The Globe and Mail reports in its Thursday edition that U.S. and Canadian stocks pulled back from record highs on Wednesday as flaring tensions in the Middle East and rising crude prices stoked inflation jitters and convinced investors to take some profits. A Reuters dispatch to The Globe says all three major U.S. stock indexes closed in negative territory, dragged lower by financials and technology. Chips gained 1.4 per cent, indicating the artificial-intelligence fervour is alive and well. Even so, six of the Magnificent Seven group of AI-related megacaps ended lower. Meta Platforms was the sole gainer. "The AI names are trading on their own completely separate world, largely oblivious to macro and geopolitical risk, at least within reason," said analyst Ross Mayfield at Baird in Louisville, Ky. Middle East hostilities intensified as the U.S. and Iran traded a new round of air strikes. The price of U.S. oil settled 2.4 per cent higher. Adding to global economic headwinds, the Trump administration has proposed new tariffs of up to 12.5 per cent on imports from 60 economies after determining they had failed to curb trade in goods made with forced labour. The S&P/TSX Composite Index ended down 1.1 per cent.