By Ragini Mathur and Avinash P
July 17 (Reuters) – U.S. stock index futures fell on Friday as a selloff in chip stocks deepened, forcing investors to reassess the sustainability of this year’s AI-fueled rally, while a weak forecast from Netflix added to the pressure.
After a blistering run that lifted Wall Street’s main indexes to record highs, investors have started to retreat from crowded semiconductor trades as worries over the scale of AI-related spending resurfaced.
Chip stocks were broadly weaker, extending the previous session’s losses, with Nvidia and Intel down 2.7% and 2.8% in premarket trading, respectively. The iShares Semiconductor ETF declined 2.4%.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index hit a nearly two-month low on Thursday and was set for its worst week since March 2025. The gauge has shed more than 19% from its late June record.
Strong results from TSMC, the world’s top advanced AI chipmaker, and ASML, the leading supplier of high-end chipmaking equipment, did little to ease concerns over the durability of the chip-stock rally.
“This is morphing from just a chip sell-off into something far broader. That is particularly obvious in indices like the Nasdaq, which has come so far, so fast in such a short space of time,” said Chris Beauchamp, chief market analyst at IG.
Netflix also weighed on sentiment after the streaming giant forecast third-quarter revenue and earnings below Wall Street expectations. Its shares were down nearly 10%.
The renewed bout of volatility drove the CBOE Volatility Index, Wall Street’s fear gauge, to more than a week-high, rising 1.36 points to 18.09.
At 7:07 a.m. ET, Dow E-minis were down 272 points, or 0.52%, and S&P 500 E-minis were down 59.5 points, or 0.79%. Nasdaq 100 E-minis were down 454.25 points, or 1.55%.
Thursday’s chip stocks-led losses had already set a weaker tone. The main indexes were on track for weekly declines, despite an initially upbeat start to the second-quarter earnings season from major banks and benign inflation data earlier in the week.
Geopolitical risks also loomed large. Iran said it had launched fresh attacks on U.S. facilities in the Gulf after a sixth straight night of U.S. strikes on Iranian military targets.
The escalation followed the breakdown of a brittle ceasefire reached last month and renewed concerns over energy flows through the Strait of Hormuz, fanning price pressures.
“Undoubtedly, there’ll be concerns that we are poised to see a much broader sell-off that will be amplified by what’s going on with the U.S. and Iran,” Beauchamp added.
Meanwhile, U.S. President Donald Trump’s fresh accusations that China meddled in U.S. elections risked complicating a fragile truce with Chinese leader Xi Jinping, just two months before a planned summit in Washington.
Among other premarket movers, Intuitive Surgical fell 11.2%, even after the medical device maker topped Wall Street estimates for second-quarter profit and revenue on strong demand for its surgical systems.
(Reporting by Ragini Mathur and Avinash P in Bengaluru; Editing by Joyjeet Das)
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