World markets, Wall Street mostly in decline on latest round tech stock selling

Global stock markets and Wall Street mostly declined Thursday as a sell-off in technology stocks intensified, with chip and memory companies like Western Digital, SanDisk, and Micron suffering heavy losses amid investor concerns that AI-driven stock prices may be unsustainable. Oil prices edged lower despite ongoing U.S.-Iran military strikes, while South Korea's Kospi index plunged 6.4% due to a rate hike and tech selling. TSMC reported record earnings and announced $100 billion in U.S. chip investments, providing a rare bright spot.

The technology sector was dragging markets on Wall Street and around the world mostly lower Thursday and oil prices fell despite a flurry of military strikes between the U.S. and Iran. Futures for the S&P 500 fell 0.2%, while futures for the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 0.2%. Futures for the Nasdaq, which is dominated by technology stocks, were down 0.8%. Chip and memory companies were getting hit the hardest, with Western Digital and SanDisk leading the way down with losses of more than 7%. Micron fell 4.5% and Intel was down 2.4%. It was the second straight day of significant losses for those companies, most of which have seen their stock double and triple in value since the beginning of 2026. Despite the heavy investment in artificial intelligence, investors remain concerned that stock prices have shot too high and that the demand may not be sustainable if AI doesn't deliver as much profit and productivity as expected. Oil prices meandered between small gains and losses, remaining at elevated levels as the U.S. intensified its strikes against Iran https://apnews.com/article/iran-us-hormuz-strait-war-july-15-2026-b7c592f269d822407dd6b5641602bf25 , while Iran targeted missile and drone fire on Kuwait and Bahrain. Brent crude, the international standard, fell 42 cents to $84.53 a barrel. It was trading near $72 per barrel in late February before the war began. Benchmark U.S. crude, which was around $67 a barrel in February, slipped 22 cents to $79.38 a barrel. Later Thursday morning, the U.S. government releases its data on retail sales for June. Elsewhere, at midday in Europe France's CAC 40 fell 0.7%, as did Germany's DAX. Britain's FTSE 100 fell 0.3%. Selling of AI-related shares also weighed on benchmarks in South Korea and Japan. In South Korea, Seoul's Kospi index sank 6.4% to 6,820.60. An interest rate hike https://apnews.com/article/south-korea-rate-hike-inflation-semiconductor-fad756c430007b891ff275043fea1453 by the Bank of Korea also contributed its tumble. It was the first rate hike by the BOK since 2023 and was aimed at helping curb inflationary pressures due to the Iran war. Memory chipmaker SK Hynix dropped 11.5%, while Samsung Electronics fell 8.8%. Taiwan's Taiex ended nearly unchanged. Taiwan computer chipmaker TSMC https://apnews.com/article/taiwan-tsmc-chipmaking-ai-arizona-fab-ba05b1b952257d371acb9d070e7914ff gained 1.2% ahead of its earnings report. After the market closed, TSMC, often seen as a barometer for the global industry and for the boom in artificial intelligence, https://apnews.com/hub/artificial-intelligence announced an additional $100 billion in investments in U.S. computer chipmaking capacity, along with record earnings in the last quarter and higher revenue growth forecasts. In Amsterdam, Dutch chip machine maker ASML's shares rose 0.9% early Thursday following TSMC's stronger-than-expected results.