Dow Falls 653 Points as Brent Crude Hits $116.72, Six-Month High

The split inside the index is the real story: energy majors rallying on crude strength while a consumer-spending bellwether like American Express drops on job cuts tied to AI efficiency. That divergence suggests the market is pricing an inflationary energy shock alongside corporate cost-cutting, not a clean risk-on or risk-off move. The open question is whether Brent's run above its April highs keeps feeding through to headline inflation expectations, and whether more companies follow American Express in framing AI as a headcount story.