The Globe and Mail reports in its Friday edition that S&P 500 and the technology-heavy Nasdaq closed lower on Thursday as investors were rattled by the latest earnings reports and worried about whether hefty spending on artificial intelligence would pay off for Big Tech. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says that while the indexes recovered some losses by the end of the session, they were still weighed down by a weak technology sector. Microsoft was the biggest drag. Its shares slumped 10 per cent after the software giant's cloud revenue failed to impress and stoked fears the hefty outlays for its OpenAI alliance were not reaping returns fast enough. Other software stocks also tumbled with SAP's U.S.-listed shares sinking 15 per cent after its cautious cloud outlook and ServiceNow shares ended down 9.9 per cent. Investors are trying to play it safe against a backdrop of broader uncertainties including who the Federal Reserve's next chair will be and how many interest-rate cuts it will make, along with geopolitical stresses and the potential for a U.S. government shutdown. The S&P/TSX Composite Index closed down 159.94 points at 32,812.69. Rogers rose 2.7 per cent, helping lift the Toronto communications index.