Akamai Surges 19% on $11.6 Billion Anthropic Cloud Deal

Akamai Technologies surged 19.1% following the announcement of an $11.6 billion cloud infrastructure agreement with AI startup Anthropic, Capis market reports and MT Newswires confirmed. The seven-year deal will see Akamai supply compute and edge-cloud capabilities to process expanding workloads for Anthropic's artificial intelligence models. Oppenheimer noted that the partnership significantly improves long-term visibility for Akamai's cloud unit, proving that the multi-billion-dollar infrastructure spending wave is extending beyond traditional hyperscale giants. The contract highlights an ongoing scramble for specialized compute capacity across the technology landscape. Benzinga cited analysis from SemiAnalysis pointing out that demand for Nvidia hardware remains intense enough that even non-traditional cloud providers are rapidly monetizing available capacity. The broader technology sector reflected this momentum, with major indexes catching a bid as market participants parsed structural AI commitments alongside softening energy costs. Simultaneously, global bond markets faced extended selling pressure, pushing long-term borrowing costs to high levels. Benzinga reported that the iShares 20+ Year Treasury Bond ETF hit record lows as the 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 5.18% and the 30-year yield held near 5.50%. Higher sovereign yields continue to elevate capital costs across corporate debt markets, creating a challenging tape for rate-sensitive sectors even as high-margin enterprise technology contracts draw fresh capital inflows. Energy markets provided additional relief for equity sentiment as crude oil futures eased. WTI Crude dropped 2.33% to $92.41 per barrel, while Brent futures declined 6.6% to $97.44. MT Newswires reported that crude fell following proposals involving potential diplomatic discussions over shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, alongside reports from Politico and Newsquawk that U.S. officials are evaluating a temporary 90-day diesel export limit to control domestic fuel prices.