US stocks close mixed, but near the lows for the day

The major U.S. stock indices closed mixed on the day. The Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 both ended lower, while the Nasdaq Composite rose, supported by gains in chip stocks. The Russell 2000 underperformed, dropping nearly 2%—its worst single-day decline in weeks (since May 21).

The Nasdaq’s strength was fueled by a rally in semiconductor names after reports surfaced that the U.S. may allow certain chip sales to China. Nvidia surged 4.04%, AMD jumped 6.41%, and Broadcom gained 1.94%.

In the Dow, only four of the 30 components closed higher:

• Nvidia: +4.01%

• Microsoft: +0.53%

• Apple: +0.27%

• Amazon: +0.19%

The downside was led by American Express and Home Depot, both down over 3%. Below are the top 10 Dow decliners:

• American Express (AXP): -3.19%

• Home Depot (HD): -3.16%

• UnitedHealth (UNH): -2.99%

• Merck & Co (MRK): -2.54%

• Travelers (TRV): -1.99%

• Goldman Sachs (GS): -1.65%

• Sherwin-Williams (SHW): -1.62%

• Amgen (AMGN): -1.53%

• Honeywell (HON): -1.18%

• Visa (V): -1.07%

The final numbers for the major indices:

• Dow industrial average -436.36 points or -0.98% at 44023.29. At session highs index was up 44.62 points.
• S&P index -24.80 points or -0.40% at 6243.76. At session highs index was up 33.48 points.
• NASDAQ index +37.47 points or 0.18% at 20677.80. At session highs index is up 195.71 points.

The Russell 2000 fell -44.67 points or -1.99% at 2305.05. At session highs the index is up 7.842 points.

Other winners today included:

• Alibaba (BABA): +8.09%

• Super Micro Computer (SMCI): +6.92%

• First Solar (FSLR): +6.89%

• AMD (AMD): +6.41%

• Nvidia (NVDA): +4.01%

• Tencent ADR (TCEHY): +3.68%

• Citigroup (C): +3.61%

• Synopsys (SNPS): +3.55%

• Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM): +3.52%

• Fortinet (FTNT): +1.90%

And some of the losers today included:

• Papa John’s (PZZA): -6.12%

• Wells Fargo (WFC): -5.49%

• Occidental Petroleum (OXY): -5.28%

• Whirlpool (WHR): -5.21%

• Lennar (LEN): -4.57%

• Biogen (BIIB): -4.21%

• Delta Air Lines (DAL): -4.13%

• Block (XYZ): -3.93%

• Moderna (MRNA): -3.92%

• ARK Genomic Revolution ETF (ARKG): -3.68%

Earnings for the quarter were kickstarted today with some big financials reporting including BlackRock, Wells Fargo, J.P. Morgan, and Citigroup.

The only one that rose was Citigroup with a gain of 3.61%. The others declined despite beating on the top and bottom lines:

• BlackRock -5.88%
• Wells Fargo -5.49%
• J.P. Morgan -0.85%