Closing Bell: U.S. Stocks Lower on Tech, Oil News Ahead of Bank Earnings

U.S. stocks were mostly lower in muted trading Monday as investors looked ahead to a busy week of earnings results and inflation data. 

The S&P 500 (SPX) was down 0.06%, while the Nasdaq-100 (NDX) fell 0.71%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ($DJI) was up 0.38% on Monday, while the small-cap Russell 2000 (RUT) fell 0.45%. 

Oil prices rose about 1.5% near $93.20 a barrel. Attacks on Saudi Arabia overshadowed hopes for supply improvements even as President Donald Trump praised fresh Russian diesel exports and a Russia-Ukraine energy ceasefire. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Moscow already violated the ceasefire. See KG on SPX Consolidation, Energy's Volatile Rally & CPI Impacts to Fed 

Things to watch from Monday’s markets: 

AI Model Wars Intensify as Meta Enters Frontier Race  

Meta's (META) introduced Muse Wonder and Muse Wonder Full Monday as it tries to compete against OpenAI and Anthropic AI models. The rollout also introduces a new AI revenue stream for Meta via Muse Code subscriptions ($20–$200/month). Meta shares jumped 3.4% on Monday. 

Divergent Tech Calls  

Bank of America upgraded Salesforce (CRM) to Buy with a $285 target on the thesis that AI deepens rather than disrupts enterprise platforms. Phillip Securities downgraded Microsoft (MSFT), Palantir (PLTR), and Palo Alto Networks (PANW) on valuation grounds. See Analysts Divided on AI Software: MSFT, PLTR, PANW Downgraded; CRM Upgraded 

Semiconductor and Infrastructure Stocks Decline 

Memory chip makers fell on news that Chinese rival ChangXin Memory Technologies, or CXMT, has made progress on a denser DRAM architecture that could help it compete in the server-memory market. Micron (MU) fell 3.9%, SanDisk (SNDK) was down nearly 6%, Western Digital (WDC) was off 2.6%, and Seagate (STX) fell 3.8% on Monday. The PHLX Semiconductor Index (SOX) fell 2.7%. Nvidia (NVDA) shares fell 1.3% and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) fell 2.3%. 

Microsoft (MSFT) CEO Calls for AI "Emergency Brake" 

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella said frontier AI models are potential insider threats that should be treated with containment, tamper-proof action logs, and mid-task shutdown authority. The comments come in a Saturday post amid growing scrutiny of autonomous agents and AI safety, governance, and speed-to-market concerns. Microsoft stock was up 1.1% Monday. See Crude Oil Climbs; MSFT, PLTR, PANW Downgrades & CRM Upgrade Show AI Divide  

Also in focus: 

• Wall Street’s biggest banks report earnings this week. For more, see Big Banks to Begin Earnings Season: How Fed & Economy Impact JPM, GS, WFC & Others and Bank Earnings Kick Off the Final Reporting Season of 2026
• Starbucks (SBUX) denied it was exploring a takeover of Chipotle (CMG), with CEO Brian Niccol saying Starbucks is focused on its turnaround, according to media reports.  

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