IXIC: Nasdaq Sinks 1.9% as AI Selloff Spreads Across Markets. Futures Dive Deeper.

Technology shares led Wall Street lower after hot inflation data, with losses spreading across Asia Thursday. Gold rebounded as Treasury yields and the dollar retreated.

📉 AI stocks lead Wall Street lower

• The Nasdaq Composite IXIC dropped 1.9% to 26,692.87 Wednesday, shedding roughly 512 points. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% to 7,718.94, while the Dow slipped just 0.1% after inflation came in hotter than expected.
• Neocloud CoreWeave plunged around 15%, Oracle lost 8.8% and Nebius fell 10% as investors reassessed the cost of financing AI infrastructure.
• The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped 4.3%, extending its losing streak to six sessions. Higher borrowing costs make ambitious expansion plans harder to finance and future profits less valuable today.

🎯 What’s making individual moves?

• Dell tumbled more than 11% and HPE fell around 8% following Barclays downgrades questioning how much AI adoption supports their valuations.
• Financial stocks offered little relief: Bank of America lost approximately 4.8% after disappointing earnings, while Morgan Stanley fell despite beating profit expectations.
• Apple supplied a rare bright spot, rising roughly 0.5% to $342.96 and finally closing above a $5 trillion valuation. The milestone arrives ahead of iPhone Duo pre-orders.

🌏 Asia slides while gold finds buyers

• Asian losses deepened Thursday, with South Korea’s Kospi falling around 7.7% and Japan’s Nikkei roughly 5% in morning trading. Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix each lost more than 9%.
• Nasdaq 100 futures declined more than 1%, while S&P 500 futures fell approximately 0.5%. Apparently, further pressure is about to hit Wall Street.
• Treasuries recovered after their initial inflation-driven selloff, pulling the ten-year yield toward 5.13%. The dollar eased from an 18-month high, with EUR/USD recovering toward $1.12, GBP/USD around $1.3230 and USD/JPY near ¥157.70. Cautious Fed commentary helped unwind part of Wednesday’s immediate repricing.

🍻 Gold, Bitcoin and oil walk into a bar

• Gold rebounded around 1.3% to $4,159 an ounce, helped by the softer dollar, while silver recovered toward $56.26. Bitcoin remained under pressure near $81,000 after trading close to $80,400.
• The divergence highlights why precious metals and crypto cannot always be treated as interchangeable alternatives to conventional assets.
• Oil retreated, with Brent down approximately 1.6% to $104.42 and WTI around $94.11. Traders weighed potential US sanctions relief for oil-carrying vessels against continued attacks around the Strait of Hormuz.

🔎US data provides the next challenge

• September CPI rose 3.7% annually, while core inflation reached 2.6%, both above forecasts.
• Yet Fed officials Michelle Bowman and Mary Daly indicated that further tightening need not be immediate. Early Thursday pricing put October hike odds around 27%, versus 22% before CPI, leaving a pause the more likely outcome.
• US producer prices and retail sales drop at 8:30 a.m. ET. Together, they will test business-cost pressures and consumer demand. What to watch: whether lower Treasury yields begin supporting stocks — or whether concerns about AI financing continue to outweigh that relief as earnings season gathers pace.