NEW YORK: The Nasdaq closed lower on Thursday, dragged down by losses in Big Tech shares, while the S&P closed near flat and the Dow closed higher as investors digested new economic data.
Technology shares reversed early gains to move lower, weighing on the Nasdaq as investors worried about hyperscaler spending on artificial intelligence and who foots the bill. Those fears outweighed upbeat signals on AI demand from Micron and Qualcomm.
The Nasdaq was on track for its biggest monthly decline since March 2025.
Apple slid 6.1% after hiking prices for iPads and MacBooks to counter surging memory and storage chip costs. Shares of Nvidia, Microsoft, and Alphabet were also down between 0.5% and 3.5%. Micron soared 15.7% after its earnings and forecasts beat Wall Street estimates.
Still, concerns over debt-backed spending by hyperscalers and fears of a more hawkish Federal Reserve kept weighing on the market this week.
"The market realised that one company's blowout earnings and revenues mean someone else is paying the price for that down the line," said Carol Schleif, chief investment officer at BMO Family Office. "For Micron to generate the kinds of earnings and revenues they do, it's coming out of somebody else's hide."
Memory chipmaker Sandisk also soared 22%. Qualcomm, Western Digital and Seagate Technology all popped. Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors moved higher, led by industrial stocks which rose 2.2%. Consumer discretionary and consumer staple stocks lost the most ground while tech stocks dropped 0.1%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 71.72 points, or 0.14%, to 51,920.62, the S&P 500 lost 0.73 points, or 0.01%, to 7,357.49 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 118.03 points, or 0.46%, to 25,358.60.
The Philadelphia SE Semiconductor index rose 3.2% and was on track for its strongest quarter on record, according to LSEG data.
The US Department of Commerce released a slew of data on Thursday.
US inflation increased further in May, breaking above 4.0% for the first time in three years on higher energy prices, and potentially drawing the Federal Reserve closer to raising interest rates.
In response to rising price pressures, traders anticipate the Fed will lift interest rates by at least 25 basis points before the year-end, according to LSEG data.
A final reading of first-quarter GDP data showed the economy grew by 2.1%, compared to a prior estimate of 1.6%. Meanwhile, jobless claims data showed a higher-than-expected fall in the number of Americans filing for unemployment benefits.
"Inflation came in toasty, like people expected it to, but not super hot," Schleif said. "The suspicion is, with oil prices coming down, you'll see continue to cool somewhat as we go into the summer and fall months." Oil prices fell below pre-war levels this week.
Among other movers, Bio-Techne Corp jumped 11.8% after Germany's Merck KGaA agreed to acquire the biotech firm for US$73 per share in cash, representing a total enterprise value of about US$11.3 billion.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.4-to-1 ratio on the NYSE where there were 342 new highs and 276 new lows.
On the Nasdaq, 2,325 stocks rose and 2,463 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.06-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted 55 new 52-week highs and 15 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 208 new highs and 235 new lows.
Volume on US exchanges was 20.34 billion shares, compared with the 23.04 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.— Reuters
