Weekly Market Update - November 9 2026

Last week, the S&P 500 pulled back while the TSX Composite closed roughly flat after a Democratic sweep of the US Congress introduced regulatory risks for AI infrastructure. What began as mixed trading in the US information technology sector turned into a broad-based Thursday sell-off, with the Nasdaq, S&P 500, and TSX Composite falling 6.4%, 4.4%, and 2.0%, respectively, while the VIX—an index measuring S&P 500 volatility—rocketed a staggering 70%. Investors fear newly elected governors in hubs like Texas, which accounts for 30% of 2028 US data centre capacity according to SemiAnalysis, could impose construction moratoriums.

The US mid-term elections were a focal point for investors last week. The change in political leadership in various states facilitated concerns over the pace of artificial intelligence development. Specifically, some newly elected leaders ran on platforms that promised to slow or stop data centre construction. This resonated through the layers of the artificial intelligence ecosystem and impacted a variety of publicly traded companies with exposure. Companies with exposure to energy delivery, construction, cooling systems and compute were some of the many impacted. Further outlined in our chart of the week below, it's important for investors to understand the impact on their portfolios, and how important portfolio diversification is when investments become overexposed to certain themes such as artificial intelligence.

Hardware manufacturers face diverging fortunes amid the AI boom. Apple shares fell 1.9% as weaker-than-expected holiday quarter margin guidance overshadowed an earnings beat. This margin pressure is driven by rising memory chip costs and server-side AI operating expenses, which Apple aims to mitigate through selective hardware price increases and iCloud+ subscription hikes. Despite strong revenue, sentiment was weighed down by slower projected services growth, supply constraints for the newly launched foldable iPhone Duo, and softer China sales.

Conversely, AMD shares rose 1% after forecasting 2027 revenue growth of more than 80% alongside strong earnings, propelled by a booming data centre business that saw quarterly sales jump 97%. Accelerating its challenge to Nvidia's AI dominance, the CEO noted that data centre chips will account for 80% of next year's sales and drive the majority of the company's earnings growth.

In e-commerce, Shopify shares fell over 8% despite posting earnings above expectations, as the platform missed estimates for quarterly revenue, gross merchandise volume (GMV), and subscription gross profit. Still, the company issued a fourth-quarter revenue growth outlook in the low-thirties per cent range, highlighting an impressive 13th consecutive quarter of GMV growth above 20%.

Last week, bond markets rallied as prices rose and yields declined across the curve—catalyzed by a Democratic sweep in the US midterm elections, a sharp drop in crude oil prices, tech-led equity selling pressure and risk-off positioning. Meanwhile, a major central bank hiked rates and a hyperscaler launched a cross-border investment-grade bond offering.

Safe-haven government bond demand was bolstered as semiconductor and AI-related technology shares fell sharply, driven in part by investor concerns over potentially tighter data center regulation under a Democrat-controlled Congress. In response, US 10-year Treasury yields dropped seven basis points to close the week at 4.86%. Meanwhile, Canadian 10-year government bond yields fell 15 basis points to 3.65%, driven by broader risk-off sentiment and a rise in the Canadian unemployment rate from 6.5% to 6.7%. Subsequently, the odds of a Bank of Canada rate hike in December declined to 35% from 51%.

The Bank of England (BoE) voted 8-1 to lift its bank rate by 25 basis points to 4%, marking its first rate increase in more than three years. In forward guidance, BoE Governor Andrew Bailey maintained an open-ended posture, suggesting a potential argument for a further rate hike in the near term if Middle East tensions drive energy costs higher. Updated BoE projections showed UK consumer price index inflation approaching 5% in 2027, driven by a surge in household energy costs linked to the Middle East conflict. 

Meta Platforms tapped into debt markets with a combined US$24 billion equivalent cross-border bond offering. Investors expect proceeds to support ongoing AI infrastructure investment—consistent with the broader hyperscaler AI infrastructure financing trend this year. According to Bloomberg, the deal featured a US$15 billion, five-part offering with maturities spanning five to 30 years and coupons between 5.85% and 7.50%. Additionally, Meta issued a EUR 9 billion, six-part offering with maturities from four to 38 years and coupons between 4.30% and 6.40%.