U.S. tech stocks collectively declined overnight and this morning, with the Nasdaq Composite Index falling 1.9%, the S&P 500 Index falling 1.12%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average falling 0.84%. This decline is closely related to market misunderstandings stemming from comments made by OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar. On Wednesday, Friar mentioned at an event that OpenAI hopes to build an ecosystem "backed" by banks, private equity funds, and the federal government to support its massive chip investment financing. This statement was interpreted by the market as "AI giants seeking government guarantees," exacerbating investor concerns about an "AI bubble."
As public opinion escalated, Friar issued an urgent clarification on Thursday, emphasizing that OpenAI has not sought government guarantees for its infrastructure investments and stating that the statement was a misunderstanding. OpenAI CEO Altman also published a lengthy response, clearly stating that the company will not seek government guarantees or "too big to fail" privileges, even bluntly stating, "If we mess up, we'll go bankrupt." However, Altman's contradictory statement—that the US government should establish a "national strategic computing power reserve" to serve the public interest—sparked heated debate online. White House AI Specialist David Sachs subsequently stated that the federal government would not provide bailouts for the AI industry, but would streamline licensing processes to support industry development.
Another backdrop to market turmoil is the deterioration of US employment data. The Challenger layoffs report released Thursday showed that US employers cut more than 150,000 jobs in October, the highest number for the same period in over two decades. Economists pointed out that while the report has limited historical predictive power, the current weak labor market makes it significantly more difficult for laid-off employees to find new jobs than during the tech industry layoff wave of 2022.
In terms of individual stocks, tech giants such as Nvidia, Microsoft, and Amazon generally fell, with Nvidia dropping 3.65%. Language learning platform Duolingo plummeted 25% due to weaker-than-expected earnings guidance, and food delivery platforms also plunged 17.45% due to profit issues. Chinese concept stocks showed mixed performance, with XPeng Motors bucking the trend and rising 9.64% thanks to the release of its second-generation visual language motion model, while Alibaba, Baidu, and others saw mixed results. This volatility once again highlights the market's sensitivity to the high valuations and policy risks in the AI industry.
