AI stocks, oil drop and bitcoin shake Wall Street

By midday June 24 in New York, the Dow Jones Industrial Average traded near 51,828, up about 163 points. The S&P 500 slipped roughly 0.11% to about 7,357, the Nasdaq Composite fell about 0.37% to 25,491 and the Russell 2000 rose 0.26%. The mixed session followed a two-day, tech-led selloff that had taken the Nasdaq down roughly 4%.

Semiconductor and memory stocks were central to the weakness. South Korea’s SK Hynix and Samsung Electronics each dropped more than 12% in recent sessions, and the Kospi fell about 10% over the same stretch. The weakness extended to U.S. chip names as investors questioned whether demand from AI data centers will support current valuations for memory and related components. Micron Technology reported fiscal third-quarter results after the close on June 24; analysts expected year-over-year growth tied to high-bandwidth memory and DRAM, while guidance, margins and management commentary on AI demand were seen as key for sentiment.

Brent crude traded roughly 3.6% lower near $74 after tanker traffic through the Strait of Hormuz improved and U.S.-Iran tensions eased. The drop in oil prices reduced near-term inflation pressures and pushed the 10-year Treasury yield down about 9 basis points to roughly 4.41%–4.42%. Investors continued to monitor upcoming personal consumption expenditures inflation data and Federal Reserve commentary for further direction on rates.

Bitcoin traded in a roughly $59,400–$59,700 range, down about 4.7% intraday and touching a year-to-date low of $59,018. Data showed roughly $346 million in bitcoin liquidations over 24 hours, with about $318 million coming from long positions. Forced selling of leveraged long positions pressured ethereum below $1,570 and pushed the broader crypto market capitalization to about $2.05 trillion, down about 4.2% over 24 hours. Market participants noted a cluster of buy orders near $59,000–$60,000 of around $150 million and were watching whether that range would hold.

Precious metals lost safe-haven demand as the U.S. dollar strengthened and rate expectations shifted. Gold traded below $4,000 per ounce and fell several percentage points, while silver slipped under $60 to trade around $56, its weakest level since December 2025. Traders said industrial demand for silver was relatively firm, but paper-market selling dominated the session.

Market participants identified Micron’s earnings, the upcoming PCE inflation report and further Fed commentary as the next major catalysts for price action across technology, commodities, bonds and digital assets.