Stocks dip on AI jitters, big banks kick off US earnings season - Reuters

Equity markets opened the US earnings season on a cautious note, with major indexes slipping as investors weighed renewed concerns about artificial intelligence valuations against the first batch of quarterly bank results. The simultaneous arrival of both themes gave traders little room for complacency, as AI-linked names that had driven much of the recent rally faced renewed scrutiny.

The big banks' results carry outsized weight because they are typically the first major companies to report each quarter, and their commentary on net interest income, loan-loss provisions and dealmaking activity is often read as a gauge of broader economic conditions. AI jitters, meanwhile, reflect lingering questions about whether the scale of infrastructure spending will translate into near-term earnings.

What to watch: the tone of bank management guidance on credit quality and capital markets, and whether AI-related selling remains contained or spreads across sectors. For now, the session illustrates how two distinct narratives — earnings fundamentals and AI sentiment — can pull markets in different directions at the same time.