United States benchmark averages closed lower on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) as the S&P 500 posted a four-day losing streak and the Nasdaq slid 1.8%, pressured by weakness in artificial intelligence (AI) stocks led by Oracle.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 228.3 points, or 0.5%, to close at 47,886.0. The S&P 500 dropped 78.8 points, or 1.2%, to finish at 6,721.4, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 418.1 points, or 1.8%, to 22,693.3.
Losses were led by Oracle, which fell 5% after the Financial Times reported that Blue Owl Capital had pulled out of plans to finance the cloud infrastructure company’s proposed $10 billion data centre project in Michigan.
Oracle disputed the report, however, stating that the project was still moving forward.
Other AI-related stocks also moved lower. Broadcom lost 4.5%, Nvidia fell 3.8%, and Advanced Micro Devices dropped 5.3%.
Alphabet shares slid 3% after a Reuters report said Google was pursuing a new initiative aimed at challenging Nvidia’s software dominance, including collaboration with Meta.
Wednesday’s session left both the S&P 500 and the Dow on track for their fourth consecutive daily decline.
The benchmarks had already come under pressure earlier in the week following the release of updated U.S. labour market data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The report, covering November and revised October figures, offered a clearer picture of economic conditions after a data backlog caused by the federal government shutdown earlier this year.
In corporate news, Warner Bros Discovery shares fell after its board recommended shareholders reject a US$108.4 billion hostile bid from Paramount Skydance, instead favouring a binding offer from Netflix.
Netflix shares closed 0.2% higher, while both Paramount and Warner Bros ended 5.4% and 2.4% lower, respectively.
Energy stocks provided some support to the broader market as crude prices climbed. Gains followed a Truth Social post by U.S. President Donald Trump ordering a “total and complete blockade” of all sanctioned oil tankers entering and leaving Venezuela.
Shares in ConocoPhillips and Occidental Petroleum advanced 4.6% and 4.4%, respectively.
Some relief for investors came from comments by Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller, who is often viewed as a dovish voice on monetary policy.
Waller said the central bank still had scope to cut interest rates if the labour market continued to soften.
Attention now turns to Thursday’s U.S. consumer inflation report from the Commerce Department, which is expected to provide further guidance on the outlook for monetary policy.
On the bond markets, Treasury yields were mixed. The 10-year yield edged up 0.2% to 4.155%, while the 2-year yield slipped 0.2% to 3.483%.
