U.S. stocks closed lower on Monday, with artificial intelligence-related shares suffering broad declines. The pullback came as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced the company would not pursue an initial public offering in 2026, citing ongoing developments in AI safety as a reason that the current climate is not suitable for going public. In a rare show of unity, three major AI players—Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX AI—collectively called for a more measured pace in AI development.

U.S. Markets

At the closing bell, the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 152.01 points, or 0.29%, to close at 52,421.28. The S&P 500 dropped 37.03 points, or 0.48%, to 7,619.95, while the Nasdaq Composite fell 146.62 points, or 0.56%, to 26,186.41. Among notable movers, SK Hynix (SKHY.US) dropped 7.6%, Meta (META.US) gained 2.7%, ASML (ASML.US) slid 7.2%, and both Intel (INTC.US) and Micron Technology (MU.US) declined more than 5%. The Nasdaq Golden Dragon China Index managed a modest gain of 0.36%, with NetEase (NTES.US) rising 2%.

European Markets

Germany's DAX 30 fell 110.75 points, or 0.43%, to 25,446.41. The UK's FTSE 100 added 50.97 points, or 0.48%, to 10,701.41, while France's CAC 40 declined 61.99 points, or 0.76%, to 8,117.78. The Euro Stoxx 50 dropped 59.88 points, or 0.95%, to 6,265.25. Spain's IBEX 35 slipped 265.19 points, or 1.34%, to 19,573.31, and Italy's FTSE MIB fell 838.53 points, or 1.60%, to 51,673.50.

Asian Markets

Japan's Nikkei 225 lost 0.81%, while South Korea's KOSPI composite index tumbled 3.26%.

U.S. Dollar Index

The dollar index, which tracks the greenback against six major currencies, advanced 0.27% to settle at 99.388. At the close of New York trading, the euro fetched $1.1557, down from $1.1596 in the prior session. Sterling traded at $1.3511, down from $1.3525. The dollar strengthened to 154.05 Japanese yen from 153.72, but weakened against the Swiss franc to 0.8163 from 0.8166. The greenback also rose against the Canadian dollar to 1.3902 from 1.3865, and against the Swedish krona to 9.7412 from 9.7044.

Cryptocurrency

Bitcoin climbed nearly 3%, last quoted at $78,955, while Ethereum advanced more than 3% to $2,558.

Oil

West Texas Intermediate crude for October delivery rose $1.34 to settle at $101.39 per barrel, a gain of 1.34%. Brent crude for November delivery added $1.07 to close at $105.68 per barrel, up 1.02%.

Precious Metals

Spot gold fell more than 1% to $4,298.77 per ounce, while spot silver edged up 0.03% to $63.24 per ounce.

Macro News

Bank of America strategist Savita Subramanian raised her year-end target for the S&P 500 from 7,100 to 7,400. While previously holding one of the most bearish outlooks on Wall Street, Subramanian still cautioned that the index remains vulnerable to interest rate risks. The revised target implies a 3.4% decline from Friday's closing level. Among more than 20 strategists surveyed for their 2026 forecasts, her projection remains among the most pessimistic. She also expects the S&P 500 to reach 7,800 over the next 12 months, representing only about 2% upside from recent levels. "We are entering a seasonally weak period, and in our view, the market correction has been delayed for too long," she said on Monday.

Ahead of this week's Federal Reserve meeting, the benchmark 10-year Treasury yield climbed to the key psychological level of 5% on Monday for the first time in nearly three years. Expectations are widespread that the Fed will raise interest rates to curb inflation, especially after data released last Friday showed U.S. consumer prices accelerated in August. Tom di Galoma, managing director at Mischief Financial, described the move as "potentially the straw that broke the camel's back." Over the past month, yields have been pushed higher by rising rate hike expectations, increased corporate and government debt supply, optimistic growth prospects, and concerns about the nation's long-term fiscal path. "Our budget, deficit, and overall debt structure continue to expand," Galoma noted. Whether the 10-year yield can hold above the 5% threshold will serve as a key test of whether the economy and equity markets can withstand higher interest rates.

The Federal Reserve announced Monday that it will skip Treasury purchases for reserve management purposes for a second consecutive month in the upcoming period, signaling that policymakers view bank reserve levels in the financial system as adequate. The New York Fed's open market operations desk plans no reserve management purchases during the monthly cycle ending October 14, though it still intends to conduct approximately $15.6 billion in reinvestment purchases during the same period. The decision reflects confidence in money market functioning, as evidenced by the Secured Overnight Financing Rate (SOFR), which has mostly traded at or below the interest rate on reserve balances (IORB) over the past month. The Treasury has also reduced T-bill supply ahead of the quarterly tax deadline. This shift does not indicate a change in monetary policy or balance sheet strategy.

