On Wednesday, US stock markets closed with mixed results. The Nasdaq Composite and S&P 500 both experienced declines, largely due to weakness in technology stocks. In contrast, the Dow Jones Industrial Average saw an advance, buoyed by a significant drop in crude oil prices, which benefited airlines and other travel-related sectors.
The S&P 500 decreased by 7.24 points, or 0.10%, settling at $7,358.22. The Nasdaq Composite fell by 110.40 points, or 0.43%, closing at $25,476.64. Conversely, the Dow Jones Industrial Average rose by 182.06 points, or 0.35%, to end the session at $51,848.90. This mixed performance came as concerns about high valuations in tech stocks persisted.
Several prominent tech companies faced losses, including a 2.3% drop in Microsoft, a 4.6% slump in Oracle, and declines in Alphabet, Amazon.com, Microsoft, Nvidia, Meta Platforms, and Tesla. However, some chipmakers and AI infrastructure stocks rallied, with Micron Technology surging over 9% due to a strong Q4 revenue forecast of $50 billion. Qualcomm also gained over 3% after forecasting more than $15 billion in annual sales from AI components for data centers by fiscal 2029.
Lower crude oil prices helped mitigate inflation worries, with Brent crude falling 4.3% to $73.74 a barrel and WTI crude declining 3.9% to $70.34. This contributed to a decrease in US Treasury yields, with the 10-year Treasury yield falling 8.3 basis points to 4.41%. Despite the near-term volatility, some Wall Street firms like JPMorgan Chase raised their year-end 2026 S&P 500 target to $7,800, citing strong earnings expectations.
Trading volumes were elevated, with the Nasdaq recording a volume of 13.82 billion shares, significantly above its three-month average. Declining issues outnumbered advancers on both the NYSE and Nasdaq. The market is now awaiting Micron's earnings report after the closing bell and Thursday's PCE inflation data for further guidance on AI momentum and Federal Reserve policy.
