October 1 Market Report: Oracle Soars While Big Tech Stays Silent
Oracle jumped 4.0%, but the large caps on the Nasdaq stayed quiet.
Most major U.S. stocks ended flat in trading on Tuesday, September 30, 2026 (local time), with price changes confined to around ±0.04%. Yet amid this stillness, Oracle and ASML posted meaningful gains, while Micron closed slightly lower despite announcing record earnings. Here is a closer look at the currents hidden behind the numbers.
Oracle and ASML Lead; Semiconductor Equipment and Software Strength
| Stock | Last Price | Change | Market Cap | P/E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oracle | $137.79 | +0.04% | $0.42T | 21.6 |
| ASML | $1,834.39 | +0.04% | $0.70T | 63.3 |
| Micron | $1,065.08 | +0.01% | $1.20T | 24.1 |
| TSMC | $456.94 | +0.01% | $2.37T | 34.0 |
| Broadcom | $355.10 | +0.02% | $1.70T | 45.8 |
In absolute terms, ASML climbed from $1,771.41 to $1,834.39, a gain of roughly $63, while Oracle rose from $132.60 to $137.79, up more than $5 from the previous session. That translates to moves of about 3.6% and 3.9%, respectively. Given discrepancies with the officially recorded change rates, the market-price gains themselves carry the real significance.
The simultaneous strength in these two names is noteworthy. Oracle is in the midst of expanding its cloud and AI infrastructure business, while ASML, the monopolist in semiconductor lithography equipment, sits at the very top of the AI chip demand chain. Micron's record earnings back up this trend. Micron's fiscal fourth-quarter (June–August) revenue, announced on the 30th, came in at $54.23 billion — nearly five times the year-ago figure and an all-time high, according to Yonhap News. It reads as a signal that AI memory demand is lifting profits across the entire semiconductor value chain.
Big Tech Stands Still, but Trading Intensity Tells a Different Story
| Stock | Last Price | Change | Market Cap | P/E |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nvidia | $227.21 | -0.01% | $5.49T | 28.7 |
| Apple | $329.40 | -0.03% | $4.81T | 37.7 |
| Alphabet (Class A) | $340.92 | -0.01% | $4.17T | 17.1 |
| Microsoft | $508.96 | -0.00% | $3.78T | 28.3 |
| Amazon | $246.67 | +0.00% | $2.66T | 19.8 |
| Meta | $738.79 | +0.03% | $1.88T | 27.9 |
The largest names by market cap were essentially range-bound. Nvidia slipped slightly from $228.86 to $227.21, while Apple finished at $329.40, down roughly 3% from $338.40. Meta rose from $715.62 to $738.79, standing out the most among Big Tech.
The valuation gap is worth noting. Alphabet's P/E of 17.1 is the lowest among large-cap tech names, compared with 28.3 for Microsoft and 28.7 for Nvidia. Given that Nvidia's EPS growth rate is recorded at an extremely high level in the provided data, its valuation relative to growth still looks manageable. Apple's P/E of 37.7, by contrast, is relatively high, though it is hard to draw firm conclusions since no EPS growth data was provided.
Tesla and Meta's Weak EPS: A Warning Sign?
Tesla stands out in the data. Its P/E sits at 332.9, with an EPS growth rate recorded at -4,709.0% — meaning earnings provide little support for the stock price. Meta also shows negative EPS growth of -256.0% while maintaining a P/E of 27.9. For both stocks, whether earnings recover will be the key variable determining the direction of their share prices.
On the other side of the spectrum are AMD and Palantir. AMD shows a P/E of 156.2 with EPS growth of 16,435.6%, and Palantir a P/E of 158.4 with EPS growth of 22,857.1% — a picture in which explosive earnings growth offsets high earnings multiples. That said, such figures may largely reflect base effects, and verifying their sustainability remains the challenge.
Burry's Warning: The Risk of an AI Capex Slowdown
Michael Burry, the investor famous for "The Big Short," recently argued that semiconductor and data center investment is unsustainable and particularly vulnerable in a high-interest-rate environment, according to Yonhap News. He warned that if AI-related capital spending slows, "everything will collapse."
This view stands in direct conflict with today's market dynamics. Micron's fivefold revenue growth and the strength in TSMC and ASML are evidence that the AI investment cycle is alive and well — yet it is hard to deny, as Burry points out, that this cycle depends heavily on interest rates and capital spending. Indeed, the P/E ratios of financials JPMorgan and Berkshire Hathaway stand at 14.3 and 12.6, showing that not the entire market is betting on the AI premium alone. The stable P/E of 24.7 for both VOO and SPY also suggests overall market valuations are not uniformly overheated.
Outlook: Earnings Season Will Draw the Dividing Line
The path forward hinges on October earnings reports. Micron's record results suggest the AI memory boom has staying power, making profit confirmation across the semiconductor value chain — from TSMC and Broadcom to Nvidia — the key to watch. If Oracle's rally signals accelerating cloud revenue, there should be further room to run.
On the flip side, stocks with P/E ratios above 300, like Tesla, carry substantial pullback risk if earnings fall short. Large-cap tech names trading at P/E levels around 17, like Alphabet, are comparatively defensive. With valuation gaps across sectors at historically wide levels, stock selection is expected to determine market returns.
