Major equity benchmarks posted their fourth straight weekly drop after an intense tech retreat wiped out recent gains, leaving the technology sector cheaper than the wider S&P 500 for the first time since 2017. While the equal-weight S&P 500 reached an all-time peak during the week and ended relatively flat, the market-cap weighted S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite each fell around 3% across the five-day stretch.
Following the pullback, technology shares in the S&P 500 traded at roughly 17 times projected earnings, dropping beneath the broader index's multiple of 18 times. This valuation reset contrasts sharply with October 2025, when technology equities were commanding roughly 32 times forward earnings. Friday delivered a partial recovery for chipmakers and hardware providers, though major indexes still suffered meaningful net losses over the week.
Berkshire Hathaway substantially stepped up its capital return program during the third quarter, directing approximately $9.6 billion toward repurchases of its own shares. The volume represents more than twice the $4.5 billion executed in the preceding second quarter, lifting the conglomerate's cumulative buyback tally across 2026 to around $14.4 billion. The accelerated buyback activity occurred against a backdrop of retreating quarterly profitability, indicating executive confidence in the valuation of the company's equity.
Operating earnings generated from Berkshire's wholly owned business units declined 5.8% year over year to $12.705 billion, pulled down largely by weakness across its insurance operations. Insurance underwriting earnings slumped 43% to $1.352 billion, and insurance investment gains fell 14% to $2.734 billion, overshadowing operational gains across railroad, energy, and manufacturing subsidiaries. Comprehensive net income fell 28% to $22.112 billion as broader investment returns contracted. Despite these headwinds, Berkshire's Class A equity has gained over 12% across the past month, benefiting from broader investor rotation out of technology assets.
Artificial intelligence developer Anthropic is moving forward with plans for an initial public offering on the Nasdaq, targeting an arrival prior to Thanksgiving despite recent severe turbulence across technology equities. Backers and investors now anticipate the Claude creator will seek an equity valuation between $1 trillion and $1.5 trillion. This revised valuation range reflects a pullback from previously floated figures that had reached as high as $2 trillion.
The public market debut faces an increasingly complicated public and regulatory environment following recent United States midterm election results. Voters backed candidates advocating tighter artificial intelligence oversight and rejected data center ballot measures in 40 out of 41 instances, while key benchmark technology indexes suffered sharp weekly declines. The upcoming listing is positioned as a pivotal test for institutional investor appetite surrounding high-expenditure artificial intelligence business models.