U.S. stocks slipped at the open Thursday, with tech pacing losses. The Dow industrials fell 114 points, or 0.25%, to 46,006.9, while the S&P 500 dropped 0.62% to 6,596.74. The Nasdaq Composite declined 0.89% to 22,297.4, underscoring early-session weakness in growth shares. Gold was little changed around $3,769.80, and WTI crude traded lower near $64.50.

One drag on sentiment: investors’ skittishness toward the AI complex despite solid fundamentals. AInvest highlights that Jabil delievered a strong fiscal Q4 beat—$3.29 EPS on $8.25 billion in revenue with upbeat guidance—yet the stock fell toward its 50-day average, echoing a pattern in other AI-adjacent names where “beat-and-raise” results still meet selling. The note frames Jabil as a bellwether at the AI infrastructure-industrial nexus, suggesting the trade may be entering a digestion phase after outsized gains.

That backdrop helps explain the Nasdaq’s underperformance at the open, as investors recalibrate positioning in high-multiple tech and AI suppliers. The S&P 500’s broader decline points to more generalized risk aversion, though the Dow’s smaller pullback suggests defensives and cyclicals are offering partial ballast.

Beneath the surface, small-cap dynamics remain a live theme. Horizon’s Mike Dickson notes that the Russell 2000 has jumped more than 2.5% following last week’s Fed rate cut and is up 12.9% this quarter, topping the S&P 500’s 7.7% advance—a reminder that lower borrowing costs disproportionately benefit smaller, more debt-dependent companies. Whether that leadership sticks is an open question, but it sets up a potential counter-trend to mega-cap dominance if rates ease further.

Energy and infrastructure investors are also parsing a long-duration demand story. Citi Research projects U.S. power demand to grow at a 2.8% annual rate over the next 15 years, led by data-center load, with solar’s share rising as gas declines in the generation mix. The firm expects additions to baseload resources to roughly match around-the-clock demand growth, implying sustained capital needs across utilities, equipment makers and grid infrastructure. “The primary driver of growth in U.S. power demand is the rapid growth of artificial intelligence (AI) and the related data-center buildout.” While not an immediate market catalyst, that outlook reinforces the durability of investment tied to AI-driven data centers—even as near-term equity sentiment cools.

In commodities, oil’s early drop lends a modest tailwind to inflation-sensitive equities, while gold’s steadiness signals lingering demand for hedges. With growth stocks on the back foot and small-cap performance in focus, traders will watch whether today’s tech weakness broadens—or if dip buyers re-engage as the session develops.