Morning Brief, Fri 6 Nov 2026

Good morning, fans. Yesterday was a rough day for the AI league. Our AI Economy Index fell 8.4% on 5 Nov while the S&P 500 fell 4.36% (per Yahoo closes). The Index tracks the companies building the AI economy, from chips to clouds to power, so you can see in one number how AI is doing next to the whole market. Yesterday was ugly. Then, after the bell, a few big reports changed the mood. Here is the last 24 hours in plain English.

1. Cloudflare, the comeback of the night. Cloudflare runs a giant network that keeps websites fast and safe, and lets developers run AI apps close to users. Revenue hit $782.5 million, up 39% from a year ago, its fastest growth in nearly four years, per its 5 Nov release. Adjusted earnings of $0.38 a share beat the $0.34 analyst consensus Investing.com cited, and its outlook for this quarter came in well above forecasts. Power Rankings: 14th in AI software and apps, down from 12th. Our take: good sign, and the market really loves this one. Watch for a climb back up.

2. IREN, strong growth, slower calendar. IREN builds data centers and rents out AI computing power to customers like Microsoft. AI cloud revenue nearly tripled to $200 million in the quarter, per its 5 Nov release. But it moved its target for more than $4 billion in annualized run rate revenue from year end to January, possibly February, after a customer requested design change and supplier timing, per its release. That operating measure is not recognized annual revenue. The shares closed down 16.95% before its report (Investing.com, 5 Nov). Power Rankings: 9th in Cloud and compute, steady. Our take: jury's out. The demand is real, but this team needs $15 billion more in spending this year, and some of that money is still a promise.

3. Microchip, good quarter, cold shoulder. Microchip makes the small control chips inside cars, factories, gadgets and, more and more, data centers. Sales were $1.622 billion, up 42.2%, above the top of its own guidance, per its 5 Nov release. But its forecast for this quarter came in under the consensus Investing.com cited, and the shares closed down 13.92% (Yahoo close, 5 Nov). Power Rankings: 25th in Chip equipment and manufacturing, steady. Our take: warning sign for now. Strong numbers did not matter on a day when fans were running for the exits.

4. Sandisk, the worst day in the S&P 500. Sandisk makes flash memory, the chips that store data in phones, laptops and AI data centers. Its shares closed down 22%, the worst in the S&P 500 (MarketWatch, 5 Nov). The fear: after the election, new limits on data centers could slow the AI build and cut demand for memory. Power Rankings: 10th in Chip equipment and manufacturing, down from 9th. Our take: political uncertainty is clouding the outlook.

5. Nvidia, even the champ took a hit. Nvidia designs the graphics chips that train and run most of the world's AI models. Its shares ended down 9% as chip stocks had their worst day in years (MarketWatch, 5 Nov). Power Rankings: 1st in AI chips and networking, steady. Our take: jury's out. The champ is still the champ, but if fewer data centers get built, even Nvidia ships fewer chips. That's the question hanging over the whole league.

6. Toyota, a rare bright spot. Toyota is the world's biggest carmaker and is building robots and self driving tech. It rose 9.35% (Yahoo close, 5 Nov), one of only two Index companies that went up. Power Rankings: 2nd in Robotics and physical AI, steady. Our take: a bright spot in a rough league session. Toyota makes real things, but the close data do not explain its rise.

Power Rankings spots are from our 5 Nov rankings data, compared with our 27 Oct rankings. Rankings and game results describe what already happened. They are not a view on where any share price goes next. This is general information, not investment advice. Fresh Power Rankings drop today, and Cloudflare is the name to watch.

What we're waiting for today: whether yesterday's chip selloff keeps going when trading opens at 9:30am ET.

This is general information, not investment advice.