NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are sinking Friday as Wall Street gets back to hunting companies that could become losers because of the artificial-intelligence revolution. A surprisingly discouraging update on inflation is also hurting the market, while oil prices climb with worries about tensions between the United States and Iran.
The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and is staggering toward the finish of what would be just its second losing month in the last 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 589 points, or 1.2%, as of 10:40 a.m. Eastern time, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.8% lower.
The losses came as investors returned to knocking down software companies and others whose businesses could end up getting supplanted by AI-powered competitors.
Block, the company behind Cash App, Square and other businesses, gave a signal of what AI could do after CEO Jack Dorsey said he was cutting its workforce by nearly half. That’s even though he said 2025 was a strong year for the company, which is sending more cash to shareholders through stock buybacks.
“Intelligence tools have changed what it means to build and run a company,” Dorsey said in a letter to shareholders while announcing Block’s latest profit results. “We’re already seeing it internally. A significantly smaller team, using the tools we’re building, can do more and do it better.”
