Wall Street indexes end lower as chip, oil stocks drop
Nvidia falls from record high, chip sector under pressure
UnitedHealth ends down 8% after Q3 results
Walgreen Boots rallies sharply after results
Indexes down: Dow 0.75%, S&P 500 0.76%, Nasdaq 1.01%
Adds market details after close, volume data
By Sinéad Carew and Lisa Pauline Mattackal
Oct 15 (Reuters) -Wall Street's major stock indexes closed lower on Tuesday, with a 1% drop in the technology-heavy Nasdaq leading losses as chip stocks tumbled on demand concerns while the energy sector fell 3% as oil prices dropped.
Earnings reports were a mixed bag with positive reactions to some financial services results contrasting with an 8% slump in shares of UnitedHealth UNH.N after the health insurer forecast 2025 profit below Wall Street estimates.
The Nasdaq came under particular pressure from market heavyweight Nvidia NVDA.O, the leading chip maker for artificial intelligence. Nvidia shares fell 4.7% after scoring a record-high close on Monday and after a media report that the Biden administration is considering capping AI chip exports by U.S. companies.
Chip stocks lost ground broadly after results of chip-equipment-maker ASML Holdings ASML.AS showed downbeat expectations for 2025 sales. ASML's U.S.-listed shares ASML.O tumbled 16% and helped drag down the Philadelphia semiconductor index .SOX 5.3% for its biggest one-day drop since early September.
"There seems to be a lot more stress concentrated in chips. This is putting downward pressure on technology as a sector," said Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab.
But while Gordon saw weaker-than-expected earnings as an excuse to sell off chip stocks, he was encouraged that there were roughly as many stocks advancing as declining on the Nasdaq.
"It's not a broad-based washout," he said, noting that stocks that were selling off on the day had previously outperformed. "It's indicative of megacap stocks pulling down the indexes."
The energy industry index .SPNY finished down 3% for its biggest one-day percentage decline since early October 2023 as crude prices fell on weaker demand expectations after a media report suggested Israel would not strike Iranian oil targets.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI fell 324.80 points, or 0.75%, to 42,740.42, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 44.59 points, or 0.76%, to 5,815.26 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 187.10 points, or 1.01%, to 18,315.59.
Notably, both the Dow and the S&P 500 registered record closing highs in the previous session.
Behind energy, the S&P 500's technology index .SPLRCT was the biggest decliner, losing 1.8%.
But defensive sectors outperformed, with real estate .SPLRCR the biggest advancer, adding 1.2%, followed by consumer staples .SPLRCS up 0.6% and utilities .SPLRCU, which ended up 0.5%.
In the financial sector, Bank of America BAC.N shares rose 0.5% following a third-quarter profit beat, while Charles Schwab SCHW.N shares climbed 6% after exceeding estimates.
However, Citigroup C.N shares fell 5% after it reported mixed results with net income declining and net interest income weaker than expected while debt underwriting propped up its investment banking results.
Bucking the trend of tech stock declines, Apple AAPL.O finished up 1.1% after earlier touching a record high.
Also, Walgreens Boots Alliance WBA.O shares rallied 15.8% after narrowly beating Wall Street's lowered estimates for fourth-quarter adjusted profit and announcing plans to shut 1,200 stores to cut costs.
Investors will watch in coming days for the next batch of earnings as well as key economic data, including monthly retail sales and industrial production figures.
Earlier on Tuesday afternoon, San Francisco Fed President Mary Daly said that even after September's interest-rate cut, policymakers were still working to bring down inflation.
Traders are pricing in a roughly 98% chance the Fed will cut interest rates by 25 basis points in November, according to CME's FedWatch.
Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.01-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 514 new highs and 41 new lows.
On the Nasdaq, 2,109 stocks rose and 2,214 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.05-to-1 ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 112 new 52-week highs and no new lows while the Nasdaq Composite posted 173 new highs and 82 new lows.
On U.S. exchanges 12.85 billion shares changed hands compared with the 12.18 billion average for the last 20 days.
Reporting by Sinead Carew in New York, Lisa Mattackal and Purvi Agarwal in Bengaluru; Editing by Pooja Desai and Matthew Lewis
Related Assets
Latest News
Disclaimer: The XM Group entities provide execution-only service and access to our Online Trading Facility, permitting a person to view and/or use the content available on or via the website, is not intended to change or expand on this, nor does it change or expand on this. Such access and use are always subject to: (i) Terms and Conditions; (ii) Risk Warnings; and (iii) Full Disclaimer. Such content is therefore provided as no more than general information. Particularly, please be aware that the contents of our Online Trading Facility are neither a solicitation, nor an offer to enter any transactions on the financial markets. Trading on any financial market involves a significant level of risk to your capital.
All material published on our Online Trading Facility is intended for educational/informational purposes only, and does not contain – nor should it be considered as containing – financial, investment tax or trading advice and recommendations; or a record of our trading prices; or an offer of, or solicitation for, a transaction in any financial instruments; or unsolicited financial promotions to you.
Any third-party content, as well as content prepared by XM, such as: opinions, news, research, analyses, prices and other information or links to third-party sites contained on this website are provided on an “as-is” basis, as general market commentary, and do not constitute investment advice. To the extent that any content is construed as investment research, you must note and accept that the content was not intended to and has not been prepared in accordance with legal requirements designed to promote the independence of investment research and as such, it would be considered as marketing communication under the relevant laws and regulations. Please ensure that you have read and understood our Notification on Non-Independent Investment. Research and Risk Warning concerning the foregoing information, which can be accessed here.
