US stock indices were mixed on Tuesday as renewed volatility in chipmakers offset strength in more traditional sectors. The S&P 500 was little changed, the Nasdaq 100 fell 1.5%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed nearly 200 points to a new record high.
Memory-chip producers dropped sharply, with Micron and SanDisk each losing about 7%, even as Samsung reported a 19-fold jump in quarterly profit. Those earnings were broadly consistent with the sector’s powerful rally this year, but the scale of the run-up has left markets increasingly skeptical that AI hyperscalers can sustain current levels of capital expenditure on infrastructure. In a similar vein, SpaceX slipped 1% following its addition to the Nasdaq 100.
By contrast, banks and pharmaceutical stocks advanced, with JPMorgan rising 1% and Johnson & Johnson gaining 3%, extending their strong momentum despite ongoing macroeconomic uncertainty. US Treasury yields edged higher after an attack on an LNG tanker in the Middle East dented optimism for a sustained easing in energy-driven inflation.
