Imani Moise

Investors have gotten used to AI chip companies exceeding expectations and raising their outlooks.

NVIDIA has repeatedly blown past expectations with its quarterly numbers.

And earlier this week, STMicroelectronics nearly doubled its revenue guidance from above $500 million to well above $1 billion.

But Broadcom held the line.

Executives stuck with the company's previous forecast, suggesting growth remained strong, but maybe not accelerating as quickly as investors had hoped.

Broadcom shares ended the week more than 13% lower.

The reaction rippled across the chip sector, as investors reconsidered just how much future growth is already priced into some of the market's biggest winners.

Shares of Micron dropped 11%, and AMD fell roughly 10%.

The conflict in the Middle East came back into focus on Wall Street this week after fresh missile attacks raised questions about the future of the Strait of Hormuz, helping to make energy the best-performing sector in the S&P 500.

Brent crude rose about 2% to $93.09 a barrel as another week passed by without a peace deal, reinforcing concerns that supply disruptions could last longer than expected.

Until recently, investors had largely looked past the war, betting that ample oil inventories would help cushion the global economy from supply disruptions.

But that assumption is starting to crack.

Commodity trading giant Trafigura warned this week that energy markets are approaching an inflection point as inventories shrink and supply constraints persist.

If a peace deal is reached soon, analysts say it could take months for oil production and shipping flows to fully recover.

The S&P Energy Index rose about 2.5% over the week.

And even after this week's chip stock slump, the AI trade has helped push major U.S.

indexes to record highs.

But there's one corner of the market missing out on the rally — crypto.

Bitcoin has fallen 30% this year and lost about half of its value since peaking at above $126,000 last October.

Analysts say one reason is that crypto is no longer the market's favorite speculative trade.