US stock indices finished lower on Friday amid a renewed selloff in chipmakers and escalating geopolitical tensions. The S&P 500 fell 1%, the Nasdaq declined 1.5%, and the Dow Jones dropped 407 points. Semiconductor stocks slumped on worries that AI hyperscalers may scale back spending on AI infrastructure, unwinding part of this year’s strong gains. Concerns over softer capital expenditure were further stoked by advances in Chinese AI models, including the latest Kimi release from Moonshot. Nvidia slid 2.2%, Broadcom lost 1%, AMD dipped 1%, and Intel dropped 2%.
At the same time, inflation fears intensified as the conflict in the Middle East persisted and fuel prices continued to rise. Economic headwinds were compounded after US President Trump alleged that China interfered in the 2020 US presidential election, casting doubt on the durability of the trade truce that followed last year’s tariff dispute. On the corporate earnings front, Netflix tumbled 7.3% after projecting another quarter of slowing revenue growth.
