Nasdaq ends down as chipmakers fall and bank earnings roll in

[SAN FRANCISCO] The Nasdaq ended lower on Tuesday (Oct 13), as chip stocks added to recent losses and investors parsed mixed quarterly results from Citigroup and other big US banks.

The PHLX Semiconductor Index fell 0.23 per cent, down for a fifth straight session, after Broadcom chief executive Hock Tan on Monday likened some of the investment flow into the sector to “casino gambling”.

Additionally, reports of technological advances by Chinese memory chip maker CXMT underscored concerns about rising competition.

Micron Technology lost 3.6 per cent and Applied Materials dropped almost 7 per cent, while Broadcom rose 0.7 per cent.

The PHLX chip index has lost more than 8 per cent in the past five sessions, though it remains up over 70 per cent year to date.

Citigroup dipped 5.6 per cent and Goldman Sachs lost 0.2 per cent after both banks topped profit estimates.

Wells Fargo fell 3.1 per cent after its net interest income missed estimates, while JPMorgan Chase ended down 0.9 per cent following a rare profit miss.

Apple hit an intraday record high of US$348.15 before closing up 0.1 per cent at US$341.27, putting its stock market value at US$4.98 trillion.

Analysts on average see S&P 500 third quarter earnings surging over 30 per cent, fuelled largely by AI-related technology companies, according to LSEG data.

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Expectations of a strong earnings season have offset worries about the US war with Iran, surging bond yields and inflation related to high oil prices.

“A lot of investors are feeling a sense of relief that markets might start looking at earnings and less at the bond market, less at higher-for-longer oil prices and less at high interest rates,” said Jake Dollarhide, CEO of Longbow Asset Management in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

The S&P 500 Index declined 0.02 per cent to end the session at 7,805.45 points.

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite declined 0.15 per cent to 27,204.38 points, while the blue-chip Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.35 per cent to 51,670.10 points.

The S&P 500 has rallied 14 per cent in 2026, lifted by AI-related technology stocks.

However, the median stock in the index is up less than 5 per cent and over 200 S&P 500 components are down for the year.

Reflecting expectations of strong corporate earnings from AI heavyweights, the S&P 500 is trading at under 19 times expected earnings, its lowest since 2023.

The S&P 500 healthcare index fell 1.3 per cent on Tuesday, with Johnson & Johnson down 5.7 per cent despite topping profit estimates.

Bumble jumped almost 57 per cent after the dating-app operator agreed to go private in a US$1.3 billion deal.

Domino’s Pizza declined 4.8 per cent after scaling back its full-year sales outlook.

Advancing issues outnumbered falling ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.1-to-1 ratio.

The S&P 500 posted 18 new highs and five new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 47 new highs and 408 new lows.

Volume on US exchanges was relatively light, with 14.8 billion shares traded, compared with an average of 17.6 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. REUTERS