US stocks finish down; all eyes on Fed, oil prices

US markets closed lower on Friday, with investors concerned by rising oil prices, and also looking ahead to a Federal Reserve interest rate policy meeting. The Nasdaq Composite posted a slim loss a day after suffering its biggest one-day drop since June, as concerns flared over financing costs to support heavy AI investment spending. Next week, about one-third of S&P 500 companies report quarterly results, including Alphabet, Microsoft and Amazon, three AI hyperscalers. "There is still fallout from the questioning of the AI trade," said Kristina Hooper, chief market strategist at Man Group. "There's certainly the potential that we see less invested in an AI data centre build-out next year than has been projected. So I certainly think that's giving pause." The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 652.82 points, or 1.23 percent, to 52,215.16; the S&P 500 lost 39.75 points, or 0.52 percent, to 7,623.68 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 53.52 points, or 0.21 percent, to 25,955.34. Telecommunications stocks fell, weighing on the communication services sector, after a report that SpaceX was seeking thousands of cell sites for a fourth wireless carrier. The energy sector rose 2.5 percent, hitting a record high. Brent crude hit its highest level since late April, after Houthi attacks in...