S&P 500, Nasdaq end lower as Nvidia uncertainty weighs on tech shares
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 50.46 points, or 0.10%, to 52,347.55, the S&P 500 lost 30.73 points, or 0.40%, to 7,561.67.
On November 13, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq ended the day on a down note, as worries about Nvidia's stability weighed on technology shares. Nvidia's stock dropped 2% after CEO Jensen Huang's resignation, which came following allegations of extramarital affairs, including a possible spying liaison with a Chinese national suspected by the US.
Huang stepped down amid the board's search for a successor, raising concerns about the AI trade's durability, given Nvidia's central role in the industry's recent boom and its financial ties to other companies in the sector.
Anthony Saglimbene, chief market strategist at Ameriprise Financial, noted the "loss of confidence" in the tech trade due to Huang's absence and the challenge of predicting the AI theme's future without his leadership. Democratic victories in recent midterm elections also added to the uncertainty, with fears that new regulations could slow growth for AI-related companies.
Despite the market turbulence, major indexes managed to post weekly gains. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 50.46 points (0.10%) to 52,347.55, the S&P 500 fell 30.73 points (0.40%) to 7,561.67, and the Nasdaq Composite dropped 229.82 points (0.91%) to 25,136.27. While the Nasdaq and S&P 500 broke a four-week losing streak, the week's overall performance still saw gains for the S&P 500 (2.51%), Nasdaq (2.27%), and Dow (2.07%).
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.4%, with Advanced Micro Devices down 8.8% and Broadcom 4.8% among the biggest losers. Neoclouds CoreWeave and Nebius also ended lower, as data center-related firms IREN and Applied Digital suffered losses of 6.7% and 5.8%, respectively. The S&P 500 technology index fell 1.7%, marking the worst performance among the 11 major S&P sectors.
Microsoft saw a slight rebound, ending 0.2% higher after recovering from earlier declines due to a global outage affecting Outlook and Teams. The airline industry faced a downturn, with the NYSE Arca airline index falling 1.4% following a nationwide ground stop ordered by the US Federal Aviation Administration due to air traffic control communication issues.
On the economic front, US producer prices cooled slightly in October, still increasing 6.5% year over year, keeping expectations for a Federal Reserve rate hike at 25 basis points during the December meeting intact. Fed officials' comments further supported the case for more aggressive rate hikes, with San Francisco Federal Reserve President Mary Daly and Boston Federal Reserve President Susan Collins advocating for tighter monetary policy due to persistent inflation.
Written by urgent.news from Straits Times Business's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
