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S&P 500 is up 14% this year as warnings of an AI bubble multiply
The S&P 500 rose 0.6% on Friday to 7,811.54 points. It is up 14.1% since January, driven by the artificial intelligence boom. More and more well-known investors warn that it is a bubble.
On Friday the S&P 500 closed at 7,811.54 points (+0.6%), the Dow Jones at 51,654.95 (+0.8%) and the Nasdaq at 27,366.17 (+0.6%). Since the start of the year the S&P 500 is up 14.1% and the Nasdaq 17.7%.
Billions for data centres
AI-related companies are driving the gains. Bloomberg Intelligence expects companies to spend USD 713 billion on data centres this year, more than twice as much as a year earlier. Nvidia earns the most: its return on invested capital is 91.4%, compared with 28.4% at TSMC.
When will the bubble burst?
"We are in the part of the cycle that precedes the burst," says Ray Dalio, founder of Bridgewater. Joachim Klement of Panmure Liberum expects the AI bubble to burst in 2027–2028 and the S&P 500 to fall to 5,000 points, about 35% below today's level.
This week investors get results from the biggest Wall Street banks (Tuesday), US inflation (Wednesday) and TSMC results (Thursday).
Source: AP, Bankier.pl, Bloomberg Intelligence, Børsen (9–11 Oct 2026)