Wall Street's record-setting run halts as AI stocks slump and oil prices
rise
[May 13, 2026] By
STAN CHOE
A sudden halt for technology stocks put the brakes on Wall Street’s
record-setting run Tuesday.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2% from its all-time high set the day before. The Dow
Jones Industrial Average added 56 points, or 0.1%, while the Nasdaq
composite sank 0.7% from its own record.
Some of the sharpest drops hit chip companies and stocks that had been
on electric runs because of the artificial-intelligence boom. Intel
slumped 6.8% after its stock had more than tripled so far this year.
Micron Technology dropped 3.6% after coming into the day with a gain of
nearly 180% for the year to date, and CoreWeave sank 6.1% to cut into
its gain of 60% for 2026.
The pullback for AI stocks began earlier in the day in Asia, where South
Korea’s Kospi index sank 2.3% from its all-time high on worries that the
government may redistribute windfall AI profits from companies to its
citizens.
Also weighing on Wall Street was another rise in oil prices as the war
with Iran threatens to drag on. The price for a barrel of Brent crude
climbed 3.4% to settle at $107.77 as a fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire looks
more tenuous. The war has essentially shut the Strait of Hormuz to oil
tankers, keeping them stuck in the Persian Gulf instead of delivering
crude to customers worldwide.
The resulting leap for crude oil prices, with Brent up from roughly $70
per barrel before the war, caused inflation in the United States to
worsen last month by more than economists expected, according to a
report released Tuesday. In another discouraging signal, price increases
accelerated by more in April than economists expected even after
excluding gasoline and food costs.
That could be a result of tariffs and bad weather also pushing prices
higher, according to Brian Jacobsen, chief economic strategist at Annex
Wealth Management.
Treasury yields rose in the bond market following an initial zigzag,
suggesting traders suspect the Federal Reserve will keep interest rates
high to combat inflation.
The Fed has been keeping its cuts to interest rates on hold recently, as
it waits to see how high inflation will go because of the war with Iran
and the tariffs introduced by President Donald Trump. That’s because
lower rates can worsen inflation at the same time that they give the
economy a boost.
The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.45% from 4.42% late Monday
and remains well above its 3.97% level from before the war.
Traders still largely expect the Fed to keep its main interest rate
steady this year, but they’re now betting on a better than 1-in-3 chance
that it could hike rates by December, according to data from CME Group.
Higher rates tend to push down on stock prices, while also slowing the
economy.
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Options trader Brian Garvey, center, works on the floor of the New
York Stock Exchange, Monday, May 11, 2026. (AP Photo/Richard Drew)
 Despite the climbs for Treasury
yields, oil prices and uncertainty because of the Iran war, the U.S.
stock market has remained remarkably resilient recently, in large
part because companies keep producing bigger profits than analysts
expected.
Zebra Technologies became the latest company in the S&P 500 to top
analysts’ expectations for earnings, and its stock leaped 11.4%. The
company, which helps customers digitize and automate their workflows
with bar code scanners and other products, also gave a forecast for
profit over the full year that topped analysts’ expectations.
But Under Armour sank 17% after reporting a worse loss for the
latest quarter than analysts expected. CEO Kevin Plank said the
company is continuing steps to “reset the business and restore the
discipline required to operate as a best-in-class brand.”
Outside of earnings reports, GameStop fell 3.5% after eBay rejected
a buyout offer from the much smaller company, calling it “neither
credible nor attractive.” It highlighted uncertainty about how
GameStop would raise the money to pay for the purchase, among other
challenges for the deal, and eBay’s stock rose 2.1%.
Beazer Homes USA fell 7.3% after likewise rejecting an unsolicited
buyout offer. It said that Dream Finders Homes has repeatedly
undervalued it in its attempts to buy the homebuilder, including
with its latest bid, which offered less than prior offers.
Dream Finders dropped 13.4%.
All told, the S&P 500 fell 11.88 points to 7,400.96. The Dow Jones
Industrial Average added 56.09 to 49,760.56, and the Nasdaq
composite sank 185.92 to 26,088.20.
In stock markets abroad, indexes mostly fell across Europe and Asia.
Besides South Korea’s tumble, losses of 1.6% for Germany’s DAX and
0.9% for France’s CAC 40 were some of the world’s sharpest.
Japan’s Nikkei 225 added 0.5%.
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AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Matt Ott contributed to this
report.
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