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AI Users Give Back Gains; Chips +1%, Energy at 52-Week High

AI Trade — the users give back half their bid as chips bounce 1%; energy hits a 52-week high

Yesterday's rotation into the companies that use AI does not survive the bounce: Accenture −4.6%, Cognizant −4.2%, Infosys −4.2%, while chip ETFs recover only 1.2% of Thursday's 6–7% loss. Software and cybersecurity lead instead (cyber +2.7%, IGV +1.5%), QQQ is back above its September low, and energy trades at a 52-week high with SLB +7.1% after its report.

In this edition

ACN SOXX CIBR QQQ XLE AXP XLP BE

The Midday 10 Fri, Oct 23, 2026 ~60 seconds 12:30 ET

This morning's edition set one test for today: if the AI users keep their bid while the chips bounce, Thursday was a rotation with a direction; if they give it back, it was a hedge. By midday the answer leans to hedge — Accenture and Cognizant give back more than half of yesterday's jump and Infosys all of it, while the chip complex recovers barely a sixth of its washout. The money that moves today goes to software, cybersecurity and energy instead.

US midday, intraday quotes (delayed)

  1. AI users — half of Thursday's bid gone
  2. Chips — a bounce of one-sixth
  3. Software and cybersecurity take the lead
  4. QQQ — back above the September low
  5. Energy — 52-week high, SLB +7.1%
  6. American Express — sold after its report
  7. Defensives — Thursday's bid fades
  8. Bloom Energy — the build-out's power names still sold
  9. Wednesday's earnings windows — one session to the grade
  10. Gold — closer to the 52-week low

The ten lines

  1. 1

    DOWN AI users — half of Thursday's bid gone

    ACN

    Accenture trades 4.6% lower at 246.95, Cognizant 4.2% lower at 70.65 and Infosys's US shares 4.2% lower — after Thursday's +7.7%, +6.0% and +3.7%. Over the two sessions Accenture is still up about 2.8% and Cognizant about 1.6%, so the rotation is reduced, not reversed. Infosys has given back more than all of Thursday's gain. The morning test reads 'hedge' so far: the users fell on a day the chips rose.

  2. 2

    UP Chips — a bounce of one-sixth

    SOXX

    SOXX is up 1.2% at 481.15 and SMH up 1.2% — after Thursday's −6.8% and −6.0%, the two-day loss still sits near 5.7%. The optics names lead the rebound (Lumentum +3.6%, Coherent +2.4%) and Micron adds 3.5%, but Lam Research manages only +0.4% at 231.13 — the hardest-hit equipment name is the slowest to recover.

  3. The Print Record Beat histories against how the stock actually traded — one earnings name per day, all season. Open the Print Record →
  4. 3

    BOARD Software and cybersecurity take the lead

    CIBR

    The cybersecurity fund CIBR is up 2.7% at 105.54, the WisdomTree cloud fund 1.8% and the broad software fund IGV 1.5% — the layer that held flat on Thursday now leads on Friday. Of all the AI-adjacent groups, the one in the middle of the ladder is the day's clear winner.

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C · line 11 · members

Today in line 11: why the AI users' midday give-back reads as a hedge being lifted, not a thesis failing — and the three closes that decide which.

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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.