AI Slowdown Stoking Futures Rout; Oil Jumps on Mideast Strikes

Analysis

US futures pointed lower Monday as Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq contracts declined on twin worries: a public push by Anthropic for the AI industry to slow down, and crude oil climbing more than 2% after new strikes near Saudi Arabia and the Strait of Hormuz. The session kicked off Fed rate week with a hawkish undercurrent — Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan both expect a September Fed hike as inflation lingers, meaning the tech-led sell-off arrives with no rate-cut tailwind in sight. The AI slowdown call hit semiconductors hardest, with MU, SNDK, INTC, and AMD all sliding and a viral AI-doomer tweet adding fuel to the fire. Oracle was the big-name casualty, posting its worst week in nearly two months and sitting down 50% over the past year, yet retail sentiment held on as Larry Ellison canceled his stock sale and BofA reiterated its buy rating. Big Tech's internal split is now out in the open: Microsoft's CEO and President Trump lined up against Anthropic's slowdown appeal, while reports have Anthropic picking the Nasdaq for what could be a $2 trillion IPO and guiding to a second consecutive profitable quarter. Elsewhere, energy strength lifted HPQ, DELL, and VLO to 52-week highs last week, and RUM soared nearly 20% overnight. On the other side, MCD, OKLO, and OPEN plunged to 52-week lows, AstraZeneca's breast-cancer drug missed its goal in a late-stage trial, and Amazon paused operations with 21 Air following a Miami crash. A $1,000 position in Sandisk at its 52-week low is now worth nearly $20,000, a reminder of how violent the AI hardware trade has been in both directions.