Equity markets struggled as investor sentiment turned risk-averse amid rising concerns about artificial intelligence’s potential to disrupt businesses beyond the tech sector, which helped drive a broad sell-off in major U.S. indexes — the Dow, S&P 500 and Nasdaq all closed lower on the week with tech and software stocks under particular pressure as traders digested mixed earnings and macroeconomic signals.
At the same time, there was notable rotation into defensive and non-tech areas, with some sectors like semiconductors showing relative resilience, while bond markets and safe-haven assets attracted flows as uncertainty about inflation data and Federal Reserve policy persisted; the week’s performance highlighted the market’s heightened sensitivity to both AI-related news and incoming economic indicators heading into the next earnings cycle.
