Market Close: Tech Stocks At 2-1/2 Month Low, Oil Jumps, Telecoms Tank 10-23-2026

0:02I'm Peter Schacknow, CNBC. It was a down day for the stock market to end a mostly lower week as investors grappled with factors like higher oil prices, rising interest rates, and concerns over artificial intelligence investments. The Dow fell 653 points to close at 52 ,215. The S &P 500 was a half percent lower, or 40 points. The Nasdaq was down two-tenths of a or 53 points. The Dow saw its largest one-day drop since August 20th, but was the only one of the major averages to register a weekly gain. The Nasdaq had the smallest loss of the major averages, but with tech stocks under pressure, the Nasdaq closed at its lowest since August 3rd.

0:42All those market concerns have led to volatile trading in recent times, but Doug Clinton, CEO of Intelligent Alpha, says it all might just be a case of overthinking. It feels a lot like a routine drawdown in a tech-driven bull market. And I don't think that this is a harbinger of something worse, Joe. I think that we are probably more likely closer to the end than the beginning. And I also would note that in a couple of weeks, we have a big piece of uncertainty that will come out of the markets with the election cycle. And so you put those things together, I think that things could get better for the AI trade in the nearer term.

1:16But Torsten Slock, chief economist at Apollo Global, says higher interest rates are an issue that could become even more pronounced.

1:23Peter Schacknow: We do need a lot of long-duration investments in data centers, in infrastructure, in energy transition, in renewable energy. Across the board, these investments are needed to basically get the economy on track for growth in the future. And the question now at the moment is, where is the capital going to come from? Because at the same time, we also need a lot of capital for government deficits. And all those things combined basically means that at the moment we have a shortage of capital. Energy stocks did well today with oil prices jumping once again. Chevron was up more than 3 percent. Halliburton rallied more than 5 percent.

1:55And SLB, the company formerly known as Schlumberger, saw its stock rise more than 7 percent. AT &T and T-Mobile were both down over 7 percent amid worries that SpaceX may seek to become a wireless services competitor. That follows a Bloomberg report that SpaceX was in talks to buy about 80 ,000 cell towers. Peter Schachnow, CNBC.

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