[New York stock market close | October 8] Nasdaq drops 1.25% due to sharp drop in semiconductors... Dow is strong

Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.39%... Nvidia and Broadcom are both weak

Energy stocks rise amid surge in oil prices... Government bond interest rates fell after rising during the day

The New York stock market closed mixed on the 8th (local time) amid weakness in semiconductor stocks. The Nasdaq index fell more than 1% as concerns surrounding sales expectations for artificial intelligence (AI)-related companies pressured technology stocks. While stock prices were divided by industry, with energy and consumer goods stocks rising, the Dow index rose slightly.

On this day, the Dow Jones Industrial Average ended trading at 51,231.64, up 51.77 points (0.10%) from the previous day. The Standard & Poor's (S&P) 500 Index fell 36.41 points (0.47%) to 7,765.36, and the Nasdaq Composite Index fell 345.35 points (1.25%) to 27,193.34.

The decline in the semiconductor industry was notable. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index closed at 12,623.72, down 442.44 points (3.39%). Nvidia fell 2.94% and Broadcom fell 4.35%, while Micron and AMD also fell 4.79% and 3.90%, respectively. Intel fell 5.34%.

For AI-related stocks, reports about the size of Open AI's sales were a burden. The Financial Times (FT) reported, based on data provided to investors, that OpenAI's annualized sales at the end of September were approximately $50 billion, which is smaller than the $70 billion previously reported. Annualized sales are sales at a specific point in time converted into one year. The FT explained that the gap occurred during the investors' estimation process, which adjusted for differences in sales calculation methods with competitors.

Even within technology stocks, the stock price trends were different. Oracle fell 5.48%, and Microsoft and Amazon also fell 1.35% and 2.25%, respectively. Alphabet and Tesla fell 0.63% and 0.74%, respectively. On the other hand, Apple rose 1.11% and Palantir rose 2.40%.

The surge in oil prices has heightened concerns about inflation. Tensions in the Middle East and disruptions in U.S. offshore crude oil production due to hurricanes have stimulated supply concerns. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) futures ended trading at $91.49 per barrel, up 3.6% from the previous day, and Brent crude oil futures closed at $104.28, up 4.1% from the previous day. During the day, U.S. President Donald Trump gave up some of the gains as he announced that he would not attack Iran before the midterm elections in November.

Energy stocks performed strongly amid rising oil prices. ExxonMobil rose 2.71% and Chevron rose 3.12%. In consumer goods stocks, Walmart rose 2.22%, Coca-Cola rose 2.27%, and PepsiCo rose 3.73%.

In the bond market, government bond yields fell as solid demand was confirmed in the U.S. 30-year Treasury bond bidding. The 10-year interest rate rose to 5.35% this morning, but later fell to 5.23%.

Employment indicators released today confirmed a decrease in new unemployment benefits claims. The number of new claims for the week ending October 3, announced by the U.S. Department of Labor, was 197,000, down 2,000 from the previous week's revised figure. On the other hand, the number of continuing claims for the week ending September 26 increased by 17,000 to 1,716,000.

The monetary policy outlook was focused on a freeze in October and an additional increase at the end of the year. At the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) Fed Watch, the possibility of a freeze in the benchmark interest rate at the October meeting exceeded the possibility of a hike. Until the December meeting, the possibility of the base interest rate being higher than the current level was reflected as higher than the possibility of maintaining the current level.