HSBC: Anthropic IPO May Sway Markets More Than U.S. Midterm Elections

TechFlow reported on November 6: Max Kettner of HSBC, one of the few Wall Street strategists who had already shifted to a cautious stance ahead of Thursday's U.S. stock rout, said that Anthropic's possible IPO could have a more far-reaching impact than the U.S. midterm elections. Two weeks ago, Kettner downgraded equities from the highest overweight level to neutral. He believes that regardless of how tech companies allocate capital spending, the overall market narrative for the tech sector has turned unfavorable.

Although tech stocks suffered a sharp sell-off this week, he believes the fundamental logic of the AI trade has not been broken. However, after the U.S. midterm elections, he remains cautious and notes that investors had done little to hedge against election risk, so how much market risk the election actually eliminated remains to be seen. He said: 'The event that could truly eliminate market risk may be Anthropic's IPO in two weeks (if it proceeds as scheduled). The most ideal scenario may be for the IPO to take place as planned.'

Source: TechFlow