Dow Jones closes up 243.60 points, but Nasdaq falls sharply on tThe Dow Jones Industrial Average closed higher on Wednesday (July 17), but the S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell as concerns over the U.S. -China trade dispute sent investors dumping tech and chipmakers.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 41,198.08 points, up 243.60 points or +0.59%, the S&P500 closed at 5,588.27 points, down 78.93 points or -1.39%, and the Nasdaq closed at 17,996.92 points, down 512.42 points or -2.77%.
Five of the 11 sectors comprising the S&P 500 closed in the red, led by a sharp 3.72% drop in technology stocks, followed by a 2.1% drop in communications services stocks. The consumer staples sector gained the most, up 1.43%, followed by the energy sector, up 1.08%.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at a new high for the third consecutive day, boosted by gains in shares of health care giant UnitedHealth and Johnson & Johnson after both companies reported stronger-than-expected earnings.
However, the S&P 500 fell more than 1%, while the Nasdaq plunged nearly 2.8%, its biggest one-day decline since December 2022. Both indexes were pressured by selling in technology and chipmakers after reports that President Joe Biden's administration was considering tougher measures against tech companies if they continued to allow Chinese companies access to U.S. technology.
The news sent shares of seven of the "Magnificent Seven" of high-cap tech companies tumbling across the board, with Nvidia down 6.6%, Apple down 2.5%, Microsoft down 1.3%, Alphabet down 1.5%, Amazon down 2.6%, Tesla down 3.1% and Meta Platforms down 5.7%.
The report also dragged down the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index by 6.8%, its biggest one-day drop since March 2020, and sent the CBOE Volatility Index (VIX), a gauge of investor anxiety about the U.S. stock market, to a six-week high.
Concerns over the U.S.-China trade dispute also dragged down the Russell 2000, a broader index of small-cap stocks, down 1% after a five-day winning streak on hopes the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates at its September meeting.
In economic data reported last night, the Federal Reserve (Fed) revealed that overall US industrial production rose 0.6% in June, compared to the previous month, after increasing 0.9% in May. On a year-on-year basis, industrial production rose 1.6% in June.
The Commerce Department said housing starts rose 3% to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1.353 million units in June, above the 1.3 million estimate by economists. Housing starts fell 4.4% year-on-year in June.
