US Session: Crypto Miners and AI Data Center Stocks Lead; Bath & Body Works Drops 8%

The Quick Take

• Applied Digital (APLD) surges 7.3% and Sea Ltd (SE) gains 6.5% as AI infrastructure and digital economy stocks attract momentum buyers
• Crypto infrastructure stocks Cipher Digital (CIFR) and TeraWulf (WULF) advance 6.4% and 5.4% on Bitcoin price tailwinds
• Bath & Body Works (BBWI) slumps 8.3% and Dycom Industries (DY) falls 7.7% as retail and engineering services face selling pressure
• Celestica (CLS) and AppLovin (APP) each gain 4%+ reinforcing investor confidence in AI supply chain and ad-tech platforms

US equity markets saw a broadly risk-on session with pronounced divergence between AI infrastructure beneficiaries and traditional retail names. Applied Digital, a data center operator serving high-performance computing clients, gained 7.3% as investors continue to price in surging demand for AI workloads. Sea Ltd's 6.5% advance reflects continued institutional appetite for southeast Asian digital economy platforms. Crypto mining stocks Cipher Digital and TeraWulf each posted gains of 5-6%, tracking Bitcoin price momentum and renewed enthusiasm for proof-of-work infrastructure following recent institutional ETF inflows into digital assets.

The session's notable losers reveal twin pressures on consumer discretionary and specialist engineering services. Bath & Body Works slumped 8.3%, its GF Score of 66 suggesting pre-existing quality concerns that amplify selloffs on sentiment shifts. Dycom Industries fell 7.7% despite a strong GF Score of 90, potentially reflecting profit-taking after prior outperformance in telecom infrastructure buildout. Burlington Stores fell 4.7%, consistent with broader softness in off-price retail as consumer spending patterns normalize. The divergence between high-GF-Score losers and low-GF-Score gainers underscores that short-term momentum often decouples from fundamental quality metrics in volatile sessions.

Watch Nvidia's upcoming earnings as the primary catalyst for the next directional leg in AI infrastructure stocks including Celestica, MaxLinear, and Applied Digital. Bath & Body Works and Burlington Stores earnings will test whether consumer discretionary weakness is idiosyncratic or sector-wide. Crypto infrastructure names like TeraWulf and Cipher Digital remain highly sensitive to Bitcoin's spot price trajectory and any regulatory clarity on digital asset mining. The macro variable is Federal Reserve rate guidance: a dovish signal would compress the risk premium on high-beta AI and crypto infrastructure names while pressuring the defensives that underperformed in this session.

Synthesized from 32 sources.