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Accenture +18%, Synopsys +8%: AI Comeback, Midday Read

AI comeback — Accenture +18%, Synopsys +8%, optics +9% while all three US indices slip

Three in four S&P 500 stocks fell in September, and today looks the same: the Dow, the S&P 500 and the Nasdaq are all lower, while anything that can show it gets paid for AI jumps. The surprise is who: Accenture, sold as an AI loser in the first half, rises 17.9% on record bookings. Memory and storage stay flat despite superb results.

In this edition

SPY RSP SOXX SMH QQQ IWM TLT ACN

The Midday 10 Thu, Oct 1, 2026 ~60 seconds 12:15 ET

September was a broken market. Three in four S&P 500 stocks fell during the month, CNBC reported, and Morgan Stanley counts only 49% of index members above their 200-day average, down from about 75% earlier this year. The index itself held up because a handful of very large companies, most of them tied to AI, kept rising.

Our own chip section shows the other side of that split. Of the 85 chip stocks we track, 68 rose in September and 66 trade above their 200-day average. Either you are somewhere in AI right now, or you are losing.

Today repeats the pattern with a twist. All three US indices are lower: the Dow down 0.50%, the S&P 500 0.32%, the Nasdaq 0.39%. Banks, home improvement, travel and online retail all fall. The winners include companies the market had filed under AI losers in the first half: Accenture jumps 17.9%, the IT-services group follows, and software is higher. Memory and storage, the big winners of the first half, stay flat.

US intraday quotes at about 11:55 ET (15:55 UTC); moves are measured against Wednesday's closes. Intraday prints are not closes. European figures are closes. September breadth for the S&P 500 as reported by CNBC and Morgan Stanley; our chip-section figures from the Closelooknet data lake at Wednesday's close. Accenture and Synopsys news from the company releases and investor-day announcements as reported. Tokyo closes for Lasertec and Advantest.

  1. Breadth: 75% of S&P 500 stocks fell in September; only 49% trade above their 200-day average (Morgan Stanley), from about 75%; in our chip section 68 of 85 rose and 66 sit above the 200-day
  2. All three indices lower: Dow 50,651.13 (−0.50%), S&P 500 7,626.87 (−0.32%), Nasdaq 26,755.92 (−0.39%); equal-weight fund RSP −0.13%, small caps IWM −0.28%; chip index SOX +0.47%, software fund IGV +0.25%; TLT $77.65 (+0.23%), 30-year yield 5.61%
  3. Accenture $216.21 (+17.91%) on record bookings; IT services follow: Cognizant +6.72%, EPAM +6.48%, Infosys +5.90%, Gartner +3.76%, Capgemini +7.38% at the Paris close
  4. Chip-design software: Synopsys $471.56 (+8.42%) after its investor day, Cadence $340.49 (+3.12%)
  5. The first-half losers come back: Microsoft fell 22.9% in the first half and rose 37.5% in the third quarter; Accenture −53.6%, then +47.4%; software fund IGV −14.3%, then +17.5%
  6. AI hardware suppliers jump: Coherent $316.10 (+9.83%), Lumentum $1,057.23 (+8.85%); Arista +0.35%, Nvidia +0.35%, Broadcom −1.24%; in Tokyo, Lasertec +11.14% and Advantest +9.78%
  7. Memory and storage flat after superb results: Micron $1,049.70 (−1.45%), Sandisk unchanged, Seagate −0.68%; Micron is 13.5% below its June high, Sandisk 25.5%, Seagate 16.3%
  8. Consumer spending weak worldwide: Mercado Libre $1,681.85 (−2.70%), Sea −2.85%, Disney −3.01%, Home Depot −1.68%, Lowe's −2.01%, Booking −1.33%; Amazon $246.70 (−0.98%), down 4.1% in a month to Wednesday
  9. Banks slip: Goldman Sachs $887.85 (−1.39%), Morgan Stanley −2.21%, JPMorgan −0.66%; financials fund XLF −0.68%, regional banks KRE −1.02%
  10. Europe weak across the board at the close: CAC 40 7,835.31 (−1.62%), FTSE 100 −1.64%, Euro Stoxx 50 −1.49%, DAX −1.03%; LVMH −2.69%, Hermès −2.62%

The ten lines

  1. 1

    LEVEL Breadth: 75% of S&P 500 stocks fell in September; only 49% trade above their 200-day average (Morgan Stanley), from about 75%; in our chip section 68 of 85 rose and 66 sit above the 200-day

    SPYRSPSOXXSMH

    Morgan Stanley's Mike Wilson reads it as a market narrowing into quality and advises staying with large, profitable companies while adding riskier stocks in October. Strategists also note that the median S&P 500 company is still growing earnings by more than 15%. Our data says where the narrow market lives: in chips, 80% of names rose last month.

  2. 2

    DOWN All three indices lower: Dow 50,651.13 (−0.50%), S&P 500 7,626.87 (−0.32%), Nasdaq 26,755.92 (−0.39%); equal-weight fund RSP −0.13%, small caps IWM −0.28%; chip index SOX +0.47%, software fund IGV +0.25%; TLT $77.65 (+0.23%), 30-year yield 5.61%

    ^DJISPYQQQRSPIWMTLT

    The morning's green futures did not hold. The broad market is red, while chips and software are slightly higher. Software opened strong and has given back most of it. Long bonds bounce a little but stay below the 78 level that broke on Wednesday.

  3. Weekly Signal One signal to define the week — scored in the open, Sundays at 21:00 CET. Read the Weekly Signal →
  4. 3

    UP Accenture $216.21 (+17.91%) on record bookings; IT services follow: Cognizant +6.72%, EPAM +6.48%, Infosys +5.90%, Gartner +3.76%, Capgemini +7.38% at the Paris close

    ACNEPAMITCTSHINFYCAP.PA

    Revenue of $18.7 billion and EPS of $3.29 beat the estimates on our card ($18.03 billion, $3.18). New bookings were $22.2 billion in the quarter and a record $84.5 billion for the year, with 141 contracts worth $100 million or more. The fear all year was that AI agents shrink the hours Accenture bills; the bookings say companies are paying Accenture to put AI to work. On our Print Record card, the three-session window after a report never moved more than 6.0%, and seven of ten moved less than 3%. Today's jump comes before this window even opens: it starts from today's close and is graded on Tuesday's close.

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Today in line 11: why the AI losers of the first half are bouncing, what that means for the memory names that are not moving, and what to watch in breadth into October.

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Further reading on Closelooknet

Ten lines on the US midday tape, not advice — an investment diary. Published every trading day at 12:30 ET. See The Morning 10 and the Daily Pulse.