Tech Stocks Slide Over 'AI Slowdown'

Plus: Oracle's 6 a.m. Email Laying Off Staff

Author

Matt Davis
September 15, 2026

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Table of Contents

What’s the Stock Market Up To, Eh?

Companies Mentioned in Today’s Newsletter

Tech Stocks Slide Over 'AI Slowdown' 

(Google)

Wall Street has survived inflation, soaring interest rates, and geopolitical chaos. Now, AI executives are asking to slow down before their creations destroy the world.

Anthropic $ANTHZZX ( ▲ 0.44% ) CEO Dario Amodei and other tech leaders want to slow the pace AI development. OpenAI's $OPEAZZX ( ▼ 0.07% ) Sam Altman and even Elon Musk $SPCX ( ▼ 2.02% ) agree. That prompted tech stocks to drop on Monday. The big question, of course, is whether slowing development means investors make less. In the short term, tech investor Softbank $SFTBY ( ▼ 15.13% ) fell shaply, along with chipmakers Intel $INTC ( ▼ 5.59% ) , AMD $AMD ( ▼ 4.4% ) , ASML $ASML ( ▼ 7.25% ) , and Nvidia $NVDA ( ▼ 3.36% ) .

Emmanuel Cau, head of European equities strategy at Barclays, told the Financial Times: “Fundamentally, the question that would come up is whether increased AI safety means slower and lower capex spending and subsequently what that means for global growth and earnings from an equity standpoint.” 

Washington has a very different take on software guardrails. President Trump dismissed catastrophic AI warnings as a "HOAX." He posted that “the only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” He also called out Anthropic's CEO for “pretending to be a ‘perfect little angel.’” 

Cheddar also has a big question:

Quote of the Day

❝

My clients felt like Cisco believed they were worthy of less protection.

Bond Markets Further Rebuke Scott Bessent

(Google)

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent doubled down on his “I am the house” chat about bond markets in an interview with Steve Bannon last week, dismissing skeptical traders as misguided “Bloomberg terminal bros” who were choosing their “pocket book over patriotism” rather than trusting his market vision.

Well, the terminal bros took the bet. On Monday, the 10-year Treasury yield surged briefly past 5 percent, hitting a “psychological ceiling” milestone recorded only once since the 2008 global financial crisis. That’s despite Bessent ordering the Treasury Department to aggressively buy back $5.2 billion of long-dated debt to artificially suppress borrowing costs.

An irony is that Bessent previously understood the ruthless power of sovereign debt markets. Back in June at the Economic Club of New York, he warned President Trump that “the bond market has taken out more governments than howitzers.” Yet, as a former hedge fund titan who built his wealth betting against foreign currencies, he apparently convinced himself that a $40 trillion national debt load could be tamed by a bit of political posturing. That turns out not to have been the case.

Bessent insists the market turmoil is just a “fever dream” driven by traders looking to create panic. But investors are staring down triple-digit oil prices, massive corporate debt for the AI boom, and exploding deficit spending. They want higher returns from lending to the U.S. Government. It turns out that no matter how high your title is, if you try to bully the bond market, the house doesn’t always win.

Amazon Suspends Plane Crash Contractor

(Reuters)

Amazingly, Amazon’s $AMZN ( ▼ 1.26% ) “Prime Air” jet which crashed in Miami this weekend, killing five people, was operated by a third-party called “21 Air.” Can you believe it? I’m not sure I can, because the words “Prime Air” were emblazoned across the side. Still, it’s Amazon. They’d treat everyone as a contractor if they could.

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said: “Safety has always been our top priority, whether in our own operations or when we’re working with partners... we’ve decided to pause our operations with 21 Air.”

Cockpit voice recordings revealed a pilot warning multiple times about “excessive speed” before a frantic, last-second call for a go-around. Former 21 Air employees had also already filed whistleblower complaints with the Labor Department raising safety concerns. Apparently Amazon was unconcerned until five people died.

21 Air, owned by Houston Astros billionaire owner Jim Crane, remained steadfast, telling press: “We are confident in our safety policies, procedures, and training.” 

I hope so, Jim. I really do.

Song of the Day: Victoria Monét, ‘Juicy’

Here’s a lush, effortlessly smooth, and sultry late-summer anthem. So, it’s just like this newsletter.

Oracle Lays Off Staff With Monday 6 A.M. Email

Don’t you just love a corporate pink slip landing in your inbox at 6:00 a.m.?

For the 4,000 affected Oracle $ORCL ( ▼ 3.65% ) staff on Monday, setting an alarm was strictly optional. This marks Oracle’s third round of workforce reductions this year, following the elimination of 21,000 jobs, roughly 13 percent of its workforce, in fiscal year 2026. Oracle generated a staggering $57 billion in revenue last fiscal year, only to turn around and spend $1.84 billion just on severance and restructuring costs.

“After careful consideration of Oracle’s current business needs, we have made the decision to eliminate your role as part of a broader organizational change,” the company wrote. “As a result, today is your last working day.”

To secure their severance, workers had to rapidly open their corporate email and sign DocuSign paperwork before IT locked them out forever.

The email warned: “Access to your computer, email, voicemail, and files will be deactivated soon, and you will be unable to log into your computer. As a reminder, you are prohibited from downloading, copying or retaining (including emailing yourself any Oracle confidential information).”

I’m sure everyone followed that advice.

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U.S. Says Cisco Allowed Harassment of Workers

A federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) has concluded there is reasonable cause to believe Cisco $CSCO ( ▼ 1.85% ) permitted a hostile work environment for Middle Eastern, Muslim, and pro-Palestinian staff. Internal message boards degenerated into toxic battlegrounds where employees were branded "animals" and told to "quit living," according to the finding.

Former Cisco lawyer Reyhan Bilici said: “At end of the day, I will be reduced to these certain offensive terms: terrorist, animal, whatever it is... It’s completely dehumanizing.” Bilici added: “Cisco created the conditions in which people felt emboldened to ratchet up objective Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian discrimination.”

When workers flagged a post telling colleagues to "quit living," Cisco took seven weeks to fire the offender. As attorney Christopher Ho put it, “My clients felt like Cisco believed they were worthy of less protection.” 

Cisco spokeswoman Robyn Blum insisted the company “thoroughly investigated all concerns and took appropriate action.”

Should You Check Your 401(k) Today?

👎️ 

Nope.

Poll of the Day: AI, Caramba!

“The only control or ‘guardrails’ that AI needs is a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT, and the U.S.A. has that, in spades!” Discuss.

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Poll of the Day: Basic Human Warmth

We asked: What do you think are the odds that McDonald's's's's's $2m spend on improving 'basic human warmth' in its restaurants will be successful?

You answered:

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 About as likely as finding an ice cream machine that is actually working in one of its restraurants. (176)
🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️ It might work, assuming corporate warmth can successfully overpower minimum-wage exhaustion and drive-thru timers. (108)
🟨⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️⬜️ Miracles happen! Next thing you know, the manager will sit down and ask about my day. (28)
🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨🟨 It's almost like fast food restaurants are designed to exploit low-wage labor, alienating workers through mechanized assembly, and commodifying basic human sustenance for corporate profit. In that context, it's hard to imagine human warmth emerging, no? (171)
483 Votes

via @beehiiv polls

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