Nasdaq 100 Suffers Worst Day In 11 Months As Chipmakers Tumble On China Curbs; Magnificent 7 Wipe Out $500B : What's Driving Markets Wednesday?
It’s deep red on Wall Street on Wednesday, with tech stocks sharply falling amid a semiconductor broad-based selloff following news that the Biden administration is hastening export restrictions to China.
Bloomberg reported on Wednesday that the U.S. administration has advised its allies to impose the strictest trade restrictions possible if companies such as Tokyo Electron Ltd. (OTCPK: TOELY) and ASML Holding NV (NASDAQ:ASML) persist in supplying advanced chips to China. Shares of the Dutch chipmaker ASML Holding fell nearly 12%, notching the worst decline since March 2020.
The tech-heavy Nasdaq 100 tumbled by 2.7% at 12:45 p.m. ET, marking the worst session since late August 2023. The semiconductor industry was the hardest hit. The iShares Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:SOXX) and the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (NYSE:SMH) both plummeted over 6%, marking their worst day since October 2022.
The elite group of the ‘Magnificent Seven,’ tracked by the Roundhill Magnificent Seven ETF (NASDAQ:MAGS), saw a collective market cap loss of $500 billion in a single trading session. Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) alone plummeted 7%, accounting for a $180 billion loss.
The S&P 500 dropped 1.2%, while blue-chip stocks of the Dow Jones rose 0.6% to 41,200 points, extending their all-time highs and marking a sixth consecutive session of gains. Meanwhile, small caps took a breather, with the Russell 2000 index falling 1%, ending a five-day winning streak.
U.S. natural gas futures fell over 6%, hitting two-month lows, due to lower-than-expected cooling demand amid milder weather forecasts for the next two weeks.
Oil prices rallied 1.9% after U.S. inventories declined again last week. Gold edged down 0.5% from the all-time highs reached on Tuesday. The dollar fell 0.4%, with the dollar-yen pair dropping 1.3%.
Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) eased 1.2%.
Wednesday’s Performance In US Major Indices, ETFs
| Major Indices | Price | 1-day % chg |
| Dow Jones | 41,154.73 | 0.5% |
| Russell 2000 | 2,240.18 | -1.1% |
| S&P 500 | 5,592.13 | -1.3% |
| Nasdaq 100 | 19,862.83 | -2.6% |
According to Benzinga Pro data:
- The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (NYSE:SPY) was 1.4% lower to $557.02.
- The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (NYSE:DIA) rose by 0.4% to $411.20.
- The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust (ARCA: QQQ) eased 2.7% to $482.82.
- Sector-wise, the Consumer Staples Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLP) outperformed, up by 1.3%, while the Technology Select Sector SPDR Fund (NYSE:XLK) lagged, down 3.6%.
Wednesday’s Stock Movers
- Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NASDAQ:AMD) tumbled 8.3%, dropping below the 50-day moving average support.
- U.S.-listed shares of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (NYSE:TSM) plummeted 7% following reports that U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump suggested Taiwan should compensate the U.S. for its defense.
- British chipmaker Arm Holdings plc (NASDAQ:ARM) tumbled 8.7%.
- Other chip giants, including Marvell Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ:MRVL), Lam Research Corporation (NASDAQ:LRCX) and Applied Materials, Inc. (NASDAQ:AMAT), also saw declined by about 8%.
- Johnson & Johnson (NYSE:JNJ) rallied 3.7% on stronger-than-expected quarterly results.
- Charles Schwab Corp. (NYSE:SCHW) plunged 9.4%, following a 10.2% drop on Tuesday, as several analysts lowered their price targets in response to disappointing Q2 earnings.
- Other stocks reacting to company earnings were Elevance Health Inc. (NYSE:ELV), down 6.5%, U.S. Bancorp (NYSE:USB), up 4.6%, Ally Financial Inc. (NYSE:ALLY), down 3%, Northern Trust Corp. (NASDAQ:NTRS), down 7%, Citizens Financial Group (NYSE:CFG), up 3.4% and Synchrony Financial (NYSE:SYF), up 0.6%.
- Companies reporting after the close include Alcoa Corporation (NYSE:AA), Discover Financial Services (NYSE:DFS), Kinder Morgan, Inc. (NYSE:KMI), SL Green Realty Corp. (NYSE:SLG), Steel Dynamics, Inc. (NASDAQ:STLD) and United Airlines Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:UAL).
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Image created using artificial intelligence via Midjourney.
