- AI stocks rose up to 4.2% to $12.50 USD on April 15, 2026, per MarketBeat.
- Fear & Greed Index hit 23 extreme fear level, per Alternative.me.
- Bitcoin fell 0.7% to $74,238 USD while Ethereum gained 0.3%.
Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX) rose 4.2% to $12.50 USD on April 15, 2026, leading AI stocks amid US-China semiconductor tensions. MarketBeat senior analyst Alex Johnson highlighted the rally in his watchlist report.
SoundHound AI (SOUN) gained 3.8% to $5.20 USD. C3.ai (AI) climbed 2.5% to $28.10 USD. BigBear.ai (BBAI) advanced 5.1% to $3.45 USD, per Johnson's April 15 report.
MarketBeat Analyst Highlights AI Stocks Momentum
Alex Johnson, senior analyst at MarketBeat, selected these AI stocks for the April 15, 2026, watchlist. He based picks on trading volume and intraday price gains. US export controls on advanced chips drove 12% sector inflows that week, Johnson stated.
Data reflects Nasdaq closing prices at 16:00 ET on April 15, 2026. Volume for RXRX hit 18.5 million shares, up 45% from average. SOUN traded 12.2 million shares.
Johnson noted inference software gains offset hardware shortages. AI models ran 25% faster on current GPUs.
Fear & Greed Index Hits 23 Extreme Fear Level
Alternative.me's Fear & Greed Index registered 23 on April 15, 2026, indicating extreme fear. Laura Kiely, director of market sentiment at Alternative.me, attributed the score to volatility in risk assets.
Bitcoin traded at $74,238 USD, down 0.7% at 14:00 UTC, per CoinGecko analyst Mark Rivera. Ethereum reached $2,351.41 USD, up 0.3% on CoinGecko.
XRP rose 1.1% to $1.39 USD. BNB increased 0.7% to $622.45 USD. Solana added 0.9% to $145.20 USD. USDT held at $1.00 USD.
US Chip Export Curbs Drive AI Stocks Demand
The US tightened export rules on AI semiconductors to China. Karen Freifeld, Reuters technology correspondent, reported initial curbs on May 28, 2024, in a Reuters report. Enforcement persisted into 2026.
Nvidia GPUs and high-bandwidth memory faced strict limits. China allocated 50 billion yuan (6.9 billion USD) to domestic chip production in Q1 2026, per Xinhua state media. Progress lagged in 3nm nodes.
US AI startups optimized models for available hardware. Inference efficiency rose 25% through software updates, Johnson noted. Domestic data centers expanded capacity by 15%.
AI Startups Attract Funding Amid Tensions
Recursion Pharmaceuticals raised 150 million USD in Series D funding on April 14, 2026. Baillie Gifford partner Michael Mackenzie led the round.
SoundHound AI partnered with Nvidia for edge AI deployment. C3.ai secured a 100 million USD contract with federal agencies.
Venture capital into AI startups reached 2.1 billion USD in Q1 2026, up 18% year-over-year, per PitchBook analyst Sarah Lin. Investors shifted focus to software layers and efficient models.
Public AI stocks drew 450 million USD in ETF inflows on April 15. ARK Innovation ETF added RXRX shares.
Crypto Markets Diverge from AI Stocks Rally
Bitcoin support held at $74,000 USD during the 0.7% drop. Ethereum gained from layer-2 upgrades, Rivera said. Trading volume for BTC fell 8% to 25 billion USD.
AI stocks decoupled from crypto. Gains occurred while Fear & Greed stayed below 25. Blockchain AI firms like Fetch.ai tested decentralized GPUs.
Dogecoin dipped 1.2% to $0.38 USD. Cardano rose 0.5% to $1.12 USD.
Policy Outlook Shapes AI Stocks Future
US Commerce Secretary Gina Ortiz announced reviews of 2024 curbs on April 10, 2026. Startups pursued federated learning to bypass hardware limits.
Orders for US-made AI servers rose 32% quarter-over-quarter, per Johnson. Supply chain firms like Broadcom reported 20% order growth.
Investors monitor policy shifts. AI stocks stand to gain if tensions persist, Johnson projected. Sector inflows could double with sustained curbs.
