NEW YORK — U.S. stocks fell across the board after reports that China is accelerating its push to catch up in memory chip technology.
The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed at 51,670.10 on the 13th, down 180.45 points, or 0.35%, from the previous session. The Standard & Poor's 500 ended at 7,805.45, down 1.79 points, or 0.02%, while the Nasdaq Composite finished at 27,204.38, down 41.52 points, or 0.15%. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index slipped 0.23%.
Among the largest companies by market value, Amazon lost 0.37%, SpaceX fell 4.21%, Tesla declined 0.74%, SK hynix dropped 3.19% and Micron Technology shed 3.62%. Nvidia bucked the trend with a 0.97% gain, along with Apple, up 0.09%, Microsoft, up 0.43%, Google parent Alphabet, up 0.30%, TSMC, up 0.17%, Facebook parent Meta Platforms, up 2.63%, and Broadcom, up 0.73%.
Sentiment was weighed down by China's ChangXin Memory Technologies, which recently said it had made fresh progress in DRAM technology and plans to unveil next-generation server products using it within the year. Memory chipmakers including SK hynix and Micron fell more than 3%, a sign that unease over China's advance remains in the market.
Third-quarter results from the big banks that kicked off earnings season drew mixed reviews. Goldman Sachs said net profit rose 72% from a year earlier on stronger trading revenue, yet its shares fell 0.23%. Wells Fargo tumbled 3.10% after quarterly revenue of $21.87 billion came in below market expectations of $22.3 billion. JPMorgan Chase slid 0.86% as net profit of $15.3 billion fell short of the $16.3 billion analysts had forecast.
New York Federal Reserve Bank President John Williams helped limit further losses by striking a cautious note on rate increases. "I maintain the view that one additional rate increase this year is appropriate," Williams said in an interview with Bloomberg. "At this point I see no reason to think we need to raise rates further next year."
Oil prices ended mixed as expectations of expanded supply from a U.S.-Russia diesel agreement collided with rising geopolitical tension in the Middle East. Brent crude for December delivery settled at $105.69 a barrel on the ICE Futures Exchange in London, down 0.90% from the previous session. West Texas Intermediate for November delivery closed at $94.14 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange, up 0.43%.
Reuters reported that the Russian diesel supply agreement announced by U.S. President Donald Trump on the 9th was an attempt to draw Russia to the negotiating table over the war in Ukraine. Working in the opposite direction, a Saudi-led coalition carried out air strikes on oil facilities and military support sites in Sanaa, the Yemeni capital held by the pro-Iran Houthi rebels, and elsewhere, putting upward pressure on prices.
