The Nasdaq 100 gained 0.21% on Tuesday while the Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq Composite and Russell 2000 all closed lower. Semiconductor and select technology names, including Applied Materials, Marvell and Meta, posted gains of 3% or more, decoupling from the broader market's modest declines.
The Nasdaq 100 closed Tuesday up 62.52 points, or 0.21%, at 30,339.33, the only gainer among the five major U.S. indices. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 132.03 points, or 0.26%, to 51,355.13, and the S&P 500 declined 12.85 points, or 0.17%, to 7,670.85. The Nasdaq Composite slipped 22.84 points, or 0.09%, to 26,797.54, while the Russell 2000 lost 0.35%, or 9.99 points, to 2,807.92, the weakest performance of the five.
Chip and technology shares stand out
Semiconductor equipment makers and chip designers led the day's gainers. Applied Materials rose 5.19% to $512.01, and Marvell Technology climbed 4.51% to $263.27. KLA rose 3.89% to $196.53, Arm Holdings gained 3.65% to $293.67 and ASML added 3.56% to $1,834.39, while Lam Research added 2.99% to $323.86.
Elsewhere, Lumentum gained 5.66% to $973.49 and Coherent rose 3.46% to $292.21. Meta advanced 3.26% to $738.96, and Bloom Energy rose $28.38 to $291.25. Those moves substantially outpaced the broader indices.
Two Nasdaq benchmarks tell different stories
Strength in a group of technology names did not translate into gains for both Nasdaq benchmarks. The Nasdaq 100 finished higher, while the broader Nasdaq Composite ended slightly lower. That distinction matters: there were pockets of aggressive buying, but the major-index results did not signal a broad move higher.
An index combines the performance of many companies at different weights, so strong gains in selected stocks can be offset by weakness elsewhere. For traders, the session is a reminder to check both the broader market and the individual stock being traded.
Technical picture stays neutral
The S&P 500 closed between its 100-hour and 200-hour moving averages of 7,667.20 and 7,676.00, in neutral territory. The Nasdaq sits in a similar neutral swing area between 26,676 and 26,856, having closed at 26,797.54. Technical analysis on both indices points to Wednesday as a potential deciding session after Tuesday's mixed moves.
Source: Investinglive
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