged nearly 10% to a record $615.52 on Monday, pushing its market cap above $1 trillion for the first time in history.

The stock has now soared roughly 185%… pic.twitter.com/6Nl2cIbWlC

— Coin Bureau (@coinbureau) September 22, 2026

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index surged 4.3% on the day. The broader tech sector had been under pressure for most of September, so Monday’s move was a sharp reversal.

The Nasdaq Composite climbed 2.26% to close at a record 27,122.09 points. The S&P 500 gained 1.5% and the Dow Jones rose 0.7%.

Bitcoin and Crypto Stocks Catch a Bid

Bitcoin rose above $86,000, reaching an eight-month high. The move lifted crypto-related stocks including Strategy and Coinbase.

The jump in bitcoin came on the same day that broader risk appetite returned to markets. Falling oil prices and hopes for U.S.-Iran diplomacy helped push investors toward riskier assets.

Brent crude briefly fell below $100 a barrel. President Trump said Sunday he was open to meeting Iran’s president on the sidelines of a United Nations event in New York.

Iran warned it would use “new weapons” in response to any U.S. aggression, keeping some uncertainty in the market.

Eyes on the U.S.-China Summit

Chinese President Xi Jinping is set to visit Washington on Thursday. It will be his first state visit during Trump’s second term.

The talks are expected to cover trade and artificial intelligence. Markets are watching closely for any extension to the U.S.-China trade truce, which expires in November.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent met Chinese Vice Premier He Lifeng in New York on Sunday to lay the groundwork. They discussed creating a U.S.-China AI notification system.

Several top AI and tech executives will attend a dinner with Xi Jinping, including Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, and Qualcomm CEO Cristiano Amon. Wall Street executives from Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase are also expected to join.

The summit follows a public debate sparked by Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei’s essay questioning whether frontier AI labs should slow down model development.