US Stock Market today: Why have S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow Jones suffered biggest drops since June? Top, worst performing stocks at Wall Street

US stock market indexes edged down after S&P 500 fell 84.62 points to 7,659.44, Dow Jones dropped 175.28 points to 52,002.41, and the Nasdaq declined 572.99 points to close at 26,140.03. For the week, the S&P 500 fell almost 1.95 per cent and the Nasdaq slumped 4.48 per cent, their deepest weekly declines since June. The Dow Jones climbed 0.67 per cent for the week.

Wall Street traders expect the Fed will keep its short-term rate unchanged at its policy meeting this month, but the odds of a rate increase at the December meeting have jumped to 74.3 per cent from 50.2 per cent a month ago, according to data from the CME Group.

Slightly more than half of the stocks in the S&P 500 fell, but all but seven of the 75 stocks in the index’s tech sector closed lower. Among the biggest decliners were chip companies, reflecting mounting worries about how long the frenzy over the AI buildout will last.


Top Stocks Under Scanner

Micron Technology fell 5.6 per cent, Advanced Micro Devices dropped 6 per cent, Broadcom lost 4.5 per cent and Intel gave up 5.8 per cent. Among the other tech companies that finished in the red were Meta, which fell 3.7 per cent, and Google parent Alphabet, which dropped 2.5 per cent.

Netflix’s stock fell 2.9 per cent a day after the company announced that Chief Content Officer Bela Bajaria will be replaced by Peter Rice. The news comes just days after Netflix said that it plans to lay off about 6 per cent of its workforce, amounting to nearly 1,000 positions.

Tesla shares fell 2.1 per cent after the electric vehicle company unveiled a new model of its Roadster sports car that can thrust itself up in the air.

Energy stocks held up better than most. Exxon rose 2.5 per cent and Chevron added 2.6 per cent. Alcoa rose 2.5 per cent and The Travelers Cos. gained 1.5 per cent after the companies reported quarterly results that topped Wall Street forecasts.

International Oil Prices

In energy markets, oil prices remained elevated as the global oil supply continues to be under pressure without a deal between the U.S. and Iran to end the Iran war.

Brent crude, the international standard, jumped 3.7 per cent to settle at $109.86 per barrel. That is up from around $72 a barrel in late February before the start of the war. Brent climbed into triple digits last month, the first time since July.

The national average for gasoline is at $4.33 a gallon on Friday, according to AAA. While that’s lower than the $4.37 a gallon that it averaged last month, it’s sharply higher than the $3.06 a gallon from a year ago.