Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange during morning trading on Oct. 14, 2026 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose on Thursday as concerns around tech companies overspending on artificial intelligence led investors to rotate out of the trade and seek value elsewhere. Traders also digested U.S. data that pointed to persistent inflation.
The blue-chip index added 556.21 points, or 1.08%, to end at 52,177.69. The S&P 500 gained 0.33% to close at 7,744.06. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite closed up 0.08% at 26,713.03, rebounding from session lows. At one point, the index was down 1.4% on the day.
Seagate Technology and Western Digital added to their declines this week, along with shares of SK Hynix, which drove a rout in South Korea’s Kospi index overnight. Traders were becoming concerned about a potential memory chip glut as South Korea faces increasing competition from China. Tesla CEO Elon Musk discussed the matter in a post on X, saying that “China will be making a LOT of RAM in 2028.”
Compounding worries in the AI space, sources told CNBC that Anthropic’s revenue grew to $16.8 billion in the third quarter, with some traders concerned the AI giant’s top line might not be growing fast enough to justify the lofty gains in chipmakers.
However, other stocks in the AI trade recovered. CoreWeave shares gained almost 6%, reversing course from the prior day’s losses. The stock tumbled more than 15% in the previous session as investors grew fearful that the company was borrowing too much for its AI build-out. CoreWeave corporate bond yields also surged. Additionally, Micron Technology rebounded from earlier losses to gain nearly 2%.
“When Treasurys are yielding 5% and that’s the highest since the early 2000s, investors are going to start weighing that versus taking a huge bet on on AI,” said Alex Shahidi, co-CIO of MAI Capital Management’s Evoke. “It’s not are you in or out of AI; it’s how concentrated you want to be.”
The market was supported by gains in areas outside of tech. Shares of retailer Walmart climbed 1.5%, while Nike shares jumped more than 5%.
Investors also reacted to more insights on the inflation front. The September reading on producer prices recorded an increase of 1.3% on the month and 6.3% year over year — the biggest monthly and yearly gains since 2022.
Concerns that the Federal Reserve could tighten monetary policy more aggressively before year-end weighed on equities Wednesday after new data showed consumer prices in September rose faster than expected on a year-over-year basis.
“Today’s PPI report, after Wednesday’s CPI, confirms inflation is getting worse as energy prices stay high,” said David Russell, global head of market strategy at TradeStation. “Election or no election, prices are rising and the Fed might be forced to act.”
