US stocks sink; Nvida’s tumble overshadows financials’ gains
The S&P 500 sank 0.5% and the Nasdaq 100 fell 1.4% as tech stocks dragged down the major indexes. The Russell 2000 was spared any damage, up 0.4% on the day.
Tech was the worst-performing S&P sector ETF, slumping 2.5%. Financials, meanwhile, gained 1.2%. It’s the first time tech was down 2.5% and financials were up at least 1% since December 16, 2021.
Nvidia was a millstone around the neck of the US stock market, slumping 7% for no apparent reason.
Mercifully, there was a lot of news behind some of the session’s other big movers.
First, the good: Better than expected earnings and a boost to its full-year earnings forecast sent shares of Stanley Black & Decker 10% higher.
Investors also cheered PayPal’s higher earnings forecast and plan to buy back more stock, sending shares 8.6% higher.
Phillips 66 gained 4.8% after the oil refiner crushed Wall Street’s expectations on free cash flow and earnings.
On the other side of the spectrum, Merck was the worst S&P 500 constituent, tanking 9.8% after lowering its full-year profit guidance and citing a “surprising” softness in Chinese sales for its HPV vaccine.
CrowdStrike slump continued, with shares down 9.7% amid reports that Delta Air Lines is seeking damages following its massive outage. The stock is down about 40% since it more or less broke the internet earlier in July.
Consumer staples stalwart Procter & Gamble sank 4.8% after poor sales growth, the latest in a series of companies plagued by increasingly price-sensitive consumers.
Corning nearly gave back all its gains since July 8, when management talked up how AI was enhancing demand for its fiber optic solutions, after providing a third-quarter sales outlook that fell shy of analysts’ projections. The stock fell 6.9%.
Lumen Technologies was the standout positive outside the S&P 500, gaining 38%. The company has booked access to Corning’s fiber capacity to support AI-enabled data centers, one week removed from its partnership with Microsoft.
