Most of the S&P 500 was holding up well on Tuesday, but chip stocks were dragging the index down in the wake of ASML Holdings’ surprise earnings report.
The market benchmark was down 0.4%, but 351 of the stocks in the index were rising. The Invesco S&P 500 Equal Weight ETF, which is influenced evenly by every stock in the S&P 500, was up 0.3%. The Nasdaq Composite was down 0.8% despite 55% of its stock rising.
Then there were chip stocks. The iShares Semiconductor ETF was down 3.9%. KLA was the worst stock in the S&P, down 9.8%. Applied Materials was down 8.4%. Lam Research was down 7.4%. Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices were down 5% and 4.4%, respectively.
ASML Holding, which triggered the chip stock selloff with its quarterly report that came out a day early, was down more than 15%. The firm’s results impacted the sector because they make extreme ultraviolet (EUV) lithography machines used by manufacturers of advanced semiconductors.
The Dow was down for a different reason. The blue-chip index fell 143 points, or 0.3%, because its largest stock, UnitedHealth Group, was down 7.2%.