CNBC Daily Open: AI demand fuels investors' portfolios while oil posts biggest monthly decline

An interactive display featuring artificial intelligence at the iRootech Technology Co. offices in Guangzhou, China, on Wednesday, April 15, 2026. Bloomberg | Bloomberg | Getty Images Hello, this is Justina Lee writing to you from Singapore. Welcome to another edition of CNBC's Daily Open. Artificial intelligence remains the market's favorite, with investors continuing to rotate into semiconductor and technology names as companies race to build the next phase of the AI ecosystem. Amazon Web Services is also expanding into forward-deployed engineering, an increasingly competitive corner of the industry dominated by firms such as OpenAI and Anthropic . China's consumer outlook is also back in focus after Nike posted a 12% sales decline in Greater China sales, even as the country's factory activity showed signs of improvement. Meanwhile, Brent crude posted its biggest monthly decline since March 2020 as investors bet that tensions in the Middle East conflict may continue to ease. What you need to know today The AI boom continues to reshape markets. Investors have poured money into semiconductor companies beyond Nvidia, betting that the buildout of AI data centers will benefit a broader universe of chipmakers and infrastructure companies. Intel , Micron and Advanced Micro Devices have gained about $2 trillion in combined market cap in the second quarter, making them among the most valuable U.S. tech companies and reflecting growing conviction in the next phase of AI spending. …