Wall Street Mixed, Metatrader Surge as Chips Under Pressure
The Dow Jones Industrial Average briefly set a new intraday record on Wednesday (July 1) before losing steam. Meanwhile, the Nasdaq Composite weakened as investors took profits in semiconductor stocks after a strong rally throughout the first half of the year.
The Dow briefly rose to an intraday record of 52,742.66, but then reversed course and closed down about 13 points. Pressure arose after Caterpillar shares, previously boosted by the artificial intelligence theme, also fell.
The S&P 500 fell 0.2%, while the Nasdaq Composite fell about 0.7%. The main pressure came from chip stocks, after investors unwound some positions in the sector, which had surged more than 80% during the first half of 2026.
Micron was a major drag, with its shares falling 9%. Despite the sharp correction, Micron shares have still recorded a gain of about 250% since the beginning of the year. SanDisk also fell 10% after previously surging more than 850% in the first half of the year.
Other major chip stocks also weakened. Nvidia fell about 1%, while Broadcom fell about 2%. These movements indicate that investors are becoming more selective about stocks that have experienced significant gains due to the AI hype.
Although chip stocks weighed on the Nasdaq, several other major technology stocks helped limit the decline. Meta jumped nearly 10% after the company announced it would launch a cloud business and sell excess computing capacity. This move is seen as opening up new revenue streams from AI infrastructure.
Microsoft and Apple also strengthened, rising about 3% and 2%, respectively. The rise in these megacap stocks helped cushion further pressure on the technology index, despite weakening sentiment toward semiconductors.
Wednesday's movements came after Wall Street's major indexes closed the first half of 2026 with strong performances. The Dow rose 8.9% in the first six months of the year, posting its best first-half performance since 2021. The S&P 500 gained 9.6%, the Nasdaq gained 12.8%, while the Russell 2000 surged nearly 22%, posting its best first-half performance since 1991.
Investors are also closely monitoring Federal Reserve Chairman Kevin Warsh's comments at a European Central Bank conference in Portugal. Warsh offered no clear indication of policy direction at this month's meeting, but emphasized that prices remain too high and the Fed remains focused on bringing inflation back to its 2% target.
Overall, Wall Street was mixed after a strong first-half rally. The Dow continued to show strength, setting an intraday record, but pressure on chip stocks signaled that the market was beginning to rotate and profit from the AI sector, which had risen too quickly. (arl)
Source: Newsmaker.id
