Key Takeaways

• AI leadership rotated rather than reversed: Memory and broader semiconductor names led the Period, with Micron Technology (MU) up 28.3% and Marvell Technology (MRVL) rallying, even as crowded bellwether NVIDIA (NVDA) fell 13.1%.
• Macro risk reasserted itself: Firm labor data, renewed inflation concern, and geopolitical and energy pressure left the market rewarding visible earnings and AI-linked growth but punishing valuation risk, with the Nasdaq Composite down 3.0% and the S&P 500 off 1.3% over the Period.
• Crypto-linked exposure was the biggest drag: Strategy Inc. (MSTR) slid 35.7%, underperforming bitcoin's 22.2% decline on treasury-structure and mNAV-premium (the multiple of net asset value at which the company's stock trades relative to its bitcoin holdings).

Market Backdrop: AI Strength Meets Renewed Macro Pressure

U.S. equity markets were mixed during the recent period between selection dates (May 14, 2026 – June 11, 2026, the “Period”) as the strength that carried markets to record levels in May began to give way to a more two-sided trading environment in early June. The Period opened with investors still focused on the same forces that had supported the prior month’s rally, including resilient corporate earnings, continued enthusiasm for AI-related capital spending, and evidence that large-cap technology and semiconductor leadership remained intact. That momentum persisted into the early part of June, with major indices briefly extending their advance before a sharper pullback late in the Period left broader equity benchmarks modestly lower.

The technology complex remained central to market leadership, although the composition of returns became more uneven as the Period progressed. AI infrastructure, semiconductors, memory, and data center-related equities continued to benefit from strong investor conviction around hyperscaler capital spending and the durability of demand across the broader compute ecosystem. Semiconductor equities were a notable source of strength, and the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index advanced during the Period even as broader indices declined. This divergence was consistent with the market’s continued willingness to assign premium valuations to companies viewed as direct beneficiaries of the AI investment cycle, while becoming more selective across other areas of growth and consumer-facing equities.

At the same time, the macro backdrop became less supportive. Labor market data remained firm, reinforcing the view that the U.S. economy continues to expand, but also limiting the market’s ability to price a more accommodative Federal Reserve path. Inflation concerns also moved back into focus late in the Period, with energy prices and geopolitical risk contributing to renewed pressure on rate expectations. The result was a market that continued to reward visible earnings strength and AI-linked growth, but with less tolerance for valuation risk, weaker balance sheets, or narratives that had moved ahead of fundamentals. The sharp selloff in early June highlighted that sensitivity, particularly across higher-beta growth and sentiment-driven segments of the market.

Against this backdrop, the S&P 500 declined 1.3% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 3.0% during the Period. The BUZZ NextGen AI US Sentiment Leaders Index (the “BUZZ Index”) declined 2.1%, modestly underperforming the S&P 500 but outperforming the Nasdaq Composite. The result reflected a more balanced environment for the BUZZ Index than in the prior Period, when higher-beta, AI-linked constituents participated disproportionately in the rebound. While semiconductor exposure remained supportive, broader sentiment leadership was pressured by profit-taking, macro uncertainty, and a more cautious tone across several areas of the market. In our view, the Period therefore represented less of a reversal in the AI and technology leadership theme than a pause in its broader market expression, as investors continued to favor the strongest structural growth stories while becoming more disciplined around price, positioning, and macro risk.

The BUZZ Index returned 20.23% during the month of May compared to a return of 5.26% for the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Year-to-date, the BUZZ Index leads the S&P 500 with returns of 25.27% and 11.27%, respectively, as of the end of May.

Micron and AST SpaceMobile lead BUZZ Gains as AI Infrastructure and Space Connectivity Themes Remain in Focus

Micron Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) was the leading contributor to BUZZ Index performance during the Period, as its stock rose 28.3%. The stock continued to benefit from investor enthusiasm around the AI memory cycle, with high-bandwidth memory and DRAM increasingly viewed as critical bottlenecks in the broader AI infrastructure buildout. During the Period, several sell-side and industry reports reinforced the view that memory supply remains tight, with Morgan Stanley reportedly highlighting sustained DRAM and NAND constraints, limited capacity expansion, and strong hyperscaler demand as supportive of continued earnings revisions and improved free cash flow visibility. Additional commentary pointed to AI workloads extending the duration of the current memory upcycle, while investors appeared willing to look through longer-term competitive concerns from Chinese memory suppliers given Micron’s more immediate leverage to high-bandwidth memory and advanced DRAM demand.

AST SpaceMobile, Inc. (NASDAQ: ASTS) was also a significant contributor, as its stock rose 17.5% during the Period. The stock recovered from earlier launch-related and earnings-driven weakness as investors refocused on the company’s next deployment milestone and the broader direct-to-device satellite connectivity theme. On June 9, AST SpaceMobile announced that its BlueBird 8, 9, and 10 satellites were scheduled to launch on June 17 from Cape Canaveral aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The company also benefited from renewed investor attention toward the broader space economy ahead of the expected SpaceX public listing under the SPCX ticker, which appeared to lift interest in publicly traded space and satellite-related equities. While execution risk remains central to the ASTS investment case, particularly following the earlier BlueBird 7 setback, the upcoming launch announcements may have helped restore some confidence in the company’s 2026 deployment schedule.

