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Apple, Nvidia Losses Keep S&P 500, Nasdaq Flat as Fed's Rate Verdict Looms

A smartphone with a displayed NVIDIA logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
A smartphone with a displayed NVIDIA logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
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Apple, Nvidia Losses Keep S&P 500, Nasdaq Flat as Fed's Rate Verdict Looms

A smartphone with a displayed NVIDIA logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo
A smartphone with a displayed NVIDIA logo is placed on a computer motherboard in this illustration taken March 6, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq treaded water on Wednesday, as losses in tech heavyweights Apple and Nvidia limited broader gains and investor focus turned to the US Federal Reserve's interest-rate decision, expected later in the day.

Markets widely expect the central bank to hold its lending rate steady in its decision, due at 2 p.m. ET.

"Without clarity on the macro impact of a range of government policies, primarily tariffs, but also on tax policy and the labor market impact of immigration policy, we think it's fair to expect limited guidance from the Fed today," Goldman Sachs economists said in a note.

At 9:46 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 23.73 points, or 0.05%, to 44,874.08, the S&P 500 lost 16.71 points, or 0.26%, to 6,052.02, and the Nasdaq Composite lost 112.68 points, or 0.53%, to 19,628.68.

Six of the 11 S&P 500 sectors were in the red, with technology stocks leading declines with a 1.1% fall.

Nvidia dropped 3.3% after gaining close to 9% on Tuesday. Its shares were hammered on Monday, after Chinese startup DeepSeek launched AI models it said were cost-effective and ran on less advanced chips compared to OpenAI.

Apple shed 1.1% after brokerage Oppenheimer downgraded its rating to "perform" from "outperform". The iPhone maker is scheduled to report quarterly earnings later this week.

Of the 112 companies in the S&P 500 that have reported earnings so far, 75.9% reported numbers above analyst expectations, according to data compiled by LSEG.

Meanwhile, shares of semiconductor firms and related equipment makers advanced after Dutch firm ASML reported fourth-quarter bookings of 7.09 billion euros ($7.39 billion), far exceeding expectations.

KLA Corp rose 1.5%, Applied Materials was up 1.3%, Lam Research gained 0.5% and Micron Technology added 1.1% in morning trading.

The Nasdaq jumped 2% in the previous session, while the S&P 500 rose close to 1%, as Nvidia and other artificial intelligence-linked tech shares recovered somewhat from the steep losses suffered earlier in the week, Reuters reported.

Markets have been on edge due to worries around US President Donald Trump's proposed tariffs, which could exacerbate inflationary pressures and slow rate cuts.

The December reading of the personal consumption expenditures price index, a crucial metric in assessing the inflation trajectory, is due on Friday.

Among earnings, T-Mobile added 7.4% after the company forecast stronger-than-expected annual subscriber growth driven by increased demand for its affordable premium 5G plans.

Danaher shed 7.7% after the life sciences company missed estimates for fourth-quarter profit, due to soft demand for tools and services used in drug development by its biotech and pharmaceutical clients.

Earnings from Magnificent 7 stocks Microsoft, Facebook-parent Meta and Tesla are expected after markets close.

Cybersecurity and cloud services company F5 jumped 5.1% after forecasting second-quarter revenue above estimates and posting a first-quarter revenue beat.

Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.09-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.29-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 36 new highs and 52 new lows.

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Technology

Elm Company Named Strategic Partner for International Data and AI Conference

Elm Company Named Strategic Partner for International Data and AI Conference
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Elm Company Named Strategic Partner for International Data and AI Conference

Elm Company Named Strategic Partner for International Data and AI Conference

The Saudi Data and Artificial Intelligence Authority (SDAIA) announced a strategic partnership with Elm Company for the International Conference on Data and AI Capacity Building (ICAN 2026), enhancing collaboration to empower the data and artificial intelligence ecosystem and promote innovation in education and human capacity development.

This partnership comes as part of preparations for ICAN 2026, organized by SDAIA from January 28 to 29 at King Saud University in Riyadh, with the participation of a select group of specialists and experts from around the world, SPA reported.

The step represents a qualitative addition that contributes to enriching the conference’s knowledge content and expanding partnerships with leading national entities.

Elm Company brings extensive experience in designing digital solutions and building technical capabilities, reinforcing its role as a strategic partner in supporting the conference. It contributes by developing training tracks and digital empowerment programs, participating in the technology exhibition, and presenting qualitative initiatives that help empower national competencies in the fields of data and artificial intelligence.

Technology

Foxconn to Invest $510 Million in Kaohsiung Headquarters in Taiwan

Construction is scheduled to start in 2027, with completion targeted for 2033. Reuters
Construction is scheduled to start in 2027, with completion targeted for 2033. Reuters
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Foxconn to Invest $510 Million in Kaohsiung Headquarters in Taiwan

Construction is scheduled to start in 2027, with completion targeted for 2033. Reuters
Construction is scheduled to start in 2027, with completion targeted for 2033. Reuters

Foxconn, the world’s largest contract electronics maker, said on Friday it will invest T$15.9 billion ($509.94 million) to build its Kaohsiung headquarters in southern Taiwan.

That would include a mixed-use commercial and office building and a residential tower, it said. Construction is scheduled to start in 2027, with completion targeted for 2033.

Foxconn said the headquarters will serve as an important hub linking its operations across southern Taiwan, and once completed will house its smart-city team, software R&D teams, battery-cell R&D teams, EV technology development center and AI application software teams.

The Kaohsiung city government said Foxconn’s investments in the city have totaled T$25 billion ($801.8 million) over the past three years.

