NEW YORK, Feb. 12 (Xinhua) -- U.S. stocks suffered heavy losses on Thursday as investors confronted the potential negative consequences of the rapid AI buildout, and the S&P 500 dipped back under its level from the start of the year.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 669.42 points, or 1.34 percent, to 49,451.98. The S&P 500 sank 108.71 points, or 1.57 percent, to 6,832.76. The Nasdaq Composite Index shed 469.32 points, or 2.03 percent, to 22,597.15.
Eight of the 11 primary S&P 500 sectors ended in red, with technology and energy leading the laggards by dropping 2.65 percent and 2.17 percent, respectively. Meanwhile, utilities and consumer staples led the gainers by adding 1.5 percent and 1.28 percent, respectively.
Market sentiment was heavily influenced by a broadening concern that AI tools could disrupt established business models and pressure employment across several sectors. Financial stocks, including Morgan Stanley, faced downward pressure as investors assessed the technology's impact on wealth management operations.
The logistics sector was particularly hard hit, with shares of C.H. Robinson plummeting 14.54 percent on fears that AI-driven efficiencies could erode traditional freight revenue. These anxieties extended to the real estate sector, where stocks such as CBRE Group and SL Green Realty declined on projections that rising technological unemployment could dampen long-term demand for office space.
On the economic front, data from the Labor Department showed that weekly initial jobless claims in the United States rose to 227,000, slightly exceeding economist forecasts. Simultaneously, a report from the National Association of Realtors revealed that U.S. existing-home sales in January fell to an annualized rate of 3.91 million units, down 8.4 percent from the previous month, the deepest decrease since February 2022.
The cautious mood was further reinforced by a series of speeches from Federal Reserve officials. Kansas City Fed President Jeffrey Schmid cautioned that it was too early to bank on rising productivity as a remedy for still-elevated inflation. "With inflation still running hot, it appears that demand is outpacing supply across much of the economy," he said at an economic forum in Albuquerque on Wednesday.
In corporate developments, several companies experienced significant price movements following their quarterly earnings releases. AppLovin shares sank nearly 20 percent, while Cisco Systems dropped 12.32 percent after issuing a cautious outlook. Conversely, McDonald's and Anheuser-Busch InBev rose 2.74 percent and 3.81 percent, respectively, after reporting resilient consumer demand despite broader economic uncertainty.
In the bond market, the yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note traded around 4.1 percent as investors balanced signs of economic softening against persistent inflation concerns ahead of the upcoming Friday inflation data release. ■
