US stock markets declined significantly on Thursday. By the close of trading in New York, the Dow stood at 51,712 points, marking a 1.0 percent decrease compared to the previous day. The broader S&P 500 was down 1.2 percent with approximately 7,408 points, while the technology-focused Nasdaq 100 closed at around 28,455 points, falling 1.9 percent.
Market participants reacted to rising oil prices and quarterly earnings from two of the “Magnificent Seven” companies. While Tesla missed earnings expectations, Alphabet, the parent company of Google, surpassed market expectations. Nevertheless, Alphabet shares experienced a dip, though less severe than those of Tesla. Investors are increasingly skeptical about whether Google’s massive spending on AI infrastructure will yield adequate returns. In light of this uncertainty, Alphabet has even raised its expenditure forecast for the year, projecting investments of up to $205 billion dedicated to AI infrastructure.
In financial markets, the European community currency weakened on Thursday evening: one euro was worth $1.1379, while a dollar traded for 0.8788 euros.
In commodity markets, the price of gold sharply fell, reaching $4,050 per fine ounce in the evening, a decrease of 2.1 percent, which translates to 114.42 euros per gram.
In contrast, oil prices saw a strong surge. At approximately 10 p.m. German time on Thursday, a barrel of Brent crude from the North Sea cost $99.88, representing a 6.2 percent increase from the previous day’s closing price.
