US stock markets experienced a decline on Friday. In New York at the market close, the Dow traded at 51,876 points, marking a loss of 0.1 percent compared to the previous trading day. Minutes earlier, the broader S&P 500 was down a few points at around 7,354 points, while the Nasdaq 100 technology index was calculated at approximately 29,118 points, down 1.1 percent.
Market participants showed caution on Friday, worried about multiple factors. Concerns were fueled by US President Donald Trump’s accusation that Iran had violated a ceasefire agreement. Additionally, the valuation of so-called “Artificial Intelligence” drew scrutiny; a report from the New York Times suggested that ChatGPT developers OpenAI might delay their initial public offering longer than initially planned. These considerations, combined with the likely pressure from interest rate hikes in the coming months and the recent dip in the stock of SpaceX-which houses the AI subsidiary SpaceXAI-contributed to market jitters.
Turning to international markets, the common European currency strengthened slightly on Friday evening. The Euro was trading at $1.1388, meaning the dollar cost 0.8781 Euros.
Commodity prices showed mixed trends. The price of gold saw a significant gain, with fine ounces trading at $4,071 in the evening (+1.1 percent), translating to 114.94 Euros per gram. Conversely, oil prices fell sharply. The price of Brent crude oil, a North Sea variety, stood at $72.05 against 22:00 Central European Time on Friday, which was 321 cents, or 4.3 percent, less than the previous day’s closing price.
