AI Stocks Fall at US Open; Astera Labs Down 3.07%

The split between a marginally higher Dow and a weaker Nasdaq points to a rotation rather than a broad risk-off move, with the AI-linked complex absorbing the selling while the VIX ticks up only modestly. The breadth of the declines — spanning chip names, server makers and test equipment — suggests the pressure is aimed at the AI infrastructure trade as a group, not at a single company's news. Whether this is a one-session pullback or the start of a deeper de-rating in AI hardware is the open question, and the VIX's follow-through is the cleanest gauge of whether the move is broadening.