S&P 500 futures were down 0.32% this morning prior to the opening bell in New York, after the index fell 0.54% yesterday, suggesting that investors hate U.S. equities right now.
The index is up 0.93% year to date, a feeble performance compared with foreign stocks. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 is up nearly 10% over the same period. The STOXX Europe 600 is up 6.53% and sits at an all-time high. Japan’s Nikkei 225 is up nearly 14%. South Korea’s KOSPI is up an astonishing 45%.
Growth is everywhere, except in the U.S.
Why?
It’s “AI derangement syndrome,” according to an email sent by Yardeni Research to its clients.
Investors have become so skittish of stocks linked to AI that it’s dragging down the entire U.S. market. Exhibit A: Nvidia, the AI chipmaker that is the largest company on planet earth by market cap. Nvidia’s performance as a business has been unambiguously excellent. Its Q4 2025 earnings call was another blowout, expectations-beating, record performance.
