DENVER — Denver7 financial expert Bruce Allen, president of Bruce G. Allen Investments LLC, stopped by the studio Friday to discuss the market's performance so far in 2026, and some of the impact artificial intelligence is having.
U.S. stocks sank Friday morning as Wall Street worries about the AI revolution, inflation and a possible war in Iran.
The S&P 500 fell 0.8% at the openg and was staggering toward the finish of what would be just its second losing month in the last 10. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 569 points, or 1.2%, as of 7:35 a.m. Mountain Time, and the Nasdaq composite was 1.2% lower.
A report showing that inflation at the U.S. wholesale level was at 2.9% last month, much higher than the 1.6% that economists expected, upset the market. The number was so much worse than expected that it could help persuade the Federal Reserve to hold off longer on its cuts to interest rates.
- Denver7's Ryan Fish spoke with Allen this morning about the market's performance so far. Watch that interview in the video below:
Lower rates would give the economy and prices for investments a boost, but they risk worsening inflation at the same time.
The discouraging data layered more worries atop a Wall Street where investors returned to knocking down software companies and others whose businesses may end up getting supplanted by AI-powered competitors.
Even the companies currently seeing their revenue and profits soar because of AI-related demand are also weakening. Nvidia fell 2.6%, a day after dropping to its worst loss since last spring, even though it reported a better profit than analysts expected and forecast more in revenue for the current quarter.
On the winning side of Wall Street was Netflix, which jumped 8.6% after walking away from its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery’s studio and streaming business. That put Skydance-owned Paramount in a position to take over its Hollywood rival.
Paramount Skydance shares climbed 2.2%, while Warner Bros. Discovery fell 1.9%.
In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury was at 3.97%. It swiveled higher following the inflation report, but it’s down from its 4.02% level late Thursday.
ln stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed in Europe and Asia. South Korea’s Kospi fell 1% from its latest record, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng rose 0.9% in two of the world’s larger moves.
In energy markets, the price for a barrel of benchmark U.S. crude oil rose 3.2% to $67.27. Worries about rising tensions between the United States and Iran over Iran’s nuclear program have been causing big swings.
The U.S. military has already gathered a massive fleet of aircraft and warships in the Middle East, and a conflict could disrupt the global flow of oil and drive prices higher.
Brent crude, the international standard, rose 3.1% to $73.04 per barrel.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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