U.S. Stocks Slide as Inflation Fears Hit AI Firms and Bitcoin Miners

U.S. equities fell Wednesday after September inflation came in above expectations, renewing rate-hike worries and extending the selloff to Bitcoin miners tied to AI infrastructure expansion.

The S&P 500 dropped 1.1%, its steepest daily loss since July 29. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.9%, its largest decline since July 23, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.1%. Consumer prices rose 3.7% from a year earlier, above the 3.6% economists had expected and the Federal Reserve’s 2% target.

AI-focused companies led the losses: CoreWeave sank 16%, Nebius fell 11% and Oracle lost 9%. Bitcoin miners also dropped, including TeraWulf, down 12.64%; Core Scientific, down 12.44%; Cipher Mining, down 12.35%; and IREN, down 12.2%.

Several miners have been expanding into AI and high-performance computing, putting their power supplies, sites and data-center facilities to work for new business. Those projects require substantial capital, leaving companies exposed to higher borrowing costs as investors reassess inflation and the potential returns on AI investment.