US wireless carriers sink at the open as optical stocks surge
As seen on the 24/7 Wall St. homepage on October 9, 2026.
All three major US wireless carriers are at the bottom of the board at the open, with T-Mobile down 8.9% and AT&T and Verizon close behind. Optical names lead the other side, Applied Optoelectronics up 8.9%.
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T-Mobile US, AT&T, and Verizon are all falling at the open on October 9, with T-Mobile leading the decline at 8.9%. All three major carriers moving in lockstep points to a sector-wide catalyst.
For investors, the breadth of the selloff matters. When the entire wireless carrier group drops simultaneously and by this magnitude at the open, it typically signals a repricing of the sector as a whole, meaning there is little shelter within the group by rotating between names.
Optical networking names are leading the gainers, with Applied Optoelectronics up 8.9%, alongside Coherent and Lumentum. American Tower, a key piece of wireless infrastructure, is bucking the carrier trend with a 7.1% gain, which underscores that the pressure is concentrated specifically on the carriers rather than the broader telecom ecosystem.
Joby Aviation and Applied Digital are also in negative territory, down 5.1% and 3.7% respectively, though their losses are more modest and appear unrelated to the carrier move. This kind of sector-level divergence is worth tracking closely as the day develops.