US stock markets sag in late day trading as Google continues to struggle

U.S. equities finished lower as late-day selling offset a modestly positive open, with the S&P 500 down 0.3%, Nasdaq down 0.6% and DJIA down 0.4%, while the Russell 2000 rose 0.4%. The article frames the session as a digestion of earnings and AI-related developments, especially a large $500 billion AI-capex fundraising effort that helped asset managers such as KKR and Apollo outperform. Alphabet’s Google continued to lag, falling another 3.5% amid concerns over AI leadership turnover, culture issues, and fears that Gemini may fall behind competitors despite claims of 1 billion users. Oil briefly sold off on Pakistan deal headlines but ended 1.6% higher. Overall tone is cautious but not panic-driven, with market leadership rotating toward alternative AI beneficiaries and away from Google.