Stocks closed lower on Wall Street as more drops for big tech companies weighed on the market. The S&P 500 lost 1.1 per cent Friday, and the Nasdaq composite sank 2.1 per cent. Both posted their worst week since June. The Dow Jones Industrial Average didn’t do as badly, and fell 0.3 per cent. Chip companies pulled back some more as worries deepened about how long the frenzy over the artificial intelligence (AI) buildout will last. Micron Technology fell 5.6 per cent and Intel lost 5.8 per cent. European and Asian markets closed higher. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 5.09 per cent. The price of Brent crude rose 3.7 per cent.
Weakness for AI stocks has been a major drag on the tech-heavy index this week. Among other tech companies in the red were Meta, which fell 4.4 per cent, and Google parent Alphabet, which gave up 2.9 per cent.
It’s been a choppy week for chipmakers and other big tech stocks central to the AI industry. Investors are now worried that the companies, which have relied on debt markets to finance an investment spree into their technology, may not be able to keep borrowing and spending as heavily with yields in bond markets worldwide recently climbing to their highest levels in years.
Netflix’s stock fell 3 per cent a day after the company announced that Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria will be replaced by Peter Rice. The news comes just days after Netflix said that it plans to lay off about 6 per cent of its workforce, amounting to nearly 1,000 positions.
Energy stocks held up better than most. Exxon rose 2.2 per cent and Chevron added 2.4 per cent.
European and Asian markets closed higher. In the bond market, Treasury yields held relatively steady. The yield on the 10-year Treasury slipped to 5.09 per cent from 5.10 per cent late Thursday. It had topped 5.30 per cent earlier this month and touched its highest level since 2002 because of worries about high inflation, signals of a strong US economy and other factors.
Yields are down despite reports this week showing that inflation at the consumer and wholesale level rose more in the US than economists expected.
The reports could persuade the inflation-fighters at the Federal Reserve to hike their key interest rate before the end of this year. The central bank increased its key interest rate by a quarter-point to about 3.9 per cent in September, its first increase in three years.
Wall Street traders expect the US Federal Reserve will keep its short-term rate unchanged at policy meeting this month, but the odds of a rate increase at the December meeting have jumped to 74.3 per cent from 50.2 per cent a month ago, according to data from the CME Group.
On Friday, Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh offered no fresh signals about potential interest rate policy moves by the Fed while attending a meeting of financial leaders in Bangkok.
Elsewhere in the market, shares in Tesla fell 3.3 per cent after the electric vehicle company unveiled a new model of its Roadster sports car that can thrust itself up in the air.
Alcoa rose 2 per cent and The Travelers Co. gained 1.6 per cent after the companies reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street forecasts.
Expectations are high for growth in profits from all kinds of companies this reporting season, which began in earnest this week. That’s what’s allowed US stocks to set records despite high inflation and the many other worries weighing on Wall Street.
In energy markets, oil prices remained elevated as the global oil supply continues to be under pressure without a deal between the US and Iran to end the Iran war.
Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 3.7 per cent to settle at US$109.86 per barrel. That is up from around US$72 a barrel in late February before the start of the war. Brent climbed into triple digits last month, the first time since July.
The national average for gasoline is at US$4.33 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. While that’s lower than the US$4.37 a gallon that it averaged last month, it’s sharply higher than the US$3.06 a gallon from a year ago.
Oil remains well-supported as uncertainties surrounding the situation in the Middle East and concerns over oil flows in the Strait of Hormuz had the market “pricing in a significant risk premium,” ING commodities strategists Warren Patterson and Ewa Manthey wrote in a commentary Friday.
-AP
