Finance

Major Wall Street indices faced downward pressure as investors reacted to the latest batch of mega-cap corporate earnings. Alphabet experienced a notable drop in pre-market trading after raising its 2026 capital expenditure forecast to as high as $205 billion due to heavy artificial intelligence investments. Similarly, Tesla fell following an earnings miss and negative free cash flow generation driven by massive spending on autonomous vehicles and robotics infrastructure.

U.S. government bond yields climbed steadily as the escalating conflict in the Middle East and rebounding oil prices renewed fears of persistent inflation. The 10-year Treasury yield hovered around 4.66%, staying close to its multi-month highs. These sharp movements in fixed income markets are actively shifting interest rate expectations, leading market participants to anticipate a more restrictive stance from the Federal Reserve.

Digital assets entered a holding pattern, with Bitcoin trading tightly between the $65,000 and $66,000 range despite recorded net inflows into spot ETFs. In corporate developments, cryptocurrency derivative exchange BitMEX announced it will shut down operations. The platform's closure follows historical regulatory violations and comes amidst a year characterized by heightened market volatility and a slower-than-expected progression in domestic crypto legislation.