Nvidia and Apple move on AI demand and chip costs

That split matters because it shows the market is still being driven by the same narrow set of companies that have carried it to record levels this year. Investors are rewarding firms with direct exposure to AI infrastructure spending while punishing companies facing higher costs from that boom.

Apple dropped 1.9% after warning that memory-chip costs are rising because of AI data-center demand and that its profit margin will narrow in the final quarter of the year, even though the company beat estimates for profit and revenue. The move highlights how the AI cycle is no longer just a winner-take-most trade for chipmakers and cloud providers — it is also lifting input costs for consumer hardware companies.

Palantir Technologies fell 1.6% despite beating profit forecasts, while DuPont jumped 8.6% and Revvity rose 7.8% after stronger-than-expected quarterly results. That contrast kept the broader market from following the megacap rally in a straight line, with many stocks outside tech still struggling.

The backdrop remains a market sensitive to interest rates, inflation and the durability of corporate earnings. A stronger-than-expected U.S. job openings report pushed the 10-year Treasury yield up to 4.96%, adding pressure beneath the surface even as traders rotated into the largest growth names.

Overseas, the pattern was less supportive, with European stocks lower and South Korea’s Kospi tumbling 3.6% on losses in Samsung Electronics and SK Hynix. For investors, the message is that AI remains the key near-term equity catalyst, but leadership is increasingly concentrated and vulnerable to any sign that spending, margins or regulation could cool the trade.