Finance

Renewed exchanges of airstrikes between the United States and Iran near the Persian Gulf fueled a sudden spike in energy markets. Brent crude futures jumped late in the week on mounting concerns over possible disruptions to major global supply routes. Consequently, energy was the sole sector in the S&P 500 to secure gains during Friday's trading.

Investor confidence in domestic tech companies faced a new headwind following the release of an advanced generative artificial intelligence model by Chinese startup Moonshot AI. Analysts noted that the rival software claims to outperform several prominent U.S. systems, amplifying concerns that heavily capitalized American firms could experience margin pressure. This foreign breakthrough added momentum to the broader tech-sector pullback as traders re-examined high software premiums.

Shares of Netflix nose-dived approximately 11% during Friday's session, acting as a prominent weight on the broader communication and consumer sectors. The steep drop was triggered by a quarterly earnings report that underwhelmed Wall Street, specifically highlighted by management's warnings of decelerating subscriber growth for the third quarter. The negative reaction added to a widening risk-off sentiment that quickly rippled across other megacap tech giants.