A $2.3 trillion wipeout in Nasdaq 100 stocks will stop short of sending the benchmark into a bear market, or a 20% drop from recent highs, according to the latest Markets Pulse survey.

Despite a rebound on Monday, the tech stock index remains more than 10% below its October peak. Yet a majority of the 139 respondents to an instant poll — conducted Nov. 6-9 after last week’s steep selloff — said losses will remain contained in the foreseeable future, or a deeper slide won’t happen until 2027. Combined, the two groups outweighed the remaining 48% of respondents who expected a further drop into year-end.

That gels with an improving narrative on Wall Street. Strategists at major banks argue strong earnings, cheaper valuations and a rapid unwind in leveraged positions are strengthening the case for AI-exposed stocks.

“While the pullback has been painful for markets, we see this largely as a deleveraging event,” JPMorgan Chase & Co. strategists led by Dubravko Lakos-Bujas wrote in a note on Friday. “Given the constant skepticism that the AI cycle has faced and the market penalizing excesses fairly rapidly, this should ultimately support the durability of the AI super cycle.”Confidence in the outlook for equities is underpinned by robust profit growth, with the S&P 500 on pace for another 33% advance for a second consecutive quarter. Excluding periods of recovery after economic recessions, the average gain in earnings per share in the past two quarters has run at about three times the typical pace since 1998.

More than 40% of survey takers said they were adding to stocks as last week’s rout significant compressed valuations, while about a third said they were leaving allocations unchanged. Just 27% indicated further cutting their equity exposure.

“The correction is entering its final phase,” Morgan Stanley equity strategists led by Michael Wilson wrote in a note Monday. “Rather than waiting for a perfect low, we recommend adding exposure over the next few weeks,” highlighting stocks with strong balance sheets and positive earnings revisions riding the robust economic cycle.

The recent swoon in tech stocks has cast a cloud over Anthropic PBC’s initial public offering, arguably the most anticipated debut this year. The company can formally begin marketing its IPO as early as Tuesday, though the tech selloff has raised questions over whether the likely trillion-dollar listing will proceed as planned for the end of November.

Perceived as a barometer for the broader AI trade, its valuation will indicate investors’ appetite to continue to fund the historic infrastructure boom.

What Bloomberg strategists say...“Every tech innovation in the last few decades has displayed huge network effects and economies of scale that preclude more than just a few competitors dominating the landscape. For artificial intelligence, the concern is that companies are embarking on a massive wave of over-investment that long-wary investors have decided to stop funding.” — Edward Harrison, Macro Strategist, Markets Live. For the full analysis, click here.

Nearly half of respondents to the survey said they expect the IPO to proceed this year at the latest reported valuation of up to $1.3 trillion. That would mark a retreat from a prior range and estimates that went as high as $2 trillion in early October. More than a third saw a risk that the listing gets delayed to next year.

When asked which asset will serve as the best hedge against a bigger wobble in the equity market, the majority of respondents picked Treasuries over gold, while some noted oil, Bitcoin and international equities as compelling alternatives.

“If you’re trading this kind of environment, you have to be prepared for the market to move hard in either direction, and have tools to manage that kind of environment,” said Haris Khurshid, chief investment officer for Karobaar Capital.