Finance

Technology and chipmaker stocks continued their downward momentum, driven by investor anxiety over soaring artificial intelligence infrastructure spending. Intel shares declined approximately 8% as market participants overlooked a quarterly earnings beat to focus on rising capital expenditures, while SanDisk tumbled roughly 11%. This broader tech retrenchment followed a massive capital flight from mega-cap equities earlier in the week due to upwardly revised hyperscaler spending forecasts.

Brent crude futures declined nearly 4% to settle around $96.78 a barrel, retreating from a sharp spike above the $100 mark earlier in the week. The price correction followed reports that Pakistan and Iran are evaluating a diplomatic framework for new discussions with the United States. While the news mitigated immediate inflation anxieties, ongoing geopolitical strains in the Middle East are expected to keep energy markets relatively elevated.

A new framework of Section 301 international tariffs officially went into effect today, establishing a 10% to 12.5% duty on major trading partners. Designed to withstand legal challenges that struck down prior iterations, the new levies replace a temporary 10% global tariff system that expired on Friday. The White House intentionally exempted specific energy products from the new duties to prevent exacerbating inflationary pressures amidst volatile oil prices.