S&P 500 ex-AI stocks post one of strongest weekly gains since 2024

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S&P 500 ex-AI strong gains

Highlights

S&P ex-AI index rises 2.4% this week, outperforming the S&P 500 by 3.29 percentage points for its second-largest weekly margin in 2024.
Fair Isaac surges nearly 14%, Equifax climbs 10.4%, Darden Restaurants gains 10.3%, and Brown-Forman rises 9% among non-AI S&P 500 leaders this week.
Investors are broadening exposure beyond AI stocks, highlighted by the February launch of the S&P ex-AI index (SPXXAI) that excludes companies with significant AI-related revenue.

Weekly performance widens beyond AI leaders

As reported by CNBC, citing FactSet data, stocks outside the AI trade are outperforming the broader market this week by one of the widest margins seen since early 2024. Through Thursday, the S&P ex-AI index rises 2.4% while the S&P 500 falls nearly 1%, leaving the ex-AI benchmark ahead by 3.29 percentage points and on pace for its second-largest weekly outperformance over that period.

The split is especially sharp on Wednesday, when the S&P ex-AI index gains 0.61% and beats the S&P 500 by 1.72 percentage points. CNBC says that marks the fifth-largest daily gap in favor of the ex-AI benchmark this year.

Among the leading S&P 500 outperformers not tied to AI this week are Fair Isaac, up almost 14%, Equifax, ahead 10.4%, Darden Restaurants, 10.3% higher, and Brown-Forman, up 9%. Only the week ended June 26 shows a wider recent spread, when ex-AI stocks rose 2.3% and the S&P 500 fell roughly 2%, producing a 4.26 percentage-point gap.

Investor demand broadens market exposure

Although the ex-AI benchmark still trails the broader S&P 500 over a longer period, this week's move offers a snapshot of gains extending beyond companies most closely linked to AI enthusiasm. Investors are reassessing a market that has been increasingly shaped by a concentrated group of AI-related stocks.

That backdrop helps explain the launch in February of the S&P ex-AI index, ticker SPXXAI, introduced by Goldman Sachs and S&P Dow Jones Indices. The index, first reported at the time by Axios, is designed to help investors measure or hedge against the AI trade by excluding companies with significant exposure to AI-related revenue, infrastructure or demand, including businesses tied to chips, data centers, networking and cloud computing.

At launch, AI-related companies account for about 45% of the S&P 500, and the index history is back-tested to early January 2024. Trivector Research also argues in August that so-called non-tech compounders, including Eli Lilly, Tapestry and AbbVie, could benefit if market leadership broadens or volatility rises.

Our earlier analysis of the Nasdaq 100’s slide highlighted how weakness in AI-linked stocks, combined with concerns that higher interest rates could curb investment, pushed the index toward near one-month lows. It also noted a strongly bearish technical setup, with NDX trading below key moving averages and upside seen as unlikely without a break back above major resistance levels.

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