The New York stock market showed choppy, volatile trading as worries mounted over the rapid changes artificial intelligence (AI) could bring and the astronomical investment expense it may require.
On the 17th (local time) at the New York Stock Exchange, the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 32.26 points, or 0.07%, to close at 49,533.19. The large-cap Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 index added 0.1% to 6,843.22. The tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.14% to finish at 22,578.38.
Fear that AI could upend existing business models spread across software. On projections that AI tools will replace software vendors in each industry, Salesforce, Inc. sank about 3% and Oracle plunged nearly 4%. IGV, an exchange-traded fund (ETF) that tracks software, fell 2.2%. The fund is down 23% so far this year.
Experts say the market has moved beyond vague expectations for AI and entered a phase of separating the wheat from the chaff by testing actual profitability. Jean Boivin, a strategist at BlackRock Investment Institute, said, "Just a few months ago we were debating whether AI was real, but now it is posing a tangible threat to existing business models," adding, "Investors are focusing on identifying who the winners will be."
The U.S. Government Bonds 10-year yield rose 0.01 percentage point from the previous day to 4.06%. The price of gold, a safe-haven asset, fell 2.2% to $4,882.97 per ounce. International oil prices fell 1% to $62.25 per Barrel for West Texas Intermediate (WTI) on news of progress in U.S.-Iran nuclear talks.
The cryptocurrency market weakened. Bitcoin fell 1.6% to $67,697.73 in transactions, and Ethereum slipped 0.2% to $1,993.83. In particular, the cryptocurrency exchange Gemini plunged 14% on news that key executives left the company.