The Dow Jones fell 400 points from the highs of the day to end with losses of 100 points on Thursday. The index had earlier received a boost when one of its largest constituents, UnitedHealth, reported a strong quarter and even raised its guidance, but could not sustain the gains to finish 8% off the highs, sucking out the momentum on the index.
Another factor behind the drop on the Dow was Alphabet, the latest entrant to the index, shares of which fell 4.5% on a Bloomberg report that the latest Gemini 3.5 Pro AI model being developed by the company is delayed for months and is running behind schedule as it has failed to meet internal expectations.
On the other hand, the S&P 500 fell 0.5% on Thursday, while the Nasdaq Composite and the Nasdaq 100 index fell 1.5% and 1.6% respectively.
Chip stocks from AMD to Micron, Intel, the ADRs of SK Hynix and stocks of Sandisk and Western Digital fell between 5.5% to as much as 13.5% overnight. Shares of Micron are down 13% over the last two sessions, while those of Sandisk, Western Digital and the ADRs of SK Hynix are down between 20% to 22% across Wednesday and Thursday.
Streaming giant Netflix reported results after market hours on Thursday which disappointed the street as the revenue was marginally below estimates, while its Earnings Per Share (EPS) for the full year was in-line. It raised the lower end of its full-year revenue guidance but narrowed the upper end. Revenue growth for the third quarter is projected to be 12% year-on-year, slowing further from the 13% reported this time around. The stock fell 9% in extended trading.
US Bombings Continue In Iran
The US Central Command wrote on “X” that forces began a new wave of attacks for the sixth straight night which promoted Iran’s military command to issue a warning on Telegram that if US President Donald Trump’s threats of bombing Iran’s power plants and other infrastructure is carried out, no trace of any US asset will remain in West Asia.
Reuters also reported that the Iran government has asked the Houthis to be ready to close the Red Sea route for oil transport if the US forces carried out the attacks on Iran’s public infrastructure.
Crude oil prices have not seen any major moves through a better part of this week, with Brent Crude still hovering around the $85 a barrel mark.
Industrial Production, Capacity Utilisation, Consumer Sentiment and other such macro data will be reported later in the day.
