Tech Sinks 3% as Dell Downgrade and AI Debt Worries Weigh on Hardware Stocks

Information technology was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector Wednesday, falling about 3%. Dell dropped roughly 8% after Barclays cut it to Equal Weight, citing valuation and slower enterprise AI hardware spending. CoreWeave also fell sharply amid concern over its heavy AI infrastructure debt.

The selloff extends a rough stretch for the group: one market summary showed tech down about 5% and semiconductors about 9% over seven days, while energy and oil and gas stocks gained roughly 5% to 6%.

Higher yields added pressure on richly valued growth names. Investors will watch Tesla, Meta, IBM and Texas Instruments, which report on October 21, for further signals on AI spending.