US stock indexes dragged down by another Nvidia plunge

Stocks gyrated in the afternoon, as changes to a Federal Reserve statement that seemingly gave traders a reason to sell were explained away as a “language clean up.” The S&P 500 ultimately settled 0.5% lower, while the Nasdaq 100 and Russell 2000 also declined.

Most S&P 500 sector ETFs fell. Communication services, consumer staples, and energy were the outliers to the upside, while tech and real estate weighed on broad indexes.

Semi equipment supply giant ASML surged after reporting a much stronger business pipeline than Wall Street expected. But those numbers, as well as improved guidance from another key supplier, weren’t enough to prevent another deep sell-off in Nvidia ahead of earnings reports from Microsoft and Meta, two of its key customers, as AI competition with China heats up. AMD, on the other hand, jumped as the company tried to encourage potential customers to couple its processors with DeepSeek AI’s models.

F5 Inc. was the S&P 500’s top performer, as the IT company cited robust demand for its services. Low expectations were key to a big rally for Starbucks, which was hot on its tail after its fourth-quarter results weren’t nearly as bad as Wall Street feared. T-Mobile also soared after a great earnings report, enjoying its best day in over two years.