U.S. Stock Market Trends (September 23): Muse Shakes Up Financial Stocks as Schwab Drops 6%, Nasdaq Hits New High Driven by Memory Chips

Author: Chaoxiang Research

US equities continued to diverge on Tuesday. The Nasdaq rose 0.45% to 27,244.28, marking its second consecutive daily record closing high; the S&P 500 remained nearly flat at 7,764.64; the Dow Jones dropped 0.36% to 51,863.69. The impact of Muse has spread beyond the AI computing power rally, with investors starting to worry that AI agents will siphon business away from wealth management, travel, and e-commerce platforms, putting collective pressure on Schwab, JPMorgan, and Airbnb. Oil prices broke back below $100, and the yield on the 10-year US Treasury bond saw a slight pullback. Tonight's focus will be on the initial US September S&P Global PMI readings.

SXPC Rises Six Consecutive Days, Magnificent Seven Diverges

The Nasdaq rose 0.45% to 27,244.28, hitting a historic closing high for two consecutive days. The S&P 500 was essentially flat at 7,764.64, while the Dow Jones fell 0.36% to 51,863.69. The VIX dropped 4.44% to 14.21.

The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rose 1.49% to 12,618.70, extending its winning streak to six consecutive trading sessions. Three of the Magnificent Seven gained, while four declined. Tesla rose 0.96%, NVIDIA rose 0.66%, Apple rose 0.23%; Meta fell 0.63%, Microsoft fell 0.72%, Alphabet fell 1.07%, and Amazon fell 1.34%.

The NasDAQ Golden Dragon China Index rose 0.48% to 5,856.22.

The yield on the 2-year US Treasury hovered around 4.73%, while the 10-year sat near 4.95%. The US Dollar Index edged higher. WTI crude oil fell 1.24% to $94.99 per barrel, and Brent crude dropped 1.09% to $99.25 per barrel. Spot gold fell 0.4% to $4,325 per ounce. Bitcoin was priced at $86,207, down 0.32%; Ethereum stood at $2,751, down 0.38%.

Wealth Management and Travel Platforms Bear the Brunt

After Muse went live, it initially drove up AMD, Intel, and other AI hardware stocks. By Tuesday, capital began shifting to identify another batch of companies potentially facing disruption.

Schwab fell 6.1%, Ameriprise dropped 4.4%, Raymond James slid over 3%, and the S&P 500 Bank Index retreated broadly by 3%. JPMorgan and Wells Fargo also declined more than 3%. Muse can now handle search, email, shopping, and travel bookings on behalf of users, placing both wealth management and brokerage services within its scope of application. Once AI agents become the primary gateway for users to execute transactions and access services, the most valuable customer touchpoints for traditional platforms will be eroded.

Travel and consumer software sectors are feeling the strain as well. Airbnb fell 3%, while Uber and Lyft both dropped over 1%. Amazon had previously banned Muse from directly facilitating purchases on its platform, indicating that the ongoing battle over data and transaction gateways between platforms and AI agents has crystallized into concrete operational conflicts.

Storage Stocks Maintain Momentum, Micron Rises 5%, SanDisk Surges 6.82%

The AI hardware rally continues.

Micron gained 5%, and SanDisk jumped 6.82%, contributing to the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rising for a sixth consecutive day. As inference demand expands, servers require not only more GPUs but also increased memory capacity, bandwidth, and high-speed storage. Storage has emerged as one of the strongest sub-sectors in this round of AI-driven trading.

SanDisk has already surged over 600% year-to-date. Rosenblatt recently issued a new price target of $2,400, highlighting that AI is elevating the importance of NAND flash in data centers. Tight supply continues to drive prices higher, and analysts believe there is still significant room for further increases in the average selling price of NAND in the third quarter.

Apple released its new generation of flagship Mac Mini and Mac Studio that same day, emphasizing local AI capabilities. The company demonstrated four Mac Studios operating in tandem to run trillion-parameter models, aiming to reduce long-term cloud AI costs for enterprises through local computing. AI hardware has now split into distinct demand lines: GPUs handle training and inference, CPUs manage agent task scheduling, storage addresses data throughput, and edge devices are beginning to compete for enterprise inference workloads.

Oil Prices Break Below $100, Bank Stocks Further Pressured by Yield Curve

Oil prices have pulled back consecutively. After Saudi Arabia resumed operations on its east-west pipeline, Red Sea port Yanbu regained export capabilities. Iran stated that if the US reduces military pressure and lifts restrictions on Iranian ports, the Strait of Hormuz could be reopened in as little as seven days. Improving supply conditions pushed Brent back below $100, which also helped draw down the yield on the 10-year US Treasury from recent highs.

Short-end interest rates remain elevated. CME FedWatch data shows traders are pricing in roughly a 53% chance of the Fed raising rates by at least 25 basis points again in October. The spread between the 2-year and 10-year US Treasury yields narrowed to approximately 18 basis points during intraday trading, marking its flattest level since March 2025.

Financial stocks faced additional headwinds overnight. With short-end rates high and long-end rates unable to keep pace, banks find it increasingly difficult to generate profits from term spreads. Simultaneous pressure from AI competition and the yield curve weighed on the sector, causing financial stocks to fall about 2% that day, making it the worst-performing group in the S&P 500.

Today's Focus

US September S&P Global PMI Initial Readings. Business conditions in manufacturing and services, along with corporate price pressures, will influence expectations for the next rate hike. Following the Federal Reserve's recent resumption of tightening, the market sensitivity to this data set has noticeably increased.

Divergence Within the AI Sector. Chips and storage have rallied for consecutive sessions, while financials, travel, and consumer platforms are beginning to worry about Muse stealing market share. Whether capital will continue to rotate from chips and storage into these impacted sectors like financials and travel will be a key development to watch tonight.