The Housing Market Slumped This Spring. Where Does It Go From Here?

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This podcast is sponsored by Comcast Business. When business leaders struggle to get measurable value out of artificial intelligence, it's often because they're operating AI on top of disjointed architectures, says Amit Verma, Chief Technology Officer at Comcast Business.

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That's why we make sure AI works with a connectivity fabric that permanently links people, applications, data and machines everywhere and all the time.

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That's continuous intelligence. Later, he'll explain why it can bring cohesion to AI deployments.

Alex Ossola (0:34)

The AI rally that boosted tech stocks has turned into a sell-off. Is it time to be worried yet?

David Uberti (0:39)

These stocks have had such an incredible run that even while these sort of daily declines seem big and are evaporating a lot of value for investors, it's really kind of a blip.

Alex Ossola (0:50)

Plus, a late winter drop in mortgage rates wasn't enough to save the spring home buying season. We get into what it would take for the housing market to bounce back. And move over detergent pods. The company behind Tide now wants you to wash your clothes with tiles? It's Tuesday, June 23rd. I'm Alex Ossola for The Wall Street Journal. This is the PM Edition of What's News, the top headlines and business stories that move the world today.

The tech sell-off that has been rippling around the world deepened today. The NASDAQ dropped 2.2%.

Intel, Nvidia, Oracle and Tesla all fell 4% or more, following steep losses in big tech stocks yesterday. The S&P and Dow had smaller losses, falling about 1.4% and 0.1%. For more on what's driving stocks lower, I'm joined by WSJ Markets reporter David Uberti. David, why are tech stocks hurting in particular?

David Uberti (1:46)

One of the big catalysts that investors are citing is the expectation for higher interest rates from the US. Federal Reserve. The new Fed Chairman Kevin Warsh last week in his first appearance as chair was unexpectedly hawkish in his commentary, basically suggesting that the US. Fed might actually keep rates steady, if not raise them in response to above-target inflation. Due to the fact that many of these tech names that we follow every day are increasingly issuing debt in order to build out data centers, fund all their computing operations, the higher interest rates could really impact their operations in a really big way and ultimately impact how profitable those companies are in the years ahead.

Alex Ossola (2:25)

Some of the companies hit hardest today, Micron and SpaceX. Why those in particular?

David Uberti (2:30)

SpaceX has been continuing its pullback since this post IPO pop at one point today. Shares were actually trading below where they were initially issued during the IPO.

Stocks like that are inherently volatile and SpaceX just has a tremendous valuation vis-à-vis what its actual business fundamentals are. Micron and Sandisk were the two largest losers in the S&P 500 today. Despite its declines today, Sandisk is still up 4,000 percent over the last 12 months. Micron, which is worth more than a trillion dollars, is still up 700 percent over the last 12 months or so. That just goes to show that these stocks have had such an incredible run that even while these daily declines seem big and are evaporating a lot of value for investors, it's really kind of a blip. The big question is whether that will continue, whether these AI jitters are emblematic of something to come or whether this is just one of those momentary pullbacks, whether the firms in Wall Street are shifting the dials in their investment strategies somewhat.

Alex Ossola (3:32)

That was WSJ Markets reporter David Uberti. Thanks David.

David Uberti (3:35)

Thanks.

Alex Ossola (3:35)

Meanwhile, oil prices are falling. Rent crude futures slipped more than 1% to $77.08 a barrel, the lowest settlement price since the day before the start of the war with Iran. In corporate news, the journal has learned that Walmart is buying a French advertising technology firm for $1.4 billion.

Buying vibe.co, which enables advertising through connected TVs, is Walmart's biggest deal in two years. And it's the company's latest investment in its efforts to compete with Amazon for new advertising revenue streams.

The crucial spring home buying season is over, and it was a disappointment. Home sales have been holding at depressed levels, dashing hopes of a market rebound. Journal reporter Nicole Friedman, who joined us in the second episode of our housing series this morning, says that doesn't bode well for what's left of 2026

Nicole Friedman (4:28)

The spring market is really crucial for the rest of the year. A lot of people want to move in the spring or move over the summer. And so if they miss that opportunity, they might delay it a whole year. And so some of the demand that didn't show up this spring won't necessarily come later in the year. We might have to wait until 2027