Nagham Hassan, Market Analyst at eToro
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates:
If you’ve been watching the markets lately, you’ve probably noticed its mood swings. One day the headlines warn of an AI bubble, the next they’re celebrating record earnings. Both narratives have evidence behind them right now, and that’s part of what makes this moment hard to read with any confidence.
Nagham Hassan, Market Analyst at eToro, says to start with what we can measure: company performance. Micron posted Q3 2026 revenue of $41.5 billion, roughly quadruple the figure a year ago, while locking in approximately $100 billion in minimum contracted revenue through long-term agreements, with $22 billion in upfront customer cash commitments. These deals signal real demand, not just upbeat sentiment.
At the same time, central banks and risk analysts are raising flags. The Bank for International Settlements, in its latest global economic report, points to a structural tension worth watching. The five largest hyperscalers are set to spend over a trillion US dollars on AI-related capital expenditure from 2025 through 2026, with these commitments outpacing earnings and free cash flow, leading some to issue debt to raise additional financing. The BIS also notes that implied long-term earnings growth for the largest corporations sits well above recent historical benchmarks, often exceeding even the elevated growth rates these firms have delivered in their relatively short lifetimes. Whether that gap closes through continued execution or a painful correction is something nobody can say with certainty.
Last week gave a glimpse of how quickly sentiment can shift. SoftBank plunged 13%, leading a broad selloff across Asian technology stocks, after Apple and Microsoft both raised prices, citing the rising cost of AI-driven chip demand. The Magnificent Seven, plus Broadcom and Oracle, have shed roughly $2.7 trillion in market value in June alone.
But the picture isn’t uniformly bleak. Around 63% of S&P 500 stocks are still trading above their 200-day moving average even after the recent pullback, suggesting the selling has so far been concentrated in mega-cap technology names rather than systemic. That doesn’t rule out further volatility, but it’s a different pattern than what typically precedes a broad unwind.
One trend that does seem to be unfolding is a shift in where capital is flowing; away from the most crowded AI mega-caps and toward sectors like banks, healthcare, industrials, and smaller companies, a gradual reversal of the trend over the past two years. What seems fair to say is that strong earnings and a more leveraged system underneath them can coexist. Last week’s volatility doesn’t settle whether a bubble is building or simply correcting. It may reflect investors becoming more selective, but a clearer picture will likely take more than one volatile week to emerge.
The survey, commissioned by the trading and investing platform eToro, sampled 1,000 retail investors residing in the UAE. The survey was conducted from March 13, 2026 – March 26, 2026, and carried out by research company Appinio. Retail investors were defined as self-directed or advised and had to hold at least one investment product including shares, bonds, funds, investment or equivalent. They did not need to be eToro users.
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