Wall Street: Oil price falls, concerns about financing the AI boom grow
Developments in the Middle East are supporting the stock exchanges. The Chinese company Alibaba is intensifying the AI competition with its new model.
US stock markets are getting off to a mixed start to the day. While the Dow Jones is posting strong gains, there are slight profit-taking gains on the Nasdaq. The developments in the Middle East, significantly falling oil prices and lower yields on US government bonds are providing relief, after Donald Trump temporarily halted a planned military strike against Iran and announced new negotiations.
The hotel chain Marriott is convincing with solid figures and a raised annual outlook. However, the stock is still under slight pressure.
In the technology sector, artificial intelligence (AI) remains the dominant topic: OpenAI reports more than one billion active users, Alibaba is stepping up the competition with the new model Qwen3.8 Max. At the same time, concerns are growing about the financing of the AI boom, as the hyperscalers have committed investments of almost $2.4 trillion and free cash flow is coming under pressure. Analyst ratings are boosting Microsoft, Applied Materials, UPS and Delta, while NXP Semiconductors and eBay are being downgraded.
The focus today is on the ISM purchasing managers' index and, after the close of trading, the figures from Palantir, ON Semiconductor and Snap. A podcast – featured by Handelsblatt.
Translated by urgent.news. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
