US stocks closed lower as a pullback in big AI-focused companies weighed on the market, capping a turbulent week on Wall Street.
The S&P 500 fell 0.4 per cent, but managed to post a 2.5 per cent gain for the week. This marks the benchmark index’s first winning week since October and its biggest weekly gain since August.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average recovered from an early slide and eked out a 0.1 per cent gain. The Nasdaq composite fell 0.9 per cent, but also notched its first weekly gain in five weeks. The Australian sharemarket is set for a flat start to the week, with futures on Saturday pointing to a dip of 2 points at the open. The Australian dollar was weaker at US67.92¢.
The major indexes have been shaky this week as some of the biggest AI companies pushed and pulled the market. Many of those companies have big stock values with a heavier impact on the market’s gains or losses.
The market remained unsteady a day after the AI industry was rocked by the resignation of Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang . The company has been the face of the AI industry, which has been responsible for much of the gains, and big swings, on Wall Street.
Huang stepped down after his affair with a Chinese tech executive raised US national security concerns. Nvidia’s longtime chief financial officer, Colette Kress, will be its interim CEO. The ensuing fallout cost Nvidia’s market cap just under $US600 billion ($883 billion) this week.
The AI industry’s influence over Wall Street was evident again Friday, as the slump in technology stocks with a big focus on AI weighed on the market, even though more than 60 per cent of the stocks within the S&P 500 rose.
Nvidia was again among the heaviest weights and it fell 2 per cent. Broadcom fell 4.8 per cent and Advanced Micro Devices lost 8.8 per cent. Both companies saw their shares surge earlier this week as the management shake-up at Nvidia unfolded.
Nvidia in particular has been slipping for weeks amid wider concerns about a potential slowdown for the industry. The big worry has been whether AI will produce enough profit to justify the costly investments and big stock values.
“Nvidia’s pullback serves as a reminder of the concentration risk embedded in a market where a small number of mega-cap technology stocks have driven an outsized share of returns,” said Angelo Kourkafas, senior global strategist at Edward Jones, in a research note.
Outside of AI, Microsoft rose 0.2 per cent, despite suffering a global outage for its web services that disrupted email accounts and other applications.
Among the gainers were healthcare and financial stocks. Eli Lilly and Co. rose 1.3 per cent. Payment processors Visa and Mastercard also closed 1.3 per cent higher.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 30.73 points to 7,561.67. The index is up 10.5 per cent so far this year.
The Dow gained 50.46 points to 52,347.55, and the Nasdaq gave up 229.82 points to close at 25,136.27.
Oil prices swung a day after President Donald Trump said that the US didn’t “need a deal with Iran” even as the conflict in the Middle East drags on. Brent crude, the international standard, initially jumped early Friday before easing. It settled at $US95.84 a barrel. It was trading near $US72 per barrel in late February before the Iran war began.
Treasury yields were mixed in the bond market. The yield on the 10-year Treasury, which influences mortgage rates, rose to 5.15 per cent from 5.10 per cent late Thursday.
The yield on the two-year Treasury rose to 4.87 per cent from 4.86 per cent late Thursday. It closely tracks expectations for action from the Federal Reserve, which is expected to raise its benchmark interest rate at its December meeting in an effort to cool stubbornly hot inflation.
A report on Friday showed that wholesale inflation cooled a bit last month, but remains very high. The report measures inflation experienced by businesses, before it can reach consumers. Inflation at the consumer level remains stubbornly high at well above 3 per cent. That’s also much higher than the Fed’s preferred target of 2 per cent.
Rising energy prices because of the US war with Iran have been fueling inflation. Household budgets are getting squeezed directly by higher gasoline costs, but pricier gas and diesel raise costs for anything that is shipped. Prices for everything from food to clothing have been rising.
The latest wholesale inflation report also shows food prices and other costs gaining ground, despite some easing for energy costs.
“That suggests inflation is working its way into the broader economy rather than remaining concentrated in the original areas of price pressure,” said Chris Osmond, chief investment officer for Fifth Third Wealth Advisors, in a research note. “If that continues, it becomes much harder for the Fed to simply look through inflation as temporary.”
The central bank held rates steady at its last meeting, following a previous rate hike. The latest hot updates on inflation have prompted economists to overwhelmingly expect a rate hike at the upcoming December meeting, with another hike likely to follow in January.
Rate hikes by the Fed can cool inflation, but that makes borrowing more expensive and can slow economic growth.
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