AI concerns continue to hit Big Tech stocks Friday as oil prices rise again

Stocks are opening lower Friday on Wall Street as Big Tech companies tied to artificial intelligence swing lower again and oil prices rise.

The S&P 500 fell 0.5 per cent in the early going Friday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 547 points, or one per cent. The Nasdaq composite was down 0.4 per cent.

Concerns about the cost of building out AI have weighed heavily on on stocks this week, though a sell-off eased early Friday.

AI-related stocks have been swinging on worries that the booming sector may be under threat from the rising costs of borrowing money to build data centers and buy more AI chips.

Among tech stocks, Meta fell 2.1 per cent.

Meta Platforms, which is pushing its Muse AI agent, fell slightly before the market opened Friday after reporting stronger than expected revenue for the latest quarter, though profits fell short. The Facebook and Instagram parent company, which closed down seven per cent on Thursday, also said it’s creating a new class of stock to raise money to pay for AI investments and other expenses.

Tesla was a bit higher in premarket trading after closing down 3.1 per cent on Thursday as the electric vehicle maker reported a stronger profit for the summer than analysts expected, though its revenue was weaker than forecast.

The global tide against AI stocks knocked Nvidia down 4.4 per cent at Thursday’s close, but it made slight gains before Friday’s market open. The chip giant is the largest company on Wall Street by total value and movements for its stock carry more weight on the S&P 500 than any other.

The Toronto Stock Exchange was down close to one per cent.

European markets were lower. France’s main index fell one per cent, though yields on French government bonds eased a bit. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.97 per cent.

Oil prices reached levels not seen since May amid halting efforts to bring the U.S. and Iran back to the negotiation table.

The price of Brent crude oil, the international standard, rose 1.8 per cent to just above US$115 a barrel, its highest level since March. U.S. benchmark crude oil jumped 1.8 per cent to $101.22 per barrel.

Gasoline prices in the U.S. are rising again. The national average for a gallon of regular gas rose two cents to $4.29 Friday, according to the AAA, compared with $3.07 a gallon a year ago.

Higher oil prices have weighed on stocks. The price for a barrel of Brent crude oil leaped four per cent on Thursday and has shot up from less than $97 at the start of the month on uncertainty about when the war with Iran will allow the global energy industry to return to normal.

Turkey hosted meetings Friday with the foreign ministers of Egypt, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia and European nations — the UK, France, Germany and Italy — to discuss conflicts in the Middle East and efforts to resolve the Russia-Ukraine war.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX dropped 0.8 per cent to 25,171.50, while the CAC 40 in Paris fell 0.7 per cent to 7,756.34. Britain’s FTSE 100 declined 0.5 per cent to 10,670.55. Asian markets were mostly higher.

The U.S. dollar rose to 156.92 Japanese yen from 156.77 yen. The euro fell to $1.1195 from $1.1218.

The Canadian dollar rose about a tenth of a cent to 71.52 U.S. cents.