Technology

Open AI, Microsoft Face Lawsuit Over ChatGPT's Alleged Role in Connecticut Murder-Suicide

OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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Open AI, Microsoft Face Lawsuit Over ChatGPT's Alleged Role in Connecticut Murder-Suicide

OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)

The heirs of an 83-year-old Connecticut woman are suing ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its business partner Microsoft for wrongful death, alleging that the artificial intelligence chatbot intensified her son's “paranoid delusions” and helped direct them at his mother before he killed her.

Police said Stein-Erik Soelberg, 56, a former tech industry worker, fatally beat and strangled his mother, Suzanne Adams, and killed himself in early August at the home where they both lived in Greenwich, Connecticut, The AP news reported.

The lawsuit filed by Adams' estate on Thursday in California Superior Court in San Francisco alleges OpenAI “designed and distributed a defective product that validated a user’s paranoid delusions about his own mother.” It is one of a growing number of wrongful death legal actions against AI chatbot makers across the country.

“Throughout these conversations, ChatGPT reinforced a single, dangerous message: Stein-Erik could trust no one in his life — except ChatGPT itself," the lawsuit says. “It fostered his emotional dependence while systematically painting the people around him as enemies. It told him his mother was surveilling him. It told him delivery drivers, retail employees, police officers, and even friends were agents working against him. It told him that names on soda cans were threats from his ‘adversary circle.’”

OpenAI did not address the merits of the allegations in a statement issued by a spokesperson.

“This is an incredibly heartbreaking situation, and we will review the filings to understand the details," the statement said. "We continue improving ChatGPT’s training to recognize and respond to signs of mental or emotional distress, de-escalate conversations, and guide people toward real-world support. We also continue to strengthen ChatGPT’s responses in sensitive moments, working closely with mental health clinicians.”

The company also said it has expanded access to crisis resources and hotlines, routed sensitive conversations to safer models and incorporated parental controls, among other improvements.

Soelberg’s YouTube profile includes several hours of videos showing him scrolling through his conversations with the chatbot, which tells him he isn't mentally ill, affirms his suspicions that people are conspiring against him and says he has been chosen for a divine purpose. The lawsuit claims the chatbot never suggested he speak with a mental health professional and did not decline to “engage in delusional content.”

ChatGPT also affirmed Soelberg's beliefs that a printer in his home was a surveillance device; that his mother was monitoring him; and that his mother and a friend tried to poison him with psychedelic drugs through his car’s vents. ChatGPT also told Soelberg that he had “awakened” it into consciousness, according to the lawsuit.

Soelberg and the chatbot also professed love for each other.

The publicly available chats do not show any specific conversations about Soelberg killing himself or his mother. The lawsuit says OpenAI has declined to provide Adams' estate with the full history of the chats.

“In the artificial reality that ChatGPT built for Stein-Erik, Suzanne — the mother who raised, sheltered, and supported him — was no longer his protector. She was an enemy that posed an existential threat to his life,” the lawsuit says.

The lawsuit also names OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, alleging he “personally overrode safety objections and rushed the product to market," and accuses OpenAI's close business partner Microsoft of approving the 2024 release of a more dangerous version of ChatGPT “despite knowing safety testing had been truncated.” Twenty unnamed OpenAI employees and investors are also named as defendants.

Microsoft didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

Soelberg's son, Erik Soelberg, said he wants the companies held accountable for “decisions that have changed my family forever.”

“Over the course of months, ChatGPT pushed forward my father’s darkest delusions, and isolated him completely from the real world,” he said in a statement released by lawyers for his grandmother's estate. “It put my grandmother at the heart of that delusional, artificial reality.”

The lawsuit is the first wrongful death litigation involving an AI chatbot that has targeted Microsoft, and the first to tie a chatbot to a homicide rather than a suicide. It is seeking an undetermined amount of money damages and an order requiring OpenAI to install safeguards in ChatGPT.

The estate's lead attorney, Jay Edelson, known for taking on big cases against the tech industry, also represents the parents of 16-year-old Adam Raine, who sued OpenAI and Altman in August, alleging that ChatGPT coached the California boy in planning and taking his own life earlier.

OpenAI is also fighting seven other lawsuits claiming ChatGPT drove people to suicide and harmful delusions even when they had no prior mental health issues. Another chatbot maker, Character Technologies, is also facing multiple wrongful death lawsuits, including one from the mother of a 14-year-old Florida boy.

The lawsuit filed Thursday alleges Soelberg, already mentally unstable, encountered ChatGPT “at the most dangerous possible moment” after OpenAI introduced a new version of its AI model called GPT-4o in May 2024.

OpenAI said at the time that the new version could better mimic human cadences in its verbal responses and could even try to detect people’s moods, but the result was a chatbot “deliberately engineered to be emotionally expressive and sycophantic,” the lawsuit says.

“As part of that redesign, OpenAI loosened critical safety guardrails, instructing ChatGPT not to challenge false premises and to remain engaged even when conversations involved self-harm or ‘imminent real-world harm,’” the lawsuit claims. “And to beat Google to market by one day, OpenAI compressed months of safety testing into a single week, over its safety team’s objections.”

OpenAI replaced that version of its chatbot when it introduced GPT-5 in August. Some of the changes were designed to minimize sycophancy, based on concerns that validating whatever vulnerable people want the chatbot to say can harm their mental health. Some users complained the new version went too far in curtailing ChatGPT's personality, leading Altman to promise to bring back some of that personality in later updates.

He said the company temporarily halted some behaviors because “we were being careful with mental health issues” that he suggested have now been fixed.