My Daily AI & Markets Briefing — Thursday, October 8, 2026

SOXL cratered nearly 7% as spiking Treasury yields and rising oil prices crushed leveraged semiconductor exposure; QQQ and VUG also fell modestly on rate fears. • September Fed minutes confirmed another rate hike is likely before year-end, directly threatening the AI and growth trade powering QQQ and SOXL. • OpenAI launched GPT-6 to all ChatGPT users — its biggest model release in over a year — paired with a new interactive visual UI that resets the competitive frontier. • Van Eck's CEO flagged that the broader AI 2.0 infrastructure and application layer is underperforming megacap AI names, raising questions about how far QQQ and VUG gains can spread. • Samsung's stock fell despite a record profit forecast, signaling market skepticism that semi fundamentals can hold against macro headwinds — a bearish read for SOXL.