Artificial intelligence-focused stocks are coming under pressure on Friday, dragging tech-related equities and bitcoin lower during the early U.S. session.
Chipmaker Broadcom (AVGO), the ninth largest asset by market cap, tumbled 10% despite strong earnings as its outlook disappointed investors’ lofty expectations.
The Nasdaq index was down over 1% in the first hour of the session. Adding that to Oracle’s 10% slump on Thursday and a further 3% decline on Friday, as investor concerns are mounting that the red-hot AI theme that fueled much of this year’s stock market gains might be fizzling out.
Bitcoin, trading around $92,500 overnight, plunged 2% following the U.S. stock market open to $89,800 recently, extending the choppy action through the week. A consistent theme this week has been bitcoin setting intraday lows during U.S. trading hours, a pattern that has led to the filing of the proposed AfterDark Hours ETF.
Bitcoin miners, some of which have been increasingly leaning into AI for diversification, showed a similar reaction to Broadcom’s miss. Hut 8 (HUT) fell more than 5%. Iren (RIEN) and Riot (RIOT) dropped about 4%, while Cipher(CIFR) and Iren (IREN) both were down about 2% over the past day.
Crypto-related stocks also fell alongside the Nasdaq. Robinhood (HOOD) and Strategy (MSTR) were both down nearly 2%. Stablecoin issuer Circle (CRCL) was hit hard and fell more than 5%. Coinbase (COIN) dropped slightly.
Markets had already been under pressure after Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell’s speech on Wednesday, which hinted at a possible rate cut pause in January. As a result, markets now expect only two rate cuts in 2026 instead of three. Chicago Fed President Austan Goolsbee, who was against a December rate cut, however, said he expects more in 2026 than the current median projection.
Several other members of the Federal Reserve will also speak over the course of today as the central bank’s blackout period following its December meeting on Wednesday has ended. Traders will be looking for any guidance on whether Fed officials agree with Powell on potentially holding rates steady in January.
