US stocks suffered their sharpest selloff since July on Wednesday as hotter-than-expected inflation data weighed on technology and AI infrastructure companies, with Bitcoin miners among those hit.
The S&P 500 fell 1.1%, its biggest one-day decline since July 29; the Nasdaq Composite fell 1.9%, its biggest one-day drop since July 23, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 0.1% over the day.
Leading decliners among major tech companies included data center operator CoreWeave, which fell 16%, AI infrastructure provider Nebius, which fell 11%, and Oracle, which fell 9%.
Of the 23 AI infrastructure stocks tracked by PRISM’s AI Data Center and Infrastructure Index, 21 declined Wednesday, with an average loss of 7.46%.
Related: Bitcoin price dips below $82K as high oil prices spike US CPI inflation
The single-day dip extended to Bitcoin miners, several of which have also expanded into AI infrastructure. TeraWulf fell 12.64% over the day, while Core Scientific, Cipher Mining and IREN fell 12.44%, 12.35% and 12.2%, respectively. Riot Platforms, Bitdeer Technologies, MARA and CleanSpark also fell.
Higher interest rates could increase borrowing costs for AI infrastructure companies, many of which rely heavily on debt to finance data center expansion.
Hotter inflation triggers tech, crypto selloff
US consumer prices rose 3.7% in September from a year earlier, exceeding economists’ expectations of 3.6% and well above the Fed’s 2% target, with higher gasoline prices from the Middle East war to blame.
The inflation report also led to increased expectations of an October Federal Reserve interest-rate hike. The implied probability briefly exceeded 50% on Wednesday before retreating.
However, San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly told Reuters that while further rate hikes were likely needed to bring inflation under control, there was no urgency to act this month.
“I don’t feel urgent that we have to decide with a limited set of information. I think we have the time that we need,” Daly said.
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