New York, June 22, 2026, 13:09 EDT
- CoreWeave and Nebius joined the Nasdaq-100 ahead of Monday’s open after a five-name shakeup. Astera Labs, Rocket Lab and Teradyne were also added.
- Trade reversed lower early in the afternoon. CoreWeave fell about 8.5%, Nebius dropped 2.2% and QQQ slipped 0.5%. Both neocloud names had rallied before the effective date.
- Nasdaq’s new float-sensitive index rule is the less discussed driver here. It ties passive demand closer to shares that actually trade, rather than just looking at headline market cap.
Nebius Group and CoreWeave made their Nasdaq-100 debut Monday. CoreWeave was down $10.05, trading at $107.90 just before 1 p.m. EDT. Nebius also traded lower, dropping to $280.41 after closing at $286.69. Early trading didn’t deliver much excitement for either new listing as buyers seemed cautious after the recent run for AI-cloud names.
Nasdaq says over 200 products worldwide track the Nasdaq-100, holding more than $800 billion. The changes force ETFs and passive funds tied to the index to shift holdings to stay in line, not make new picks.
The buying wasn’t hidden. Stocktwits, reporting via Yahoo Finance, noted that Nebius and CoreWeave climbed 34% and 24% after Nasdaq said on June 11 it would add the names. By the time the rebalance hit Monday, it set up a “sell the news” event, Stocktwits said. Stocktwits
The quieter factor in play is the rule change behind the rebalance. Nasdaq Global Indexes’ Emily Spurling said the new method means index weight now “scale with available supply” if a company’s free float is under 33-1/3% of its market cap. The first quarterly rebalance using the new rules was set for June 22. Nasdaq
That matters because market cap doesn’t equal index buying. Adding a stock can give the market a predictable buyer, but not a bottomless one. Fast-money names often get in early, and a float-adjusted weight means there’s sometimes less new demand than the price suggests. That’s a big reason why getting added can boost a company’s profile but the stock can still stumble at the start.
Nasdaq’s reshuffle is pushing the benchmark deeper into AI infrastructure names. Astera Labs, which makes connectivity tech for AI data centers, and Teradyne, a chip-test equipment maker, each gained roughly 2% by early afternoon. Rocket Lab dropped over 7%. Removals included Charter Communications, Cognizant, Insmed, Verisk Analytics and Zscaler.
CoreWeave turns in a bigger backlog and a bigger financing challenge. First-quarter revenue landed at $2.08 billion with a net loss of $740 million and $536 million of net interest expense. Revenue backlog hit $99.4 billion. The company said it’s now past 1 gigawatt of active power. “Strongest bookings quarter,” CEO Michael Intrator said. CoreWeave
CoreWeave got called a premium GPU-as-a-service name in a June 20 Seeking Alpha analysis, which pointed to a $99.4 billion backlog and lower debt costs. The analyst expects 36% of CoreWeave’s remaining performance obligations—signed but unrecognized revenue—will convert over 24 months.
Nebius is going for fast growth, with less public-market track record than some names. The company said this month it plans to invest about 1.7 billion pounds in UK sites, building out four locations to hit 65 megawatts by 2027. Earlier, Nebius signed a Meta deal worth up to $27 billion, which includes $12 billion of capacity reserved for Meta from early 2027. Founder and CEO Arkady Volozh said the strategy is to lock in “large, long-term capacity contracts.” Nebius
Nebius posted first-quarter group revenue of $399 million, a jump of 684% from last year. AI cloud drove most of that with $389.7 million. Capital spending hit about $2.5 billion, mostly on GPUs and data centers. The company said it might raise debt in the mid-single-digit billions soon.
The risk is obvious. Companies are turning chip access, power deals, and customer promises into public valuations ahead of full capacity coming online. If power delivery is late, financing gets pricier, prepaid customer money slows, or hyperscalers hold back on spending, the operating leverage that draws in investors could flip.
Cantor Fitzgerald’s Brett Knoblauch said last week investors are “woefully undervaluing” CoreWeave, holding an Overweight and $167 price target, Barron’s reported. The market on Monday sent a tighter signal: Nasdaq-100 inclusion brings Nebius and CoreWeave a bigger index crowd, but what matters next is converting signed AI demand into real capacity and cash. Barron’s
