Chip Stocks Drag S&P 500 and Nasdaq Lower as AI Spending Fears Resurface, Jamie Dimon Tells Critics to 'Stop Being Breathless'

Chip stocks lead a broad tech pullback The S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell Thursday morning as semiconductor stocks came under renewed pressure, according to Reuters. The selloff came after a recent rally in chip names, with Bloomberg's Markets Wrap noting that AI spending worries were once again weighing on the sector. The Dow wavered, caught between the tech drag and solid earnings elsewhere in the market. Chip valuations have run hot for months on the assumption that AI infrastructure spending keeps climbing without limit. Thursday's pullback suggests some investors are reassessing that bet, at least for now.

Dimon pushes back on AI job-loss panic

JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon told reporters Thursday that people need to calm down about AI's impact on employment, saying flatly to "stop being breathless over it." Dimon runs one of the largest employers in American finance and has previously said AI will change how his own bank operates. His comments cut against a narrative that's dominated tech coverage for the past year, where every earnings call seems to bring a fresh warning about mass layoffs from automation. Dimon isn't denying AI will change jobs. He's arguing the panic is outrunning the evidence. The strongest case for concern is straightforward: entry-level white-collar roles in coding, customer service, and paralegal work have already seen real disruption at some firms. The strongest case for calm is that labor markets have absorbed technological shocks before without the mass unemployment doomsayers predicted, and jobless claims data gives no sign of a labor market cracking right now.

The jobs data doesn't back the doom story yet US jobless claims fell to 208,000, below

forecasts, according to Bloomberg. That's a tight labor market by historical standards, not one showing strain from AI-driven layoffs. Retail sales also got a lift from car buyers and Amazon Prime Day, per Reuters reporting on the retail sales release, even as lower gasoline prices held back the headline number. None of that proves AI won't reshape jobs over a longer horizon. The immediate, dramatic job-loss narrative isn't showing up in the hard numbers as of this week.

SpaceX

a private company still drawing outsized market attention Away from chips, SpaceX has been generating its own market chatter, though it's worth noting the company remains privately held and has not conducted a traditional public stock offering. SpaceX does have a literal rocket riding on the news cycle. Starship is set for an upcoming liftoff, and some coverage has framed the launch as a moment that could shape sentiment around the company's eventual public-market prospects, whenever those materialize. Whether a successful launch shifts that broader narrative is an open question the market hasn't answered yet.

Inflation and rates

traders bail on rate-hike bets Bond traders are backing away from wagers on a Fed rate hike as inflation data comes in softer than feared, according to Bloomberg's bond market coverage. That's a meaningfully different signal than the "AI is overheating everything" story dominating equities. Bond markets are reading the inflation trend as more benign, not less. Treasury yields still rose Thursday morning even as the S&P 500 and Nasdaq opened lower, a reminder that stock and bond markets aren't always telling the same story on the same day.

One political flashpoint buried in the market noise

Amid the market headlines, Senator Elizabeth Warren said Thursday that the Trump administration's overhaul of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau has cost Americans $26.5 billion. Warren has been the CFPB's most vocal defender since its creation and has consistently opposed efforts to shrink its enforcement authority, so her number should be read as an advocacy claim from an interested party, not an independent audit. No independent verification of that $26.5 billion figure was available in Thursday's market coverage, and the administration has not offered a competing estimate in these reports. The open question for markets heading into the next earnings cycle: does the chip selloff mark a real correction in AI valuations, or just a pause before the rally resumes? Anthropic's reported move toward a large IPO, also noted Thursday, suggests at least some investors are still betting big on the AI trade regardless of Thursday's chip weakness.