Philadelphia Semiconductor Index snaps 9-day losing streak; Amazon jumps 4.98%, Tesla up 3.76%; S&P 500 gains 0.41%, Dow edges down 0.07%; CoreWeave falls despite rating upgrade.
U.S. equities turned in a mixed performance on October 19 (local time), with gains in semiconductor and mega-cap internet shares propelling the Nasdaq higher, even as a significant portion of banking and pharmaceutical stocks declined. While technology names staged a rebound, the buying momentum failed to spread broadly across the market.
The Nasdaq Composite finished the session up 290.85 points, or 1.11%, at 26,430.89. The S&P 500 gained 31.29 points, or 0.41%, to close at 7,690.73, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 36.38 points, or 0.07%, to 51,966.03.
Semiconductor stocks broke out of their recent slump, with the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index rising 1.61% to finish at 11,316.34. The index rebounded after snapping a nine-session losing streak during which it tumbled roughly 15.7%. NVIDIA advanced 1.38%, Broadcom climbed 1.78%, and AMD gained 1.76%, while Micron Technology and Intel rose 2.96% and 2.43%, respectively.
Storage-related equities also posted robust gains. Western Digital surged 6.09%, SanDisk added 5.53%, and Seagate Technology advanced 3.41%. In the software sector, Palantir Technologies moved up 4.37%.
Among mega-cap tech stocks, Amazon jumped 4.98% after Morgan Stanley designated the e-commerce giant as a top pick. Tesla rose 3.76%, Microsoft gained 0.84%, and Alphabet ticked up 1.05%, whereas Apple slipped 0.15% and Meta Platforms lost 0.55%.
Banking shares experienced a synchronized downturn. JPMorgan Chase fell 1.82%, Bank of America dropped 1.64%, and Wells Fargo and Citigroup retreated 2.47% and 2.07%, respectively. In pharmaceuticals, Eli Lilly declined 1.33%, Merck & Co. dropped 1.59%, and Amgen fell 1.75%. Conversely, UnitedHealth Group rose 1.36%, highlighting divergence within the healthcare sector.
Despite the headline index gains, declining issues outnumbered advancing ones. On the New York Stock Exchange, decliners outpaced advancers by a ratio of roughly 1.69 to 1, and the Nasdaq saw a similar breadth deficit. Seven of the eleven primary S&P 500 sectors finished in negative territory.
Not all artificial intelligence-related shares participated in the rebound. AI cloud specialist CoreWeave closed down 0.44% at $61.12. Goldman Sachs upgraded the stock from 'neutral' to 'buy' during the session, but lowered its price target to $106 from $139. The stock had rallied more than 7% intraday before surrendering its gains.
The yield on the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury note settled at 5.135%, up 3.8 basis points (1 bp = 0.01 percentage point) from the previous session, according to Dow Jones Market Data.
Crude oil futures settled mixed. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude for December delivery, the front-month contract, fell 0.5% to settle at $98.54 a barrel, while Brent crude for December delivery lost 0.3% to $109.55 a barrel. Meanwhile, the expiring November WTI contract, which nears maturity on the 20th, rose 2.22% to $103.66 a barrel amid thinning trading volume.
