A trader works at the New York Stock Exchange on October 21, 2026.NYSEU.S. Stock futures were mostly flat Thursday night after tech stocks sold off on concerns that AI trading may be faltering, at least in the near term. Futures linked to the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 52 points, or 0.1%. S&P 500 futures gained 0.06% and Nasdaq-100 futures fell 0.1%. In regular trading, the S&P 500 sank 1.2% and the Nasdaq Composite fell 2.6%. The broad market benchmark logged its worst session since July, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq had its worst day since June. The Dow Industrials broke the trend and closed slightly higher. In Asia, South Korea’s Kospi benchmark index fell 2.42%, while Japan’s Nikkei 225 lost 2.1%. Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index fell 0.47%. Mainland China’s CSI 300 fell 1.76%, deepening its decline into a technical bear market. Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 fell 0.21%. Concerns over artificial intelligence spending weighed on the market and dragged the US technology sector down 3% on the day. Nvidia fell 4.4%, Alphabet fell 3.2% and Advanced Micro Devices declined 8.1% as losses occurred in different parts of the technology sector. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang told CNBC on Thursday that he thought capital within AI development was becoming scarce. “There is a shortage of capital. The demand [for] “Capital is much greater than the availability of capital,” Huang said when asked about the neocloud segment of AI development, which is proving fragile. Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, described AI trading on Thursday as a “bubble,” but said some depressurization wouldn’t be all bad. “Breaking some air out of the AI bubble is a good thing. I don’t think it’s going to burst and create problems for the economy,” he said, pointing to the bond market as a source of capital competition for stocks. Bond yields eased on Thursday, with the 10-year Treasury note falling 18.5 basis points to 4.961% as traders bid up safe-haven assets. The 30-year bond yield fell 15 basis points, and the 2-year yield fell 17.5 basis points. points.Brent crude oil prices soared following a report that the United States and Israel were drawing up plans for new attacks on Iran as part of the regional war that began in late February. Brent rose 4% to end the session at $113.17, the highest price since May. Advance of 1.7%. On the economic front, traders will be watching the final reading of the University of Michigan’s consumer confidence report.
