Edition

Money & Markets

Get Quartz in your inbox

Free daily briefing on global business news.

Business News

Airlines Automobiles Food Pharmaceuticals Politics & Government Retail & Ecommerce Space & Aerospace Earnings

Technology

A.I.Computing Consumer Tech Space & Aerospace Earnings

Money & Markets

Economic Indicators Markets Personal Finance Earnings

Lifestyle

Cars & Bikes Collecting Entertainment Food & Fine Dining Health and Fitness Real Estate Travel

Global business news for a smarter world

Topics

Business News
Money & Markets
Tech & Innovation
Generation A.I.
Lifestyle
Leadership

Products

Daily Brief
Weekly Digest
Member Benefits
Quartz Pro

Legal

Sitemap
About
Accessibility
Privacy
Terms of Service
Advertising

© 2026 Quartz Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

Stocks go in opposite directions as AI shares slip and oil prices surge

Markets go in opposite directions as AI stocks slip and oil surges

The mixed picture for stocks followed a a report that ChatGPT maker OpenAI missed its own internal targets for weekly active users and revenue

2 min read·Updated April 28, 2026

Add QZ to Google

Major U.S. market indexes were mixed Tuesday morning, with AI jitters sending the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite into the red even as the Dow Jones Industrial Average gained. Shortly after markets opened, the Dow was up 125 points, or about 0.2%, while the Nasdaq was off 0.9% and the S&P 500 lost 0.4%.

Oil prices rose sharply after the United Arab Emirates said it was leaving OPEC, and amid ongoing pessimism about prospects for ending the war between the U.S. and Iran and restoring the flow of commerce through the Strait of Hormuz. Brent crude oil was up about 3% to more than $111 a barrel, and West Texas Intermediate was up about 3.5% to almost $100 a barrel.

The mixed picture for stocks followed a Wall Street Journal report that ChatGPT maker OpenAI missed its own internal targets for weekly active users and revenue. OpenAI CFO Sarah Friar told leadership she was concerned the company may not be able to pay its computing contracts if revenue does not grow fast enough, according to CNBC. OpenAI is heading toward a potential IPO as soon as later this year.

The AI fears helped send Oracle stock down about 4%, shares of AMD and Broadcom were both down about 3%, and Nvidia stock slipped about 2%.

Oil prices added to the pressure on the broader market. The climb in crude came after President Donald Trump signaled he was unlikely to accept Iran's latest offer to reopen the Strait of Hormuz. Iran's proposal would allow passage through the shipping route but would postpone discussions on nuclear concessions, according to CNN. White House Press Pecretary Karoline Leavitt confirmed on Monday that Trump and his national security team had discussed the offer.

Peace talks between the U.S. and Iran had already appeared to stall over the weekend. The diplomatic freeze deepened over the weekend when Trump scrapped a planned trip by Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner to Pakistan for ceasefire talks, opting instead to conduct any negotiations by phone. Tehran's position was equally cool: Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baqaei indicated that the two sides have no face-to-face engagements scheduled.

Corporate earnings are competing for attention as well. The week's biggest marquee events arrive on Wednesday, when Google, Amazon, Meta, and Microsoft all release results, and Thursday, when Apple closes out the reporting stretch for five of the seven largest U.S. technology companies.

Related Content

Verizon lands a $1 billion-plus dark fiber deal with Google for AI data centers

Trump vows new tariffs on the E.U. after Brussels fines Google $1 billion