HSBC: Anthropic IPO Could Sway Markets More Than US Midterm Elections

TechFlow reported that on November 06, ahead of the sharp decline in US stocks on Thursday, Max Kettner, a Wall Street strategist at HSBC Bank and one of the few to adopt a cautious stance early on, stated that the potential initial public offering of Anthropic may have far-reaching implications surpassing those of the US midterm elections. Two weeks ago, Kettner downgraded his stock rating from strong overweight to neutral. He noted that regardless of how tech companies allocate their capital expenditures, the broader market narrative surrounding the technology sector has turned negative.

Despite the heavy sell-off in technology stocks this week, he believes the fundamental logic behind AI trading remains intact. However, following the US midterm elections, he remains cautious and questions why investors had virtually no risk hedging in place for the election, leaving it to be seen exactly how much market risk the vote has actually mitigated. He stated, "The event most likely to clear market risk could be Anthropic’s IPO in two weeks’ time (if it proceeds as planned). The ideal scenario would be for the IPO to go ahead on schedule."