A trader works at the New York Stock Exchange on Oct. 21, 2026.<\/p>\n
NYSE<\/p>\n
U.S. equity futures were mixed in early Friday trading after tech stocks sold off on concerns that the artificial intelligence trade could be faltering, at least in the near term.<\/p>\n
Futures tied to the S&P 500 <\/a>were flat, Dow Jones Industrial Average<\/a> futures were down 120 points, or 0.23%. Nasdaq-100 futures<\/a> were up 0.25%.<\/p>\n In regular trading, the S&P 500<\/a> sank 1.2%, and the Nasdaq Composite<\/a> slid 2.6%. The broad market benchmark posted its worst session since July, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq had its worst day since June. The Dow Industrials<\/a> bucked the trend and closed marginally higher.<\/p>\n European stock markets opened lower on Friday, with the pan-European Stoxx 600<\/a> sliding 0.19%. Germany’s DAX<\/a> led losses, falling 0.40%, as the French CAC 40<\/a> dropped 0.25% and the U.K.’s FTSE 100<\/a> slipped 0.10%.<\/p>\n In Asia, South Korea’s benchmark Kospi<\/a> index added 0.3%. Japan’s\u00a0Nikkei 225<\/a>\u00a0lost 0.34%. Australia’s S&P\/ASX 200<\/a> was flat at 8,795.2. The CSI 300 rose 1.71%.<\/p>\n Worries around artificial intelligence spending weighed down the market and dragged the U.S. tech sector to a 3% decline on the day. Nvidia<\/a> dropped 4.4%, Alphabet<\/a> fell 3.2%, and Advanced Micro Devices<\/a> declined 8.1% as losses occurred in different parts of the technology sector.<\/p>\n Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC on Thursday he thought capital within the AI buildout was becoming scarce.<\/p>\n “There’s a scarcity of capital. The demand [for] the capital is much greater than the availability of the capital,” Huang said when asked about the neocloud segment of the AI buildout, which is proving to be fragile.<\/p>\n Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, described the AI trade on Thursday as a “bubble” but said that some depressurization wouldn’t be all bad.<\/p>\n “Taking some air out of the AI bubble is a good thing. I don’t think it’s going to burst and create problems for the economy,” he said, pointing to the bond market as a source of capital competition for equities.<\/p>\n Bond yields eased on Thursday, with the 10-year Treasury<\/a> sliding 18.5 basis points to 4.961% as traders bid up safe-haven assets. The yield on the 30-year<\/a> slid 15 basis points, and the 2-year yield fell 17.5 basis points.<\/p>\n