Dow Jones falls 1.2% amid concerns over AI spending — The Rio Times

In the United States, at the close of trading on October 23, the Dow Jones index fell 1.23% to 52,215 points, while the S&P 500 lost 0.52%, declining to 7,624 points. The Nasdaq decreased by 0.21% to 25,955 points. As The Rio Times reports, investors became concerned about the scale of data center financing and whether such investments would generate sufficient returns.

Technology stocks under pressure

Meta shares, according to the cited data, fell by about 7% on Thursday and by another 1% on Friday. Amid the decline in stock indexes, the VIX volatility index rose by 2.21% to 19.45. At the same time, gold fell by 0.75% to $3,994 per ounce: according to the publication, a stronger dollar and higher yields on U.S. government bonds put pressure on quotations.

The yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds rose by about four basis points to 5.00%. The dollar index increased by 0.14% to 101.752 points.

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Oil and the Fed decision

The price of Brent crude rose by about 3% and exceeded $116 per barrel. The publication links the movement in quotations to traders assessing the possibility of U.S. strikes on Iran. Higher energy prices increase inflation risks and complicate central bank decisions.

The U.S. Federal Reserve is to announce its interest rate decision on October 28. Markets mostly expect the rate to remain unchanged. According to Polymarket, as of October 23, participants in this market estimated the probability of such a decision at 93.5%. In October, the U.S. composite PMI fell from 58.4 to 57.6 points, although new orders grew at the fastest pace in about four and a half years.