Wall Street ended a choppy week on a down note Friday, with all three major indexes finishing lower as surging oil prices and lingering doubts about the AI spending boom weighed on sentiment. The blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average took the biggest hit, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite held up best after steadying following Thursday’s sharp sell-off. Even so, the Dow still finished the week higher, helped by gains in more defensive stocks.
What Moved Markets
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 634.81 points, or 1.20%, to close at 52,233.17. The S&P 500 lost 39.75 points, or 0.52%, to finish at 7,623.68. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 53.52 points, or 0.21%, to end at 25,955.34.
Two themes drove the day. First, oil climbed to its highest level in months. Brent crude topped $116 a barrel and U.S. crude moved above $103 after Houthi attacks in Saudi Arabia and reports that the U.S. and Israel are weighing more strikes on Iran after the November 3 midterm elections. Higher energy costs can feed into inflation, and the energy sector rose about 2.4% to a record high. Second, investors are still digesting a tech sell-off that began Thursday. Early results from big technology companies raised the question of whether the AI investment boom is slowing, after Tesla cut its full-year capital spending forecast and Meta offered little detail on future plans.
A fresh reading on the consumer did not help. The University of Michigan’s sentiment index came in at 48.0 for October, near a record low, as higher prices tied to the Middle East conflict kept households worried. Their expectation for inflation over the next year ticked up to 4.7%.
Notable Movers
Telecom stocks were among the day’s biggest losers after a report that SpaceX is seeking access to as many as 80,000 U.S. cell sites to build a fourth nationwide wireless carrier. Shares of AT&T (T) and T-Mobile (TMUS) each fell more than 6% in the session, while Verizon (VZ) dropped about 1.6%. On the other side of that trade, cell tower owner Crown Castle (CCI) jumped roughly 10% and American Tower (AMT) gained about 3.7%.
American Express (AXP) fell about 3.9%. The card company beat profit expectations and raised its full-year forecast, but it also announced plans to cut about 5% of its workforce and take a $336 million restructuring charge.
SLB (SLB), the oilfield services provider, rose about 6.7% after beating third-quarter profit estimates, benefiting from the rally in energy prices. Elsewhere, Bloom Energy (BE) fell more than 11% in morning trading as investors focused on cash flow and spending concerns despite an earnings beat, and staffing firm Robert Half (RHI) surged more than 13% on stronger-than-expected results.
Looking Ahead
Next week is a busy one. About one-third of S&P 500 companies report quarterly results, including AI giants Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon, and investors will be watching their spending plans closely. Verizon reports Monday, followed by Coca-Cola, UPS, SoFi and Robinhood on Tuesday. The Federal Reserve announces its policy decision Wednesday; it is widely expected to hold rates steady, but investors will look for hints about a possible rate hike in December. Oil prices, developments in the Middle East and the November 3 midterm elections also remain on the radar. As always, this summary is for informational purposes only and is not investment advice.