As market caution over AI-related trades intensifies, major tech stocks remain under pressure, with Microsoft Corp. experiencing its longest daily losing streak in over a decade.
On Friday, Microsoft's shares fell as much as 0.8%. If the stock closes lower, it would mark the software giant's longest consecutive decline since November 2011, when it endured a nine-day slump. During this eight-day slide, Microsoft has shed 8.6% of its value, erasing nearly $350 billion in market capitalization.
Since releasing its quarterly earnings in late October, Microsoft has yet to post a single day of gains. Despite reporting strong results—including better-than-expected growth in its Azure cloud computing business—Wall Street is growing increasingly skeptical about the massive investments companies are making in AI infrastructure.
Microsoft's capital expenditures reached $34.9 billion last quarter, with the company signaling further increases in the current fiscal quarter.
The stock decline reflects a broader shift in sentiment toward AI-related equities, which have driven much of this year's market rally. Both the Nasdaq 100 Index and the Bloomberg "Magnificent Seven" Total Return Index fell roughly 4% this week, on track for their worst weekly percentage drops since April.
In contrast, Apple Inc. bucked the trend. With a far less aggressive approach to AI, its shares rose as much as 0.9% on Friday, emerging as a new "safe haven" asset amid the broader AI sector downturn.