U.S. futures dip as AI sell-off returns and oil prices rise sharply

BNN Bloomberg is Canada’s definitive source for business news dedicated exclusively to helping Canadians invest and build their businesses. U. S. futures are mostly lower as artificial-intelligence stocks come under pressure again and oil prices rose amid sporadic fighting in the Middle East. Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.1 per cent on Tuesday, while those for the Nasdaq declined 0.5 per cent. Futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.2 per cent. Shares of South Korea’s AI company Elice Group tumbled 30 per cent on its market debut with investors seemingly wary of the debt being taken on by companies in the sector, with a recent tech selloff gaining momentum again. AI companies perceived as vulnerable because of start-up costs, like CoreWeave in the U. S., are being targeted. Shares of CoreWeave, down 30 per cent this month on such fears, tumbled 4.5 per cent before the market opened. Anxiety over debt in the sector is being fanned due to inflation and rising odds that the U. S. Federal Reserve will hike borrowing costs for a second time this year to cool spending and borrowing. Benchmark U. S. crude jumped two per cent to US$100.55 a barrel.