U.S. stocks opened lower on Friday.
Investor sentiment was on edge after a selloff in large-cap technology shares, renewed fears of a fresh U.S.-Iran conflict, and U.S. crude oil climbing above $100 per barrel.
The S&P 500 fell 0.6%, the Dow Jones Industrial Average plunged 521 points, or 1%, and the Nasdaq dropped 5%.
Megacap tech names including Microsoft and Meta were still slightly lower in early trading.
On Thursday, traders assessed the combined impact of heavy corporate borrowing and rising interest rates on artificial intelligence and other technology stocks, triggering a broad pullback in the sector.
CoreWeave, a typical example of a data center company financed with heavy leverage, tumbled 10% on Thursday and slipped another 1% in early Friday trading.
Chip stocks staged a modest rebound on Friday, with Micron Technology and Advanced Micro Devices each rising 1% in premarket trading.
Ed Yardeni, president of Yardeni Research, described Thursday's action in the AI sector as a "bubble," but said a moderate release of pressure is not a bad thing.
"Letting some air out of the AI bubble is a good thing. I don't think the bubble will burst and drag down the economy," he said, noting that the bond market is competing with equities for capital.
On Friday, the 10-year Treasury yield rose 1 basis point to 4.9697%, the 30-year yield was flat, and the 2-year yield fell 2 basis points.
The move higher in yields followed a sharp drop on Thursday, when money poured into Treasuries as a safe haven.
Oil prices continued to climb on Friday, adding further pressure on stocks.
West Texas Intermediate crude futures rose 1.4% to $100.90 per barrel, while Brent crude gained 0.75% to $114.
The move followed reports that the United States and Israel may be preparing a new round of strikes on Iran, in a regional conflict that began in late February.
So far this week, the S&P 500 is up slightly, gaining less than 0.1%, the Nasdaq is down 0.5%, and the Dow has risen 1.7% in total.
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