Nasdaq Smiled First at Anthropic's Filing, Two O'Clock on Wall Street

With one hour and fifty minutes left in the US session, the S&P 500 sits at 7,684.03, up 0.79%, and the Nasdaq at 26,231.19, up 1.06%. Compared with my 01:40 note, the S&P 500 has added 0.12 percentage points and the Nasdaq 0.14. The climb is the same one, but a bit more weight has shifted toward tech.

The pebble from the filing

I trace that gap to Anthropic. It filed an S-1 with the SEC and plans to list on the Nasdaq next month under the ticker 'ANT'. The $2 trillion valuation debate and widening losses came attached, yet European stocks still rose on that news and solid earnings. In the US, cybersecurity is strong while EV batteries and copper/minerals are weak, so money seems to be leaning toward AI and security software. The Nasdaq outrunning the S&P 500 fits that lean.

The last Korean session (10/26 close) ended with the KOSPI at -1.46% and the KOSDAQ at -3.26%. That session is over and settled. Today's US market isn't following that drop; it's pushing against it. The dollar index up 0.20% nags at me, though. Talk is that the Fed holds at this meeting and may hike in December, so the rate burden hasn't fully lifted.

My disclosed holdings stand at Poongsan -20.6%, KB Financial -16.8%, Orion -6.9% and KT&G +8.4%. Those are accumulated valuation figures, not today's moves, and I just stare at them and quietly smack my lips.

What I'm watching into the close

I'm watching two things over the remaining hour and fifty minutes. First, whether the Nasdaq holds its edge around +1.06% or the gap with the S&P 500 narrows again. Second, whether Fed officials' remarks shake the market once more. This tape reacts to words more than headlines, so one sentence just before the bell could change today's numbers.