Smart Investor: AI Boom or Bubble, Stocks on a Tightrope, and Why the Market Could Get More Concentrated

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• Weekly Markets Update: Stocks Gain 1.69% As Real Estate Gains but Financials Slump
• The Markets Are Walking a Tightrope. How Can Investors Find Their Footing?
• The Stock Market Is Ultraconcentrated, and It Could Get Worse. Here’s How to Manage the Risks
• Key Takeaways for Investors From Big Bank Q3 Earnings

For the second week running, there was a shudder in the stock market. But once again, it didn’t last long, and the market ended the week with a gain. Maybe it’s too early to proclaim these as warning signs, but they are certainly worth keeping an eye on..

This past week, regional bank stocks reported their quarterly earnings amid broader worries about credit quality in the wake of the First Brands bankruptcy. But unlike last week, when tech stocks fell, the big AI trade didn’t get dented.

It’s certainly remarkable how the tenor of the conversation around AI stocks has changed. Along with “boom,” the most common keyword is “bubble,” especially in reference to the last big tech boom: dot-com stocks. In the latest in her series of Q&As, Leslie Norton checked in with a stock fund manager who experienced the dot-com bubble firsthand as a young analyst. Dan Chung, now CEO of Alger Funds, explains why he thinks we’re not in a bubble (yet), and offers some of his favorite stock picks.

What’s indisputable about the market right now is that returns – and the overall composition of key indexes that many funds track – are highly concentrated. Sarah Hansen and Dominic Pappalardo, chief multi-asset strategist for Morningstar Wealth, discuss how today’s narrow market compares with history, and how investors can manage this risk.

For an even deeper dive, we’ve got Morningstar’s fourth-quarter 2025 US stock market outlook webinar, featuring our chief US market strategist Dave Sekera and chief US economist Preston Caldwell, hosted by Susan Dziubinski.

The third-quarter earnings season kicked off this past week, led by financial companies, including the big banks. We’ve got a look at what these banks had to say about the quarter, along with what Morningstar senior equity analyst Suryansh Sharma thinks about the outlook for their stocks.

As always, be sure to visit the Markets page for our latest coverage and live stock market updates, along with our full weekly calendar of key upcoming