Stocks Drop in Face of a Series of Concerns

US stocks sank Friday as Wall Street kept punishing companies that could become losers in the artificial-intelligence revolution. A surprisingly discouraging update on inflation also hurt the market, while oil prices climbed with worries about tensions between the US and Iran.

• The Dow dropped 521.28 points, or 1.1%, to 48,977.92.
• The S&P 500 fell 29.98 points, 0.4%, to 6,878.88, wrapping up its second losing month in the past 10.
• The Nasdaq composite 210.17, or 0.9%, to 22,668.21.

The losses came as investors returned to knocking down software companies and other businesses they suspect could get supplanted by AI-powered competitors, AP reports. Block, the company behind Cash App, Square, and other businesses, gave a potential signal of what AI could do after Chair Jack Dorsey said it's cutting its workforce by nearly half. Block is cutting more than 4,000 jobs from its workforce of over 10,000. Its stock jumped 16.8% after the announcement. Salesforce, whose platform helps customers manage their relationships with clients, fell 2.3%. It gave back much of its 4% gain from the day before after reporting a better profit than analysts expected.

Even the companies currently seeing their revenue and profit soar because of AI-related demand are under pressure. Nvidia fell 4.2% and was the heaviest weight on the US stock market. On the winning side of Wall Street was Netflix, which climbed 13.8% after walking away from its bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery's studio and streaming business. That put Skydance-owned Paramount in a position to take over its Hollywood rival. Paramount Skydance shares jumped 20.8%, while Warner Bros. Discovery fell 2.2%.