Tech stocks shed more than $1 trillion in value Friday, as the price of oil soared to its highest levels in five months.
The Nasdaq 100 index, which tracks most of the country’s largest tech and AI-linked companies, sold off by 2.5% and now sits about 7% below its most recent all-time high — a record it had only notched last week.
The S&P 500 dropped 1% and the Russell 2000 index fell 1.6%. The Philadelphia semiconductor index dropped 3.8% for its eight straight day of losses, the longest such streak since 2008.
The sharp drop in tech shares came as worries about ballooning debt, high interest rates and rising oil prices all resurfaced.
Brent crude oil, widely considered to be among the most important prices in global energy, surpassed $110 per barrel shortly after 2:30 p.m. ET, its highest level since May. It ended the week at $109.86 per barrel, still its highest closing level since May 19.
U.S. crude oil, which also steers gas prices, jumped 3.5% Friday to close at $101.41 per barrel. It was the first time West Texas Intermediate crude had crossed the $100 threshold, closely watched by both traders and the public, since September.
The continued upward trend in energy prices increases the likelihood that the Federal Reserve will raise interest rates again this year. The Fed already boosted rates by 0.25% in September to tame inflation that had risen as a result of higher oil and gas prices.
Diesel futures also jumped Friday by more than 1%. The cost of this commercial fuel critical for farming and other industrial sectors has risen even faster than regular gasoline in recent months.
The steady rise in the price of fuel around the world began this spring, when the U.S. and Israel attacked Iran in late February and triggered the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
But an escalation in the Russia-Ukraine war in recent months has caused an even more dramatic price spike for diesel.
Russia has traditionally been one of the world’s largest diesel exporters. But attacks by Ukrainian forces on its energy infrastructure has taken much of its refining capacity offline.
On Friday, another Russian refiner suspended some crude oil operations. The Russian Defense Ministry said Ukraine had “attempted a massive attack on the Ryazan oil refinery.”
Energy assets in Ukraine have also been targeted by Russian strikes.
As the world seeks alternative sources for diesel, there are few clear opportunities to expand diesel production. Refineries in the U.S. and Europe are already running at nearly maximum capacity to churn out as much diesel fuel as possible.
President Donald Trump is intensely focused on the high cost of diesel fuel because of its key role in driving up inflation — a top issue for American voters in the Nov. 3 midterm elections.
Trump has tried multiple actions to lower prices, but those have not resulted in a significant step-down for diesel prices.
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The president has also touted a deal with Russian President Vladimir Putin as a way to lower prices, but as of Friday, no actual Russian diesel had been identified as having reached the global market.
Additionally, a group of American lawmakers introduced a bill that would block Trump’s Russian diesel deal. It has little chance of passing the Republican-controlled House.
But polling indicates that Republicans are unlikely to maintain a majority in the House after November’s elections. The Russian diesel-blocking bill offers a preview of the kind of legislation that could advance under Democratic control.
Yet even now, the legislation adds to “growing doubts that a U.S.-Russia diesel deal will come to fruition,” said Mason Mendez, global real assets analyst at Wells Fargo.
“Investors also remain concerned about further military escalation in the Middle East, as attacks on commercial shipping and regional infrastructure have increased in recent weeks,” he said.
“Looking into 2027, the need to rebuild depleted global inventories could create an additional source of demand and keep energy prices elevated for longer.”
At the same time that inflation pushes interest rates higher around the world, trillion-dollar tech companies are borrowing and spending hundreds of billions of dollars to develop AI and build their vast data centers.
This week, fresh cracks began to show in the AI business model, as investors raised questions about when their massive injections of cash into AI companies would pay off.
The two worst performing stocks in the Nasdaq 100 on Friday were both data center companies: Nebuius and CoreWeave.
The value of CoreWeave’s shares has plunged more than 25% over the past month.
But these companies are just two of the dozens that have borrowed billions of dollars at high interest rates to expand at a breakneck pace.
Just a day before Friday’s sell-off, Ed Yardeni, a highly regarded market analyst, cut his year-end S&P 500 target to 7,900, down from 8,400, over what he said was rising investor caution about the artificial intelligence trade and lingering doubts about inflation and higher interest rates.
