The Nasdaq ended lower on Oct 13, as chip stocks added to recent losses and investors parsed mixed quarterly results from Citigroup and other big US banks.
The PHLX chip index fell 0.23%, down for a fifth straight session, after Broadcom CEO Hock ?Tan on Oct 12 likened some of the investment flow into the sector to “casino gambling.” Additionally, reports of technological advances by Chinese memory chip company CXMT underscored concerns about rising competition.
Micron Technology lost 3.6% and Applied Materials dropped almost 7%. Broadcom rose 0.7%.
Citigroup dipped 5.6% and Goldman Sachs lost 0.2% after both banks topped profit estimates.
Wells Fargo fell 3.1% after its net interest income missed estimates, while JPMorgan Chase ended down 0.9% following a rare profit miss.
Apple hit an intraday record high of US$348.15 (S$444) before closing up 0.1% at US$341.27, putting its stock market value at US$4.98 trillion.
Analysts on average see S&P 500 third-quarter earnings surging over 30%, fuelled largely by AI-related technology companies, according to LSEG data.
Expectations of a strong earnings season have offset worries about the US war with Iran, surging bond yields and inflation related to high oil prices.
“A lot of investors are feeling a sense of relief that markets might start looking at earnings and less at the bond market, less at higher-for-longer oil prices and less at high interest rates,” said Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
The S&P 500 declined 0.02% to end the session at 7,805.45 points.
The Nasdaq declined 0.15% to 27,204.38 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.35% to 51,670.10 points.
The S&P 500 has rallied 14% in 2026, lifted by AI-related technology stocks. However, the median stock in the index is up less than 5% and over 200 S&P 500 components are down for the year.
Reflecting expectations of strong corporate earnings from AI heavyweights, the S&P 500 is trading at under 19 times expected earnings, its lowest since 2023.
The PHLX chip index has lost more than 8% in the past five sessions and it remains up over 70% year-to-date.
The S&P 500 healthcare index fell 1.3% on Oct 13, with Johnson & Johnson down 5.7% despite topping profit estimates.
Bumble jumped almost 57% after the dating-app operator agreed to go private in a US$1.3 billion deal.
Domino’s Pizza declined 4.8% after scaling back its full-year sales outlook.
Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.1-to-one ratio.
The S&P 500 posted 18 new highs and five new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 408 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was relatively light, with 14.8 billion shares traded, compared with an average of 17.6 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. REUTERS
