The stocks that start running after midnight

The closing bell sends most traders home.
Tim Sykes starts looking after midnight.

Most traders don’t realize this.

They hear the closing bell and think it’s time to go.

When Tim Sykes hears the bell, he starts looking for his next “midnight runner.”

Years ago, he found what he calls a “loophole” that lets certain stocks run in the markets after midnight, long after most traders have logged off.

The next closing bell rings Monday at 4:00 PM ET.

See the midnight-runner setup Tim watches >>

THE WEEK IN BRIEF

Last week the market sold the AI trade and bought things that pay now. QQQ lost 5.5% (751.27 to 709.80 at Friday’s close), the Nasdaq’s first weekly loss in five weeks (AP), while the Dow ETF DIA finished up 0.6%.

1 · QQQ −5.5% wk · 709.80 at Friday’s close, with −2.5% of that on Friday alone.

2 · SMH −10.5% wk · 603.33 to 539.79. The PHLX semiconductor index fell eight straight sessions through Friday (MT Newswires).

3 · XLE +4.9% wk · 65.08 to 68.24, helped by WTI crude rising 3.6% Friday to $101.46 (MT Newswires).

HEADLINE OF THE WEEK

The AI selloff turned into a credit question, and CoreWeave lost a quarter of its value.

Reuters · Bloomberg via MT Newswires · Oct 16, 2026

CoreWeave fell from $82.08 to $61.39 on the week, −11.9% on Friday alone, as its bonds traded at yields above 15% (Reuters). Bloomberg reported its co-founders have sold $3.3B of stock since the March 2025 IPO, $2.4B of it this year. Chips went with it Friday: AMD −5.95%, MU −5.63%, AVGO −4.52%, while utilities (XLU +1.34%) and staples (XLP +1.08%) caught the money.

Who’s exposed: AI names that need outside money to keep building. If lenders want 15% to fund the next data center, shareholders feel it first.

Next: Fifth Third reports around 6:30 AM ET Monday and Cleveland-Cliffs before the open. NAHB homebuilder sentiment is due at 10:00 AM ET, with Steel Dynamics, Zions and Western Alliance after the close. Netflix follows Tuesday after the bell.

Wrong if: SMH gets back above Thursday’s $558.84 close by Tuesday and CoreWeave holds Friday’s $61.39. That would say Friday was traders lightening up for the weekend.

Larry Benedict names the one ticker he says moves like clockwork when a monthly “cartel” meets (From Brownstone Research)

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Signal over noise. Chips slid eight straight sessions, and Fifth Third reports before Monday’s open.