Stock market today: Live updates

Stocks slipped on Friday after the latest producer price index data came in much hotter than expected, adding sticky inflation to a list of concerns that has caused market turbulence this month.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 715 points, or 1.5%. The S&P 500 fell 1.1% while the Nasdaq Composite lost 1.4%.

January’s producer price index, which is a measure of wholesale inflation, showed a 0.5% increase for the month. Economists polled by Dow Jones saw the headline reading coming in at 0.3%. Perhaps more concerning is that the core PPI reading, which excludes food and energy prices, recorded a 0.8% gain, much more than the 0.3% rise economists anticipated.

Tech shares were under pressure again Friday, continuing their poor month as Nvidia extended its post-earnings slide with a 2% fall. In the prior trading day, the stock shed more than 5%, which came to a surprise to many investors, who remain bullish on the chipmaker given its blowout fourth-quarter results and upcoming product cycle. Market participants attributed the decline in shares to doubts around Nvidia’s deal with OpenAI, weak sentiment over the artificial intelligence trade and concerns about whether hyperscalers’ lofty AI capital expenditures are sustainable.

The AI chip darling invested $30 billion in OpenAI during its latest funding round, which closed at $110 billion. Shares of Amazon — which invested $50 billion in that funding round — were lower alongside Nvidia shares. Earlier in the bull market, these types of announcements would typically lift the related tech shares.

Notable software names also suffered losses Friday as they close out a terrible month. Salesforce tumbled more than 4%, and Microsoft lost about 2%, weighing on Dow futures. Cybersecurity company Zscaler shed 11% after deferred revenue and billings in the fiscal second quarter missed expectations. CoreWeave fell 16% on disappointing guidance.

Stocks in the financial sector and other areas of the market pulled back as well on fears that AI poses a threat to the labor market and broader U.S. economy. Those fears were exacerbated after Block announced Thursday that it’s laying off more than 4,000 employees, or nearly half of its workforce.

“Regardless of whether we see better-than-expected earnings, more tame inflation or a resilient labor market, people have been selling first and asking questions later,” said Chris Zaccarelli, chief investment officer at Northlight Asset Management. “This morning’s higher inflation data is one more thing to worry about within the ‘traditional’ economic analysis of price stability and full employment, even before investors factor in the disruptive potential of AI’s impact on the economy.”

Friday marks the final trading day of February, a rocky month that saw software stocks rattled amid fears of AI disruption. To that end, the Nasdaq is on pace for a decline of more than 3% and its worst monthly performance since last March. The iShares Expanded Tech-Software ETF (IGV) is down 10% for the month, bringing its year-to-date losses to 23%.

The S&P 500 is on track for a more than 1% loss in February, while the Dow is on pace for a 0.3% decline.

— Jeff Cox contributed reporting.