Dow Jones Industrial Average extends backslide as stocks weaken ahead of stale data

• The Dow Jones slipped another 220 points, falling below 47,000.
• Stocks are taking a further hit as questions about the AI sector continue to swirl.
• Backdated US data on labor and inflation comes this week as investors weigh Fed rate cut chances.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) hit another weak patch on Monday, backsliding around 270 points and slipping back below the 47,000 handle to start the new trading week with many of the same questions from last week going unanswered. The AI segment continues to see new challenges amid concerns about endpoint revenues, and investors are hoping that a kickstart to official data sources following the reopening of the federal government will help push the Federal Reserve (Fed) to deliver a third straight interest rate cut in December.

Alphabet shares supported by Berkshire investment

Shares in Google parent holding company Alphabet (GOOG) rose over 3% on the day after it was revealed that Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway (BRK) poured $4.3 billion into a stake in the Google search and YouTube giant at the end of September. Hyper-traditionalist investor Warren Buffett recently announced his retirement by the end of the year to Berkshire shareholders, leading to speculation that a play into Google properties is being spearheaded by more tech-friendly names in the Berkshire flagship.

Berkshire Hathaway continues to unwind its massive holdings of Apple (AAPL) stock, shedding another 15% of its total shares held as of the end of the third quarter. However, the Oracle of Omaha's investment company's holdings in Apple still sit at a lofty $60.7 billion.

Too-hot AI rally now faces tough questions about profitability

The AI trade continues to come under renewed pressure, with LLM computing services darling Nvidia (NVDA) falling another 1.8% on Monday. The chipmaker is slated to reveal its latest quarterly earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday, and investors are becoming concerned that the constantly-growing demand for AI-driven compute power still remains woefully outsized compared to revenues and return on investment on the actual deployment side.

US government back open... for now

The US government successfully passed a short-term funding resolution to restart federal operations last week, and investors are immediately pivoting into a wait-and-see stance as backdated labor and inflation data come down the chute. The Trump administration has preemptively warned that October's labor and inflation data may be "lost forever", but traders are hoping that September's Nonfarm Payrolls (NFP) jobs report, while stale, will provide enough ammunition to pave the way to a third straight interest rate cut on December 10.

Fed Chair Jerome Powell signaled at the Fed's last interest rate decision that a lack of official government data will force the Fed to stand pat until it receives further information on the US economy, battering broad-market expectations for a third straight rate cut in December.

Dow Jones daily chart