Trading Day: Chips off the table

U.S. stocks fell on April 28 as weakness in technology shares and a fresh climb in oil prices revived worries about growth and inflation.

Reuters reported that the day’s market tone was driven by a selloff in chips and other high-growth names, while AP said major indexes all finished lower. The S&P 500, Dow Jones, Nasdaq and Russell 2000 each declined as investors stepped away from risk.

Oil prices added to the pressure. The World Bank warned the same day that energy prices were projected to surge in 2026, with inflation expected to rise and growth to slow. A Reuters poll also found economists raising inflation forecasts for most countries while growth expectations changed only modestly.

The market move underscores a familiar tension for investors: stronger energy prices can improve some parts of the commodities trade, but they also raise the odds of stickier inflation and less room for central banks to ease.

The tech weakness was especially important because it came after a long run in artificial-intelligence-linked stocks. When chips and semiconductors lose momentum, the broader market often feels it quickly.

For now, the message from the day’s trading was straightforward: investors were pulling chips off the table as oil climbed and macro risks came back into focus.