The US stock market ended the week in negative territory, with the S&P 500 falling 0.48% to 7,619.98 points, the Dow Jones dropping 0.29% to 52,421.20 points and the Nasdaq retreating 0.56% to 26,186.41 points. Pressure emerged after artificial intelligence industry leaders, including the CEOs of OpenAI, Anthropic and xAI/SpaceX, signed a letter arguing for the need to halt the development of the most advanced AI systems to avoid catastrophic harm. OpenAI also ruled out going public this year and the issue reached the White House, where Donald Trump rejected any curb on AI, describing the concern as a "sick conspiracy".
Major tech companies mostly posted gains, with Microsoft rising 1.97% after publishing a provisional code of conduct imposing limits on upcoming AI models. Alphabet grew 3.06%, Meta 2.71% and Apple 0.24%. Amazon fell 1.26% and Tesla retreated 1.77%. In the chip sector, declines were significant: Intel slid 5.61%, Nvidia lost 3.39%, AMD fell 4.40% and Sandisk devalued 4.98%.
The yield on US ten-year debt surpassed the 5% threshold for the first time since 2007, while German ten-year Bunds reached their highest value since 2009. The rise in rates is linked to increasing oil prices, approaching 110 dollars per barrel, raising inflation concerns. Bank of America saw shares fall 5.14% after the CEO presented downward forecasts for quarterly investment banking fees.
The day was also marked by Donald Trump's announcement that Ukraine and Russia agreed to suspend attacks on each other's energy targets. This week, the Federal Reserve is expected to reveal its decision on interest rates, with forecasts pointing to the first increase this year.
