Nasdaq Slides as AI Selloff Deepens and Oil Jumps; CoreWeave and Palantir Fall

It's Friday, October sixteenth. This is Trade and Ticker, the lunch report. Here's your midday check on U.S. stocks.

Three things still matter into the afternoon. First, the selling in A-I stocks picked up through the morning, and now it's pulling the whole market lower. Second, oil just jumped, with Brent crude up more than three percent, and Treasury yields turned higher with it. Third, a mixed morning for bank and insurance earnings, from Truist to M-and-T Bank to Travelers.

Here's the picture at midday. Stocks are lower across the board, and tech is doing the damage. As of about one o'clock Eastern, the Dow is down about a quarter of a percent, or roughly one hundred thirty points. The S-and-P is down about three-quarters of a percent. And the Nasdaq is down about one and a half percent. That's a turn from earlier this morning, when the Dow was up more than two hundred points and trading at its best level in over a month. Small companies are lower too, with the Russell two thousand down more than one percent. Technology is the worst group in the S-and-P, down about two percent, and communication services is down more than one. Energy is the best group, up almost two percent, followed by utilities.

For the week, the Nasdaq is now on track to fall almost four percent, and the S-and-P about one and a half percent. The Dow is still holding a small gain for the week, less than one percent.

Start with A-I. The worry is about money, and how the companies building data centers will pay for all that borrowing with rates this high. CoreWeave is down about eleven percent, and its bonds have sold off hard this week. Other data center names are getting hit too, with Nebius down about ten percent and Iren down about nine. Adding to the mood, there's a report that some investors are weighing a lower valuation for Anthropic in its upcoming stock market debut. Chip stocks are down again. The Philadelphia semiconductor index is down about two percent, and chip stocks are on track for their worst week since July. Intel is down about four percent, A-M-D and Micron are each down nearly four, and Broadcom is down about three. Nvidia is holding up better, down about half a percent. Memory and storage names are still under pressure, with Seagate down almost six percent, and Western Digital and Sandisk each down nearly five.

The selling has spread to software. Palantir is down about seven percent, ServiceNow is down about five, and Salesforce is down about two and a half. Among the biggest tech names, Meta is down almost three percent, Microsoft and Alphabet are each down about two, and Amazon is down more than one. Apple is one of the few big tech names in the green, up about three-quarters of a percent.

Tesla has flipped. The stock was up close to five percent before the bell after it showed off its new Roadster, but sellers stepped in after the open, and now it's down about two percent.

Now oil. Prices climbed through the late morning, with supply worries tied to the Middle East still front and center. Brent crude is up about three and a half percent, near one hundred nine dollars and fifty cents a barrel. U.S. crude is up more than two percent. Exxon is up about one and a half percent, and Chevron is up almost two. That oil jump is pushing yields higher too. The ten-year yield is up about three-hundredths of a percentage point, to about five-point-one-two percent.

The bank and insurance reports are trading better than they opened. Truist was down about two and a half percent before the bell after its revenue came in light, but now it's up about one percent. Travelers was down about four percent early, even after earnings that beat forecasts, and now it's slightly higher. M-and-T Bank is down about two percent. JPMorgan is up about one percent. And Alcoa is up about five percent after its earnings came in better than expected.

After the close today, the earnings calendar is quiet, with no major reports. The big tests come next week. Netflix reports after the close on Tuesday, and Tesla and Meta both report after the close on Wednesday. Netflix is down about two and a half percent today, and Meta and Tesla are both lower too.

Watch three things into the close. First, whether oil holds these gains, because higher crude means more inflation worry and higher yields. Second, whether A-I and chip stocks find any buyers before the weekend, or the Nasdaq locks in a weekly loss of nearly four percent. Third, whether the Dow can claw back to the flat line and keep its gain for the week.

That's the midday picture. We'll be back this evening with a company deep dive on the day's biggest stories. Thanks for listening. I'm Trade and Ticker.