Calls to slow AI rattle chip stocks

Good morning. Wall Street got spooked last night by something AI's own leaders said. Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei floated slowing down frontier AI development over the weekend, and Sam Altman and Elon Musk backed him within a day. No one offered a concrete pledge, though, such as pausing training or cutting spending.

Markets took it seriously because this year's rally has leaned on profit forecasts that AI keeps lifting. If the technology slows, those forecasts could slip. Chip stocks led the Nasdaq lower from the open, with Nvidia among them, and the Dow opened down more than 150 points. President Trump called the push a sick conspiracy against AI and data centers.

Bonds were noisier still. The 10-year Treasury yield briefly touched 5% for the first time since 2007 before easing, and the 30-year mortgage rate climbed to 7.17%, a near two-year high. Oil above $103 a barrel after the Saudi pipeline shutdown didn't help; energy stocks rose, and the VIX jumped to 18.

Now it is all about this week's Fed meeting. A quarter-point hike, the first in three years, is priced at roughly 88%, so what matters is whether Chair Warsh hints at more. The Bank of Japan also decides this week, and a narrowing US-Japan rate gap is a quiet risk on the list.