NEW YORK – US stocks finished slightly lower on July 1 as technology shares fell, but gains in Meta Platforms limited the decline in the S&P 500 and Nasdaq.
Chipmakers were among the biggest drags on the S&P 500 and Nasdaq, with an index of semiconductors ending 6.3 per cent lower and technology leading declines among S&P 500 sectors. Lofty valuations and big AI spending by tech companies have been a concern for some market participants.
Investors also remain cautious about talks between the US and Iran, especially with a long US holiday weekend coming up, Tim Ghriskey, senior portfolio strategist at Ingalls and Snyder in New York, said.
Iran and the United States concluded a round of indirect talks on July 1 with no sign they had made headway towards a lasting peace.
The US and Iran signed an interim accord in June.
The key monthly US jobs report is due out on July 2, with the market closed on July 3 ahead of the Fourth of July holiday.
Shares of Meta Platforms rallied 8.8 per cent after Bloomberg News reported that it is building a cloud business to sell excess AI computing capacity.
Also providing some support were comments from Federal Reserve chair Kevin Warsh that inflation risks had eased recently.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 13.96 points, or 0.03 per cent, to 52,305.24, the S&P 500 lost 16.13 points, or 0.22 per cent, to 7,483.23 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 173.69 points, or 0.66 per cent, to 26,040.03.
Warsh said he will stick firmly to the US central bank’s 2 per cent inflation target and “disappoint” anyone who expects loose monetary policy, despite President Donald Trump’s call for interest rate cuts.
Oil prices rose sharply at the start of the Iran war. Traders slightly pared their rate-hike expectations as Warsh spoke, but they still expect at least one hike from the US central bank this year, according to data compiled by LSEG.
Investors also digested data from the Institute for Supply Management that showed US manufacturing activity had slowed in June but was still solid.
Among the day’s other decliners, shares of Alcoa fell 8.9 per cent after Australia’s South32 agreed to sell most of its aluminium assets to Alcoa.
The day’s weakness comes after a strong second quarter for the indexes. The S&P 500 and the Nasdaq Composite registered their biggest quarterly gains since 2020, while the Dow marked its best showing since 2022.
Volume on US exchanges was 19.71 billion shares, compared with the 23.36 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.07-to-1 ratio on the New York Stock Exchange. There were 353 new highs and 127 new lows on the NYSE.
On the Nasdaq, 2,661 stocks rose and 2,303 fell as advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.16-to-1 ratio. The S&P 500 posted no new 52-week highs and no new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded no new highs and no new lows. REUTERS
