The Federal Reserve delivered its first rate increase since 2023 on Tuesday, adding 25 basis points to the funds rate while Fed Chair Kevin Warsh characterized inflation as still "too high." Even so, two algorithm-driven equity strategies that target technology and energy names continued to post sharp gains.
Since launching in November 2023, an AI-curated tech portfolio has returned 199.65%, outperforming the S&P 500 by 119.34 percentage points. Every one of the strategy's 15 holdings finished in positive territory, and the portfolio gained 8.15% month-to-date through mid-September compared with 0.33% for the index.
Among the picks, Hewlett Packard Enterprise surged as much as 41.27% in September, Intel advanced 22.29% and AMD rose 18.6%. Generac Holdings jumped 18.34% after its shares climbed as much as 34.47% in premarket trading, buoyed by a multi-year supply agreement with Amazon worth up to $8 billion. Generac's commercial segment grew 29% and the company reported a $1.6 billion data-center backlog. Alphatec Holdings leaped 19.67% after its chief executive purchased $1 million in open-market shares; the stock trades at roughly 37% of its 52-week high, with 70% gross margins and a 2026 EBITDA forecast of $140 million.
A separate AI-based energy portfolio logged an 82.27% year-to-date return, surpassing its benchmark by 34.47 percentage points. Delek US Energy has gained 117.43% since its initial call, HF Sinclair climbed 65.72% after posting $5.31 in earnings per share versus $4.39 expected, and CVR Energy added 52.48%, including 26.29% in September alone, while commanding a PEG ratio of 0.43. SM Energy rose 44.53% following second-quarter results of $2.19 per share against $1.96 anticipated and a 215% year-over-year revenue surge.
Everforth advanced 87.53% since its first selection after landing an $115 million U.S. Army artificial-intelligence contract, Consensus Cloud Solutions climbed 68.31% and Nucor gained 66.53%.
The S&P 500 hovered near 7,622 on real-time data as of Sept. 15, down 0.21% on the day.
