US stocks finished lower on Thursday as weakness in the semiconductor sector and rising geopolitical tensions outweighed otherwise solid corporate earnings. The S&P 500 declined 0.5%, the Nasdaq 100 slid 1.5%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eased 0.2%.
Mounting doubts about whether current valuations for AI-focused chipmakers can still be justified by the market’s extremely bullish growth assumptions weighed heavily on the sector. Micron Technology and AMD each dropped more than 5%. SanDisk sank over 12%, Broadcom lost about 5%, and US-listed shares of SK Hynix plunged more than 13%.
The selling extended across mega-cap technology stocks. Alphabet fell more than 4% following reports that it had delayed the rollout of its most advanced AI model, Gemini 3.5 Pro. Meta Platforms, Nvidia, and Amazon also ended the session in negative territory.
On the earnings front, UnitedHealth beat profit forecasts and issued a stronger-than-expected outlook for 2026 earnings. Netflix reported quarterly revenue of $12.56 billion, up 13% from a year earlier but slightly below Wall Street estimates.