According to three people familiar with the matter, President Trump held a private meeting with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backstage at the Republican National Convention last Thursday. Just days before the meeting, a former OpenAI researcher publicly accused the company and its rival Anthropic of irresponsible behavior, saying they were "gambling with human safety." One source said the meeting was requested by Altman. Details were limited, but discussions broadly centered on artificial intelligence and its growing influence. In the days that followed, the two expressed notably different positions on whether to slow the pace of frontier AI development. Altman wrote on Sunday evening that slowing AI development is "a cost worth paying," adding that "no matter how much competitive pressure the U.S. faces, it cannot be a reason for recklessness, nor can it allow AI capabilities to outpace alignment and monitoring capabilities." Trump, by contrast, opposes AI regulation and dismissed the need for AI guardrails, saying that regulating the industry would lead to its "demise and bankruptcy." He called AI "the greatest economic development engine in history."

Stock News

Tempus AI CEO Eric Lefkofsky expressed support on Monday for calls to slow AI development, saying: "Given that current models can train and improve themselves, it's not hard to imagine a moment where you ask yourself: 'Could this get out of control and beyond our grasp?'" He cited both safety concerns and capital efficiency as reasons for backing a more measured pace. Lefkofsky praised the efforts of Anthropic, OpenAI, and SpaceX in healthcare and downplayed worries that the U.S. might fall behind if its largest companies reduce investment. "I don't think there's a real risk in lowering the speed from 100 miles per hour to 70 miles per hour," he said. "I don't feel the rest of the world will catch up with us."

Apple (AAPL.US) announced that Siri AI, powered by the next generation of Apple Intelligence, has officially launched as a "more powerful and more personalized" assistant. The company simultaneously released the new Apple Intelligence platform to support Siri AI, with features rolling out in iOS 27 starting today. Siri AI is initially available in beta to English-language users and will expand to French, Japanese, Korean, Portuguese, and Spanish next month. The service will not launch initially in the EU for iOS, iPadOS, or watchOS. Apple says Siri AI offers significantly enhanced capabilities, including personal context understanding, broad knowledge, on-screen awareness, and additional system-level app actions. It can help users access information instantly, answer questions on nearly any topic, and extract relevant details from messages, emails, and photos.

Nvidia (NVDA.US) CEO Jensen Huang received a phone call from President Trump on Monday during the All-In Summit forum, this time with the call on speakerphone in front of a large audience. During the call, Trump dismissed recent concerns about AI development as a "scam," saying "robots will not take over the world." He also discussed data centers, claiming without providing specifics that some communities that would have declined without them are now very wealthy. Huang did not push back, saying, "We will ensure that everyone in the U.S. AI race benefits." He also expressed support for Trump by telling him he was facing thousands of live audience members.

Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet (GOOGL.US), announced the launch of paid robotaxi service in Las Vegas, making it the 15th U.S. city to offer the service. The rollout begins Monday in phases, starting with dozens of vehicles and planned expansion to hundreds. Initially, highway access will not be available, with airport pickups and freeway service added at a later stage. Fleet operations will be managed by Moove, which also handles Waymo's operations in Phoenix and Miami. Waymo currently operates more than 4,000 robotaxis across the U.S., providing over 500,000 paid rides weekly. The company has stated it aims to reach 1 million paid rides per week across 20 global cities this year, with tests being prepared in London and Tokyo.

Oracle (ORCL.US) has initiated a new round of layoffs, reportedly beginning Monday, according to sources familiar with the matter. The company had outlined plans last month to cut payroll costs as it accumulates billions in debt to fund AI infrastructure. Internal documents indicate some teams will see double-digit percentage reductions. In its most recent filing, Oracle reported a 13% decline in headcount to approximately 141,000 employees for fiscal 2026 ending May 31, a reduction of 21,000 workers. The company has accumulated tens of billions in debt to build data centers, betting on surging AI demand. Oracle reported first-quarter capital expenditures of $28.5 billion, up from $8.5 billion a year earlier, and maintained its fiscal 2027 capex forecast of $90 billion to $95 billion.

Analyst Actions

UBS upgraded its price target on General Motors (GM.US) from $102 to $114.