U.S. stock futures held steady Thursday night following a second consecutive session of declines on Wall Street, as investors weighed a revised revenue outlook for OpenAI against rising oil prices. The mixed signals raised questions about the sustainability of demand for artificial intelligence infrastructure and the persistence of inflationary pressures.
By 20:26 ET (00:26 GMT), S&P 500 futures were up 0.1% at 7,825.25 points, while Nasdaq 100 futures traded flat at 30,978.75 points. Dow Jones futures gained 0.2% to reach 51,570.0 points.
During the regular trading session, technology-led weakness dragged down major indices. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.3% to close at 27,193.34, and the S&P 500 dropped 0.5% to 7,765.36. The Dow Jones Industrial Average managed a slight gain of 0.1% to 51,231.64, outperforming the broader market as tech shares came under pressure. This pullback occurred just two days after both the Nasdaq and S&P 500 hit record closing highs.
The selloff was triggered by a Financial Times report stating that OpenAI had told investors its annualized revenue was approaching $50 billion at the end of September. This figure was notably lower than the $70 billion previously reported by other media outlets. The FT reported that the discrepancy arose from differing accounting methods regarding sales through cloud partners. Anthropic includes revenue from partners such as Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud in its calculations, whereas OpenAI excludes those sales.
These figures prompted scrutiny of the financial returns on heavy investments in computing infrastructure. Chipmakers and firms financing AI infrastructure led the losses. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index declined 3.4%. Individual stocks reflected this sentiment: Nvidia dropped 2.9%, Advanced Micro Devices slid 3.9%, and Micron Technology lost 4.8%. Broadcom fell 4.4%, and Oracle shed 5.5% amid concerns about the financing required for large-scale AI projects.
Energy markets added to inflation worries as concerns over Middle East supply disruptions intensified. U.S. crude futures settled 3.6% higher, while Brent crude rose 4.1% to trade above $104 per barrel. Production cuts in the Gulf of Mexico related to hurricane activity further tightened supply expectations.
In bond markets, Treasury yields retreated from session highs after a $22 billion auction of 30-year bonds drew steady demand. The benchmark 10-year Treasury yield fell to around 5.23%, having earlier climbed near its highest levels since 2002. Elevated yields continued to weigh on growth stocks, whose valuations are sensitive to borrowing costs.
Investors are now focused on the start of the third-quarter earnings season next week, when major U.S. banks are scheduled to report results.