Key Highlights

● Cisco shares jumped on November 9, finishing as the Dow's second-best performer.

● No company-specific news was behind the move.

● Cisco reports quarterly Earnings on Thursday, November 12.

● Networking stocks were swept up in the AI trade.

A strong run before results

Cisco Systems (NASDAQ:CSCO) jumped on Monday, November 9, 2026, finishing as the second-best performer on the Dow Jones Industrial Average, according to news reports. Market data recorded a similar strong advance.

There was no company-specific news behind the move. Instead, Cisco climbed alongside a broad rebound in technology and AI-networking stocks, with investors also looking ahead to its quarterly earnings, scheduled for Thursday, November 12. Stocks often drift with their sector in the days before a report, as traders position for the numbers rather than react to them, and Monday offered a strong sector tide to ride.

Networking gets swept up in the AI trade

Cisco is one of the world's biggest makers of networking equipment, including the switches and routers that move data inside corporate offices and data centers. It also sells security software, collaboration tools and observability products.

In the AI era, networking has become a crucial piece of the puzzle. Training and running large AI models requires thousands of chips to talk to each other at high speed, and that traffic depends on networking gear. That link to data-center spending has pulled Cisco into the AI trade, for better and worse.

On Monday it was for better. Arista Networks (NYSE:ANET), a networking rival, rallied sharply, according to market coverage, while connector maker Amphenol (NYSE:APH) and server maker Dell Technologies (NYSE:DELL) also climbed strongly. Optical-equipment names such as Ciena (NYSE:CIEN) and Lumentum (NASDAQ:LITE) rallied as well, according to market reports.

From rout to rebound

The bounce followed a rough stretch. After Democrats swept the November 3 midterms, investors worried about restrictions on data centers, and AI-linked stocks sold off hard. The Nasdaq slid into correction territory on Thursday, November 5, according to market data, and the Nasdaq-100 logged its fourth straight weekly decline, according to news reports.

Monday flipped the script. The Dow surged 1,104.02 points to 52,389.75, the S&P 500 climbed 173.08 points to 7,549.94, and the Nasdaq Composite soared 673.71 points to 25,253.14, its best day since July 30, according to market coverage. The PHLX Semiconductor index rocketed to 10,033.93. Oil prices also tumbled on hopes of a US-Iran peace deal, easing Inflation worries.

A strategist noted that "the pain has been largely concentrated in the Tech sector," according to market reports, which helps explain why tech had so much room to bounce.

Earnings week for AI infrastructure

Cisco is one of several AI-infrastructure bellwethers reporting this week. Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) also reports on Thursday, while Nebius (NASDAQ:NBIS) and CoreWeave (NASDAQ:CRWV) are on the calendar as well, according to market data. Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) follows on November 17.

Those reports will offer a fresh read on whether AI spending is holding up after the election scare. The debate is lively: Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) sees AI Capital spending growth peaking, and Forrester has warned that spending has outpaced operating cash flow, according to news reports.

Cisco Earnings Test the Rally

Thursday's report is the main event. Investors will focus on Cisco's orders from data-center and cloud customers, Demand tied to AI networking, and any update to its full-year outlook. Commentary on how enterprise customers are budgeting for networking and security upgrades will also matter.

Before that, Tuesday's October Consumer Price Index will set the tone. It is the last inflation reading before the Federal Reserve's December 8-9 meeting, where futures markets see a rate hike as highly likely. A hot number could test the tech rebound before Cisco's results even arrive.