Wall Street experienced a rollercoaster ride on Tuesday, as a mix of market-relevant news sent major indices on a wild swing. While large-cap indices like the Dow Jones and S&P 500 dipped due to sharp declines in tech and energy stocks, small-caps outperformed, driven by gains in regional banks.
The day’s biggest headline was undoubtedly the dramatic plummet in ASML Holding NV (ASML) shares. The Dutch chipmaker’s stock nosedived over 16% after a technical error prematurely revealed its third-quarter earnings on the company’s website, a day before the scheduled release. The report, which was mistakenly published early, disclosed weaker-than-expected guidance for 2025, leading to the worst single-day drop in ASML stock since it went public in 2002. This unexpected revelation sent shockwaves across the semiconductor sector, with the iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) falling more than 4%, marking its worst performance since early September.
Key semiconductor players were hit hard by ASML’s collapse, with NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA) down 5% and Arm Holdings PLC-ADR (ARM) tumbling 7%. The energy sector also faced a challenging day, with oil prices plunging 5%, marking their worst trading day in over a year. The sell-off followed a Monday report from The Washington Post, revealing that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had assured the Biden administration that Israel would refrain from targeting Iranian oil and nuclear facilities in any retaliatory military actions.
However, the financial sector soared, reaching new all-time highs. Bank of America Corp. (BAC), Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (GS), and Charles Schwab Corp. (SCHW) all posted stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings, fueling the rally. Gains also extended to more economically sensitive regional banks, with the SPDR S&P Regional Banking ETF (KRE) jumping over 3%, boosting the broader Russell 2000 index by 1%.
In other markets, both the U.S. dollar and Treasury yields remained relatively steady, as there were no major updates on interest-rate expectations. Gold edged up by 0.6%, while Bitcoin (BTC/USD) continued its recent momentum, climbing 1.3% after a 5.1% surge on Monday.
Here’s how the major indices performed:
*
Russell 2000:
2,272.05 (+1.0%)*
Dow Jones:
42,942.79 (-0.3%)*
S&P 500:
5,842.20 (-0.3%)*
Nasdaq 100:
20,221.22 (-1.1%)Several other notable developments in the market included:
* The SPDR S&P 500 ETF Trust (SPY) fell 0.4% to $581.82.
* The SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average (DIA) dipped 0.3% to $429.46.
* The tech-heavy Invesco QQQ Trust Series (QQQ) dropped 1.1% to $491.72.
* The iShares Russell 2000 ETF (IWM) rose 1% to $222.52.
* The Financials Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLF) outperformed, gaining 1%.
* The Energy Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLE) lagged, declining 2.3%.
Airlines and cruise lines saw a rally in response to lower oil prices. American Airlines Group Inc. (AAL) rose 2.2%, United Airlines Holdings Inc. (UAL) gained 2.2%, Carnival Corp. (CCL) and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings Ltd. (NCLH) rallied 7.7% and 5.5%, respectively.
Charles Schwab rose 7.5% after reporting stronger-than-expected quarterly results. Other stocks reacting to earnings included UnitedHealth Group Inc. (UNH), down 7.4%; Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), up 1.8%; Bank of America Corp., up 1.9%; Goldman Sachs Group Inc., down 0.3%; Citigroup Inc. (C), down 4%; PNC Financial Services Group Inc. (PNC), up 4%; State Street Corp. (STT), up 0.6%; and Walgreens Boots Alliance Inc. (WBA), up 13%.