Top BUZZ Index Contributors: May 14, 2026 – June 11, 2026

Source: BUZZ Holdings ULC, Bloomberg. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index performance is not illustrative of fund performance. Not intended as a recommendation to buy or to sell any of the securities mentioned herein.

Strategy and NVIDIA Detract as Bitcoin-Linked Exposure Weakens and Semiconductor Leadership Broadens

Strategy Inc (NASDAQ: MSTR) was the largest detractor from BUZZ Index performance during the Period, as shares of the largest corporate holder of Bitcoin slid 35.7%. The weakness was notable given that Bitcoin declined 22.2% over the same window, leaving Strategy Inc underperforming its primary underlying exposure. The underperformance appeared to reflect a market that was increasingly focused on the structure of the company’s Bitcoin treasury strategy, rather than Bitcoin price exposure alone. During the Period, investors continued to debate the implications of Strategy Inc potentially selling portions of its Bitcoin holdings to fund dividend obligations and debt repurchases, while concerns mounted relating to the compression in the company’s mNAV premium and the cash requirements associated with its preferred stock structure. The company later resumed Bitcoin purchases, including a 1,550 Bitcoin acquisition between June 1 and June 7, but that update came against a backdrop of prior concerns around a small Bitcoin sale to fund preferred dividends, ETF outflows weighing on crypto sentiment, and the potential for further dilution through equity issuance.

NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA) also detracted from performance, declining 13.1% during the Period. This decline was notable because the broader semiconductor complex, as measured by the MVIS US Listed Semiconductor 25 Index, advanced 5.4% over the same timeframe, highlighting a period in which semiconductor leadership broadened away from the most crowded AI bellwether. While the company’s fundamentals remained strong, including continued investor focus on AI infrastructure demand, several factors may have weighed on the stock. The broader AI semiconductor group sold off sharply in early June after Broadcom’s AI revenue guidance disappointed elevated expectations, triggering a reset across high-multiple chip stocks. At the same time, the market appeared to reward other semiconductor exposures more directly tied to custom silicon, memory, analog, and broader infrastructure themes, which helped explain why the index rose even as its largest weight, NVDA, declined. Additional pressure came from scrutiny around NVDA’s China business and U.S. export controls, as well as a broader valuation and positioning reset after the stock had reached an all-time high at the start of the Period.

Bottom BUZZ Index Contributors: May 14, 2026 – June 11, 2026

Source: BUZZ Holdings ULC, Bloomberg. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Index performance is not illustrative of fund performance. Not intended as a recommendation to buy or to sell any of the securities mentioned herein.

BUZZ Index June 2026 Rebalance Highlights

Marvell Technology, Inc.

Investor attention toward AI infrastructure was previously focused on the largest beneficiaries of the theme, but 2026 has seen semiconductor leadership broaden meaningfully beyond the most widely followed mega-cap names. Year-to-date through June 11, 2026, Micron Technology (NASDAQ: MU) had gained 249.1%, while Lam Research (NASDAQ: LRCX), Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ: AMD), and Intel (NASDAQ: INTC) had also posted substantial advances as investors continued to reward exposure to memory, advanced manufacturing, AI compute, and data centre infrastructure. Although technology stocks pulled back sharply in early June, investor interest in the broader AI ecosystem remained resilient. Valuations have continued to expand across parts of the sector, and market commentary has increasingly questioned whether the industry’s growth assumptions have become too interconnected. Still, capital has continued to flow toward companies viewed as direct or adjacent beneficiaries of AI-related capital spending. Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL), a long-standing constituent of the BUZZ Index, has been one of the more notable beneficiaries of this broadening. After several years of largely range-bound performance, Marvell has gained 230.7% year-to-date through June 11, supported by investor focus on its role in custom silicon, high-speed connectivity, optical networking, and data centre infrastructure. Sentiment toward the company increased sharply during the most recent Period, resulting in the largest weight increase in the BUZZ Index this month, with MRVL rising from a 0.51% weight to the maximum 3.0% weight.

Intuit, Inc.

This month, the BUZZ Index welcomes first-time constituent Intuit Inc. (NASDAQ: INTU). The company is best known for its suite of personal and small-business financial tools, including TurboTax, QuickBooks, Credit Karma, and Mailchimp. Once viewed as one of the more durable software franchises in the market, Intuit has experienced a significant reset over the past year, with the stock falling by nearly two-thirds after peaking above $800 per share in July 2025. The decline reflected broader pressure across software, as well as investor concern that AI-native tools could disrupt portions of the company’s tax, accounting, and small-business workflow businesses. Rather than treating AI solely as a threat, Intuit has moved to integrate its products into the emerging AI ecosystem, announcing partnerships with OpenAI and Anthropic to bring Intuit-powered experiences into ChatGPT and Claude. More recently, sentiment has begun to stabilise as investors appear to be reassessing the degree to which AI will displace established software platforms with trusted brands, proprietary datasets, and regulated workflows. This improvement in perception helped drive renewed interest in INTU, resulting in the stock entering the BUZZ Index this month with a 0.82% weight.

For more on rebalancing results and a full breakdown of index constituents added and removed for the month, view the BUZZ Index reconstitution report.

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