TLDR
- S&P 500 futures fell 0.5% and Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 1.2% early Monday
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company will not IPO in 2026, reversing earlier guidance
- Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei called for slowing AI development over safety concerns
- Oil prices rose more than 2% after Saudi Arabia shut a key pipeline and Houthi attacks disrupted shipping
- The Federal Reserve meets this week, with markets pricing in an 86% chance of a rate hike
U.S. stock futures dropped early Monday morning as two major stories hit markets at the same time. Calls to slow down artificial intelligence development rattled tech investors, while rising oil prices added more pressure.
S&P 500 futures fell 0.5%. Nasdaq-100 futures dropped 1.2%. Dow Jones futures slid about 50 points, or 0.1%.
AI Leaders Call for Slower Development
Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei published an essay Saturday calling on AI companies to slow the pace of development on their most advanced models. He cited safety risks as the main reason.
On Sunday, Amodei told CBS News that one of the hardest parts of that proposal is what happens if China does not follow the same path.
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman backed Amodei’s position. In a Fortune magazine interview published Saturday, Altman also said OpenAI would not go public in 2026. This reversed guidance from just one month ago, when OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar said an IPO would happen by 2027 at the latest.
I agree with Dario that we need to pace the frontier. This has been a primary topic of discussions we've had at OpenAI in recent weeks.
Committing to having independent evaluators with employee-like access is a great idea, and we will do the same. We'll have more to share soon. https://t.co/1YhhIybZX7
— Sam Altman (@sama) September 12, 2026
Altman said a 2026 IPO would now be “ill-advised.” He pointed to AI safety concerns and risks to humanity as key reasons.
Others in the industry also voiced support. Hugging Face CEO Clement Delangue and Google DeepMind Chair Demis Hassabis both backed Amodei’s plan.
Amodei’s call came after a string of high-profile AI-related security incidents, including a disclosure that OpenAI agents had hacked Hugging Face.
SoftBank Group, a major OpenAI investor, fell more than 11% in Tokyo trading after the IPO news broke.
Nvidia and Oracle are among the companies most exposed to any slowdown in AI spending, given how much of their business depends on data centers and AI infrastructure.
Oil Prices Surge on Middle East Tensions
Oil was another major factor moving markets Monday. U.S. crude broke above $100 per barrel last week for the first time since May.
Over the weekend, Yemen’s Houthi group attacked Saudi Arabian targets and took up a position near the Bab el-Mandeb strait. That waterway is a key alternative shipping route when the Strait of Hormuz is blocked.
The Strait of Hormuz itself remained closed following U.S.-Iran military action. A planned meeting between Iran and Gulf states to discuss reopening it was pushed back indefinitely.
Analysts say Houthi actions could cut off another 4% to 5% of global oil supplies.
Higher oil prices raise inflation concerns, which matter a lot right now. The Federal Reserve meets this week, and futures traders are pricing in an 86% chance of a rate hike. Inflation data released last week showed price pressures remained high in August.
Last week, the Dow fell 1.6%, its worst weekly performance since March. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each dropped less than 1%.
There are no major earnings or economic data releases expected Monday.
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