S&P 500 and Nasdaq Face Losses Despite Earnings Season, Dow Jones Slumps Again

On Thursday, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite faced yet another losing session. Despite this, Wall Street attempted to recover its footing while the corporate earnings season carried on.

More than 11% of S&P 500-listed companies have reported earnings, marking a positive season with over 72% beating Wall Street expectations, as per FactSet. Despite this, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite each recorded their fourth consecutive losing session on Wednesday. It isthe first such streak since early January, largely due to declines in major tech stocks like Nvidia.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average also experienced a downturn, falling for the seventh time in eight sessions. However, chip stocks showed signs of recovery, buoyed by anticipation of Federal Reserve comments regarding interest rate cuts. Notably, Micron Technology saw a 1.6% rise after news that it would receive over $6 billion in grants from the US Commerce Department for domestic chip manufacturing projects.

Other semiconductor stocks, including Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, and Broadcom, also posted gains between 0.4% and 1.3% in premarket trading. This rebound comes amidst a challenging second quarter on Wall Street, with all three major indexes performing lower in April compared to their strong first-quarter results. Additionally, the Dow, S&P 500, and Nasdaq have closed below their respective 50-day moving averages, reflecting broader market uncertainties.