[Wall Street] Oil Prices Fall... Dow Closes Up 1%

Nasdaq Edges Lower Amid Jitters Over AI Investment
Oil Prices Close Lower

Wall Street's three major indexes ended mixed on October 20 (local time). The Dow and S&P 500 rose on strong corporate earnings and lower oil prices, while the Nasdaq finished slightly lower amid ongoing concerns about investment in artificial intelligence (AI).

The Dow rose 529.85 points (1.02%) from the previous trading day to close at 52,495.88. The S&P 500, which is weighted toward large-cap stocks, gained 21.84 points (0.28%) to 7,712.57, while the Nasdaq, which is weighted toward technology stocks, fell 6.06 points (0.02%) to 26,424.81.

New York Stock Exchange. New York (United States) = Special Correspondent Hwang Yunju

Corporate earnings, oil prices and AI-related selling pressure combined to leave the Nasdaq as the only major index to finish slightly lower.

The Dow was buoyed by strong corporate earnings. 3M surged more than 5% after reporting earnings that beat market expectations and raising its full-year outlook. Northrop Grumman also rose more than 4% after its results topped expectations.

Lower oil prices also lifted investor sentiment. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for November delivery fell 1.80% from the previous session to settle at $101.79 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Brent crude for December delivery settled at $108.79 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange, down 0.69% from the previous session.

AI-related stocks faced selling pressure early in the session, but buying emerged later in the day. The first-day share price performance of Elice Group, a South Korean AI infrastructure company, was cited as a factor behind the AI selloff. After the stock closed 32% below its IPO price, concerns about investment in AI data centers and computing infrastructure resurfaced.

Some stocks, however, recovered their intraday losses. Western Digital rose 3.44%, Seagate Technology gained 2.17%, CoreWeave advanced 1.65%, and Marvell Technology climbed 1.40%.

Jake Behan, head of capital markets at Direxion, said, "For most of this year, the market viewed growth stories, including AI, as strong enough to withstand rising interest rates, but that relationship began to show cracks last week." He added, "With hyperscalers set to report earnings over the next few weeks, those reports will be the next test for the AI investment trend."

Gold prices fell as investors weighed the possibility of another interest rate hike this year ahead of next week's Federal Reserve (Fed) meeting. Spot gold fell 0.3% from the previous session to $4,125.90 an ounce, while December gold futures settled down 0.4% at $4,142.60.

CNBC analyzed that some investors view U.S. Treasuries as a better safe-haven asset for the time being, since gold pays no interest and becomes less attractive in a high-interest-rate environment.

U.S. Treasury yields fell, led by longer-term bonds. The 10-year Treasury yield fell 2.1 basis points (1 bp = 0.01 percentage point) to 5.115%, while the 30-year yield declined 4.9 basis points to 5.426%. By contrast, the 2-year yield rose 2.4 basis points to 4.785%.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.