US stocks fell on Thursday as investors digested the latest spending outlooks from Alphabet (GOOG) and Tesla (TSLA), and eyed surging oil prices in the wake of expanded attacks in the Middle East.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) and the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped by 1%. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) declined by 1.7%, adding to Wednesday’s stock retreat amid a flurry of earnings reports.
Big Tech stocks were under pressure on Thursday morning, led by declines in shares of Alphabet and Tesla after the two “Magnificent Seven” heavyweights reported results after Wednesday’s market close.
Alphabet posted a strong quarter fundamentally, but the Google parent’s raised capex outlook comes as investors scrutinize AI’s return on investment. Tesla CEO Elon Musk also said 2026 would be a “massive capex year” for the company, highlighting a focus on Optimus robots, robotaxis, and data centers.
The latest escalation in the Middle East, meanwhile, shows no signs of relenting, and oil prices continued to climb on Thursday. Brent crude (BZ=F) oil futures, the international benchmark, jumped to $97 per barrel, closing in on crossing the key $100 level before pulling back later in the morning. West Texas Intermediate futures (CL=F), the US benchmark, rose to $90 per barrel after Iran-backed Houthis said they had attacked tankers in the Red Sea.
As the US-Iran war has widened, rising oil prices spurred a sell-off in bonds, sending the 10-year (^TNX) to its highest level in about a year and a half amid renewed inflation concerns. The latest pressure from oil has pushed back against easing bets that the Federal Reserve would hike interest rates this year.
On the economic data front, initial jobless claims data was softer than expected, falling to 187,000 for the week against expectations of 210,000 first-time claims. In the corporate world, a raft of earnings awaits investors, including from Intel (INTC), T-Mobile US (TMUS), Lockheed Martin (LMT), and others.