Meta Stock Drops Again. What Happened to Its Muse Boost? -- Barrons.com
Dow Jones2026/09/28 14:00By Callum Keown
Meta stock was falling to start the week and is in danger of posting back-to-back losses for the first time since mid-August.
The move comes amid broader pressure on AI-related stocks after OpenAI said it has halted training of its latest models. The company said it will resume training "only when we are confident that we have additional safeguards," in place.
Meta's personal AI agent Muse has been a success so far since it launched on Sept.8, jumping to the top of the app store charts and boosting the stock.
The shares have had a great month, rising 32% in September through Friday's close. But after a 3.3% fall on Friday, the stock was down another 4% in early trading Monday.
The initial boost-and a big one at that-looks to be over, raising the question of what comes next.
"From here, we believe investors need to pay attention to likely launches of competing consumer AI agents, particularly from larger platforms like Google and OpenAI," BNP Paribas analyst Nick Jones said.
Jones has a positive rating on the stock and a price target of $855, implying 14% upside to Friday's closing price.
"Muse is expected to monetize through small transaction fees, but we believe long-term monetization remains a question mark for investors," he said in a note late Friday. "We do see a path where advertising could be compelling, despite the decision to avoid ads today," he added.
Write to Callum Keown at callum.keown@dowjones.com
This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 28, 2026 10:00 ET (14:00 GMT)
Disclaimer: The content of this article solely reflects the author's opinion and does not represent the platform in any capacity. This article is not intended to serve as a reference for making investment decisions.
You may also like
JPMorgan Reveals the Critical Price Level for Bitcoin Miners

Altman: Safety comes first, no IPO timetable, postponing the release of GPT-6.1 Astra out of extreme caution
OpenAI CEO Altman stated that the IPO may only be considered after the company gains a clearer understanding of how to safely manage the "next-level AI." The delay in launching GPT-6.1 Astra is because the model did not meet some of the company’s evaluation criteria for safety; this decision was made "out of an abundance of caution" rather than due to any major incident. He also noted that Nvidia’s safety systems for AI are not a "complete solution;" AI is more of a scientific problem than an engineering one.
SOS says private placement closes under securities purchase agreement
Talen names Terry Nutt CEO effective Jan. 1, 2027; Mac McFarland retires at year-end