NEW YORK - Tech shares suffered another bout of weakness on Wednesday on worries about an AI bubble, hitting US stocks as oil prices advanced following a US announcement of a blockade of tankers to Venezuela.
The Nasdaq led major Wall Street indices lower following reports questioning the financing of an Oracle project to build a data centre in Michigan.
Art Hogan of B. Riley Wealth Management described Oracle as "probably the poster child" for questions about AI project financing and profitability.
"Investors are starting to be more differentiated and looking at the potential winners and the potential time frame before return on invested capital," Hogan said. "That doesn't mean we're anywhere close to the final innings of artificial intelligence. It just means investors are being more discerning."
Besides Oracle, which fell 5.4 percent, other AI players such as Nvidia, Google parent Alphabet and Broadcom all lost more than three percent.
While technology and communications services were among the sectors to retreat, energy led the winners among sectors moving higher.