Wall Street steadies after its AI-induced sell-off

1 week ago 1

By STAN CHOE, AP Business Writer

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks steadied on Friday after an encouraging update on inflation helped calm a Wall Street that’s been wracked by worries about how artificial-intelligence technology may upend the business world.

The S&P 500 barely budged, a day after it had tumbled to one of its worst losses since Thanksgiving. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 48 points, or 0.1%, and the Nasdaq composite slipped 0.2%.

Stocks got some help from easing Treasury yields, which fell after a report showed inflation slowed last month by more than economists expected. U.S. consumers paid prices for groceries, clothes and other costs of living that were 2.4% higher overall than a year earlier.

While that’s higher than anyone would like and above the 2% target set by the Federal Reserve, it wasn’t as bad as December’s 2.7% rate. And an underlying measure of inflation that economists see as a better predictor of where it may be heading slowed to the least-painful level in nearly five years.

“It’s still too high, but only for now, not forever,” said Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex Wealth Management.