Tech Wreck: Nasdaq Plummets 2% as AI Spending Binge Meets Fed Rate Anxiety
Futures tracking the tech-heavy Nasdaq fell more than 2%, leading declines among Wall Street futures on Tuesday, as concerns over imminent U.S. rate hikes and debt-backed corporate spending on AI weighed on investor sentiment.
Stocks across the globe, including those in Europe and Asia, came under pressure following a selloff on Wall Street in the previous session, while crude oil and precious metals also fell.
The weakness in U.S. artificial intelligence-related stocks is likely to persist as investors worry about ballooning valuations at a time when elevated borrowing costs could make AI spending more costly.
Mega-cap names came under pressure in premarket trading, with Nvidia (NVDA.O) and Alphabet (GOOGL.O) down nearly 3% each, while chipmakers Intel (INTC.O), Marvell Technology (MRVL.O) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD.O) dropped between 5.5% and 7.5%.
Shares of Elon Musk’s SpaceX (SPCX.O) were down 4.5%, as it became the latest megacap to tap the bond market following a blockbuster IPO earlier this month, even after reporting net losses in the previous year.
“SpaceX is not yet part of the Nasdaq indexes, but the fact that it is jumping on the bond train to fund excessive AI and infrastructure spending revives earlier concerns that Big Tech may be spending too much on AI infrastructure and increasingly financing that spending through debt,” said Ipek Ozkardeskaya, senior market analyst at Swissquote Bank.
At 04:39 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 318 points, or 0.61%, S&P 500 E-minis were down 109.25 points, or 1.45%, and Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 824.25 points, or 2.69%.
Futures tracking the rate-sensitive Russell 2000 Index fell 1.7%. The CBOE Volatility index (.VIX) Wall Street’s fear gauge, was at an over one-week high, climbing 2.84 points to 20.12.
Traders expect the U.S. Federal Reserve to hike borrowing costs by a total of 50 basis points by December, according to the CME Group’s FedWatch Tool, up from one 25-basis-point hike two weeks ago, as investors price in hawkish monetary policy under new Chair Kevin Warsh.
The yield on the short-term 2-year Treasury note slipped about 4 bps to 4.19%. In the previous session, the yield touched its highest point since February 2025.
Concerns over elevated valuations in AI-related names have resurfaced following a strong rally earlier this quarter in the aftermath of the Middle East ceasefire.
Chip stocks advanced on Monday, with the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index (.SOX) hitting a record high. Micron’s (MU.O) results on Wednesday could offer some clues into the outlook for memory and AI chip sector.
Micron (MU.O) tumbled 8.6%, while Sandisk (SNDK.O) and Western Digital (WDC.O) fell about 9.6% and 6.6%, respectively.
Investors are keeping a wary eye on developments in the Middle East after the U.S. waived sanctions on Iran for 60 days after the first round of talks under a nascent peace deal, with U.S. President Donald Trump saying he will “do what I have to do” if Iran does not stick to its side of the agreement.
Later in the day, attention will turn to a batch of private surveys on June business activity, ahead of closely watched Personal Consumption Expenditures Index, the Federal Reserve’s preferred inflation gauge, on Friday. Economists expect the price index to come in at about 4.1%, more than double the central bank’s target.
Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Twesha Dikshit in Bengaluru; Editing by Mrigank Dhaniwala and Sherry Jacob-Phillips
This article was first reported by Reuters
