Wall Street Weakens, Chip Stocks Under Further Pressure
The US stock market closed lower on Friday (July 17th), dragged down by continued selling in semiconductor stocks and escalating geopolitical tensions. The S&P 500 fell 1%, the Nasdaq fell 1.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 407 points.
The main pressure came from chip stocks after investors renewed concerns about the prospects for artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure spending. The market feared that major AI developers were beginning to scale back investment, reversing some of this year's tech stock rally.
These concerns intensified after Chinese AI models showed rapid progress, including the recent release of Moonshot's Kimi. This fueled concerns that global AI competition was intensifying and could undermine the dominance of US tech companies.
Several semiconductor stocks also weakened. Nvidia fell 2.2%, Broadcom fell 1%, AMD fell 1%, and Intel fell 2%. This weakness made the technology sector once again the main drag on US stock indices.
Market sentiment is also weighed down by the risk of inflation due to the ongoing war in the Middle East, which has driven up fuel prices. Furthermore, US President Donald Trump's statement regarding alleged Chinese interference in the 2020 US elections has raised new concerns about the continuation of the trade truce between the two countries.
As a result, Wall Street is likely to remain sensitive to chip stocks, energy prices, and US-China relations. If the sell-off in the technology sector continues, the Nasdaq remains at risk of becoming the most pressured index, while investors may shift to more defensive assets.
Source: Newsmaker.id
