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US EQUITY OPEN: Stocks open lower with tech leading losses after Oracle (ORCL) data centre force majeure

Newsquawk StaffPublished On the live feed at , 20 minutes before this page
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US EQUITY OPEN: Stocks open lower with tech leading losses after Oracle (ORCL) data centre force majeure

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OPEN: Stocks opened lower on Thursday, with the Nasdaq underperforming while the other major indices slide between 0.2% and 0.4%. Sectors are mixed, with Communication Services, Energy and Health Care outperforming, while Technology, Industrials and Consumer Discretionary lag. Technology and Industrials are weighed on by AI concerns following Oracle's (ORCL) force majeure notice regarding the New Mexico data centre, with the company seeking to defer payments on the project if it is delayed. The news is weighing on Oracle, alongside Bloom Energy (BE) and Blue Owl (OWL), which have exposure to the data centre.

Meanwhile, Treasury yields are bull steepening, with the front end leading the move lower while long-end yields are little changed. Crude prices are rising amid limited signs of diplomatic progress between the US and Iran, while Senior Adviser to Iran's Supreme Leader Safavi warned that linking the Persian Gulf and Red Sea theatres, including the Strait of Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab, could change the battlefield. He added that if the US starts a new war, a new front centred around these regions “may open before their eyes”.

In FX, the Dollar continues to outperform, while the Swiss Franc, Yen and Looney lag. For the Swiss Franc, the SNB held rates at 0% as expected and removed its “increased willingness” to intervene language, replacing it with a statement that it is “willing to be active in the foreign exchange market”.

STOCK SPECIFICS

  • Oracle (ORCL) / Blue Owl Capital (OWL) / Bloom Energy (BE): Lower after Oracle sent a force majeure notice over a New Mexico data centre
  • MGM Resorts International (MGM): Barry Diller withdrew People Inc.'s bid to acquire the remaining stake in MGM Resorts
  • TransUnion (TRU): CFO has made the personal decision to step down
  • Viking Therapeutics (VKTX): Increased common stock offering to USD 225mln from USD 200mln; priced at the low end of the deal range
  • Knife River (KNF): Starboard urged Knife River to improve execution and profitability
  • Delek US Holdings (DK): To sell USD 400mln in convertible senior notes due 2031
  • Dropbox (DBX): Downgraded at Citi to 'Sell' from 'Neutral'
Context

Force majeure notices on AI-linked data centre projects have tended to widen the gap within the AI trade rather than derail it outright: the structure of these buildouts means a single deferred payment or delayed project hits the specialised financiers and equipment suppliers, here Blue Owl and Bloom Energy, more sharply than the megacap platform names, a pattern that has recurred whenever project-level friction crosses to listed exposure. The distinction worth drawing in the tape is between a project-specific hiccup and a broader signal on the pace of data centre capex: the former leaves the secular AI capex narrative intact and has historically been absorbed, the latter re-prices the oversupplied-economy assumptions embedded in the sector. The open shows the usual defensive rotation under AI stress, with Communication Services, Energy and Health Care absorbing flow while Technology and Industrials lag, and the front end of the Treasury curve bull steepening, a sequencing consistent with past episodes where the shock was read as growth-and-credit specific rather than macro. The crude bid on the Iran adviser's remarks about linking Gulf and Red Sea theatres is the second transmission channel at work, since freight and insurance through Hormuz and Bab al-Mandab are the chokepoint for both barrels and container throughput. The SNB holding at zero and softening its intervention language is more of a pillar of the Dollar's outperformance than a catalyst for the equity rotation, with the Franc, Yen and Looney lagging. The immediate follow-ons are Oracle's clarification of whether the deferral is schedule-driven or contractual, and whether the spillover settles as peer-specific spillback into Bloom Energy and Blue Owl or broadens into the whole AI financing complex. As an open note, the signal is directional.

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