U.S. stocks fall as AI fears keep rumbling and oil prices climb
BNN Bloomberg
U.S. stocks fell Thursday, while oil prices rose with worries about a potential conflict between the United States and Iran.
The S&P 500 slipped 0.3 per cent for its first loss in four days. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 267 points, or 0.5 per cent, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.3 per cent.
Booking Holdings dropped 6.1 per cent for one of the market’s sharper losses, even though the company behind the Booking.com, Priceline and OpenTable brands reported a profit for the latest quarter that edged past analysts’ expectations.
Its stock has been under pressure because of worries that competitors powered by artificial-intelligence technology could upend its industry and take away customers. Booking’s stock has lost roughly a quarter of its value so far this year already.
Such worries have been rolling through Wall Street, hitting industries as far flung as software and legal services and trucking logistics. Investors have been punishing stocks of companies seen as under threat by AI so suddenly and aggressively that analysts have likened it to a “shoot first-ask questions later” mentality.
The doubts are hurting not just companies seen as potential victims of AI but also the private-credit companies that have lent them money. Blue Owl Capital fell 5.9 per cent to bring its loss for the year so far to 22.5 per cent, for example. Apollo Global Management dropped 5.2 per cent, and Ares Management sank 3.1 per cent.
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