In the last four months of this year, these key events will influence the direction of U.S. tech stocks

Bank of America statistics show that over 140 significant events will impact the performance of technology stocks in the remaining four months of this year.

According to the Wind Trading Desk, Bank of America stated in a report on September 2 that artificial intelligence continues to be the most important theme in the industry, with large technology companies building models, developing agent functions, and integrating new features into existing products. Medium-sized internet companies benefit from access to AI models and capabilities provided by cloud service providers, leveraging their extensive customer data advantages.

The Department of Justice's ruling on Google's search case will be the biggest catalyst in the near term. This ruling could impose significant restrictions on Google's search distribution business or help remove major obstacles to its stock price.

Meta's upcoming Connect conference is expected to showcase new smart glasses with display capabilities and outline its AI vision. Amazon will hold its AWS re:Invent conference in December, where investors anticipate that new infrastructure capacity will accelerate cloud service revenue growth and maintain optimism about AI spending in 2026.

There is a slight possibility of a new agreement between OpenAI and Microsoft, which could allow OpenAI models to enter AWS and Google Cloud Platform.

Regulatory Rulings as the Biggest Catalysts

The Department of Justice's ruling on Google's search case has been identified by Bank of America Merrill Lynch as the most important catalyst in the near term.

The latest ruling results show that a U.S. federal judge ruled that Google can retain its Chrome browser but is prohibited from signing exclusive contracts and must share search data. This ruling is interpreted by the market as a significant victory for Google, with its parent company Alphabet's stock price surging over 8% in after-hours trading.

In addition to the search case, Google also faces potential risks from changes to Play Store policies.

In October 2024, a U.S. district judge required significant adjustments to Google's Android app store policies, although the judge also approved a temporary injunction to handle Google's appeal. If the appeal fails, it may face the emergence of a new app store and pressure on app commission rates.

AI Product Launches as Important Highlights

Meta's Connect conference will be held on September 17, and the market currently expects the company to announce its first integrated display smart glasses, codenamed "Hypernova," with a base price of around $800. The company will also outline its AI vision during the CEO's keynote speech.

On Google's side, the company may publicly launch consumer AI agents in the second half of the year, including Project Astra and Project Mariner.

Astra is designed as a cross-device multimodal assistant that provides real-time context and proactive task execution, while Mariner is integrated into Chrome and search to complete multi-step online tasks Amazon's AWS will hold the re:Invent conference from December 1-5, expected to focus on AI products and features, including Bedrock and the collaboration progress of Trainium/Graviton with customers. This event is seen as an important window for assessing AI-related demand in 2026.

Reddit is developing technology to provide and monetize search functionality, with the launch of search ads potentially boosting revenue expectations. Pinterest is launching new AI tools like Performance+ aimed at helping advertisers optimize ad creation, placement, and bidding, driving down-funnel performance.

E-commerce and Economic Changes

In the e-commerce sector, U.S. retailers' e-commerce sales growth accelerated in the second quarter, with July data showing that third-quarter sales benefited from the acceleration of online shopping relative to offline. Strong third-quarter performance is expected to contribute to optimistic sentiment for fourth-quarter holiday shopping, despite the risk of sales being pulled forward into 2025.

In autonomous driving, Uber's expansion of its autonomous vehicle partnerships has become a key focus. The company expects to launch services in Arlington in the fourth quarter through its collaboration with May Mobility and expand its partnership with Waymo in Atlanta.

DoorDash is expected to complete its acquisition of Deliveroo in the fourth quarter, a deal that is anticipated to give DoorDash the largest market share in London. Tesla's robotaxi expansion is seen as a potential threat to Uber and Lyft.

Online Travel and Other Segments

In the online travel sector, Airbnb's winter launch event is expected to introduce new host services, which could become the biggest catalyst for the industry. Expedia is likely to benefit from improving U.S. travel data.

In gaming and advertising technology, AppLovin will open Axon Ads Manager on October 1 through a recommendation system, which should attract long-tail e-commerce merchants more quickly during the holiday shopping season. The company's e-commerce advertising products will also be made available in multiple international markets.

Unity will focus on the quarter-on-quarter improvement of Vector in the third quarter, with discrepancies from the guided approximately 10% quarter-on-quarter growth potentially leading to a recalibration of growth expectations for 2026.