NEW YORK – Wall Street stocks closed lower on Oct 15 as investors assessed a series of earnings reports, and with chipmaker equities weakening on news the United States may introduce export curbs.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average slumped 0.8 per cent to 42,740.29, as did the broad-based S&P 500 to 5,815.26.
The tech-focused Nasdaq Composite Index retreated 1.0 per cent to 18,315.59.
Stocks saw a mixed performance at the start of the day, with traders responding mostly positively to earnings reports, but eventually they lost ground.
Chipmakers in particular struggled as markets reacted to reports that President Joe Biden’s administration was considering a cap on exports of advanced AI chips to some countries.
Dutch tech giant ASML, which supplies chip-making machines to the semiconductor industry, also saw its shares dive in Europe after unveiling a cut to its 2025 guidance and seeing a disappointing slump in sales bookings.
“The selloff is because of ASML suggesting that demand is not as strong” as anticipated for chips and AI, said Quincy Krosby of LPL Financial.
“ASML mentioned that demand is down from China. That’s one of the biggest markets. There’s chatter that the US Government could start perhaps curbing chip sales even more,” Krosby added.
Among individual companies, ASML shares plunged 16.3 per cent in the United States, while chip titan Nvidia lost 4.5 per cent.
AMD, another major chip company, was down 5.2 per cent. AFP
