Financial markets remained unstable on Thursday as a combination of rising oil prices and mixed results for U.S. stock indexes kept investors on edge.
The S&P 500 declined 0.5 per cent, marking its second consecutive loss after recently reaching an all-time high. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a gain of 51 points, or 0.1 per cent, while the Nasdaq composite dropped 1.3 per cent as technology shares faced significant selling pressure.
Stocks were weighed down by a 4.1 per cent increase in the price of Brent crude, the international benchmark, which reached US$104.28 per barrel. The commodity has fluctuated between US$96 and nearly US$110 over the past month amid uncertainty regarding when the conflict with Iran will allow global energy markets to inflation, substantial government debt, and other economic factors.
“Higher U.S. Treasury yields are starting to create their own demand, buyers are showing up for the right price,” said Tony Miano, global investment strategy analyst at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.
On Wall Street, the easing of Treasury yields helped the majority of U.S. stocks advance, with two out of every three companies in the S&P 500 finishing higher.
PepsiCo shares rose 3.7 per cent after the beverage and snack giant reported quarterly profit and revenue that exceeded analyst expectations, bolstered in part by strong performance outside of North America.
However, declines among several influential technology stocks overshadowed those gains.
Nvidia, the chipmaker that has benefited from the surge in demand for artificial intelligence, fell 2.9 per cent. As the largest company by market value on Wall Street, it exerted the most downward pressure on the S&P 500, even though other stocks experienced steeper percentage losses.
This included declines for other AI-related companies, such as a 4.3 per cent drop for Broadcom and a 4.8 per cent slide for Micron Technology.
These losses occurred despite a positive report from industry bellwether Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co., which indicated that September growth was strong enough to surpass analyst expectations for the quarter. Shares of TSMC trading in the United States fell 3 per cent.
AI-focused stocks face intense pressure to deliver significant growth to justify the high valuations they have achieved during the recent AI frenzy.
In total, the S&P 500 fell 36.41 points to 7,765.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 51.77 points to 51,231.64, and the Nasdaq composite slid 345.35 points to 27,193.34.
In South Korea, Samsung Electronics dropped 2.4 per cent, contributing to a 2.6 per cent decline for the Kospi index. The tech giant reported that its operating profit for the latest quarter likely surged to 107.4 trillion Korean won (roughly US$80 billion) from 12.17 trillion won a year earlier, but the results failed to satisfy investors.
Elsewhere, stock indexes across much of Asia and Europe also finished lower.
