Tech Sector Weakness Weighing On Wall Street

After an initial move to the upside, stocks have moved mostly lower over the course of the trading session on Tuesday. The Nasdaq and the S&P 500 have moved to the downside, although the narrower Dow is currently posting a modest gain.

Currently, the Nasdaq is down 251.70 points or 1.1 percent at 23,340.41 and the S&P 500 is down 33.98 points or 0.5 percent at 6,942.46.

The Dow, on the other hand, has given back ground after reaching a record intraday high but is currently up 60.72 points or 0.1 percent at 49,468.38.

The pullback on Wall Street largely reflects weakness among tech stocks, as reflected by the slump by the tech-heavy Nasdaq.

Software stocks are turning in some of the worst performances, dragging the Dow Jones U.S. Software Index down by 3.1 percent to its lowest intraday level in over nine months.

The weakness in the sector comes despite a surge by shares of Palantir Technologies (PLTR), which have shot up by 6.0 percent after the AI-powered software provider reported better than expected fourth quarter results and provided upbeat guidance.

Significant weakness is also visible among semiconductor stocks, as reflected by the 2.2 percent slump by the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index.

Shares of NXP Semiconductors (NXPI) have tumbled by 7.5 percent even though the Dutch chipmaker reported fourth quarter results that exceeded analyst estimates on the top and bottom lines.

On the other hand, housing stocks have shown a substantial move to the upside, driving the Philadelphia Housing Sector Index up by 3.8 percent.

Gold, steel and airline stocks are also seeing considerable strength on the day, helping to limit the downside for the broader markets.

Traders are also keeping an eye on developments in Washington, where the House is set to vote on a funding bill to end a partial government shutdown.

As a result of the shutdown, the Labor Department has delayed the release of this morning’s report on job openings as well as the more closely watched monthly jobs report originally due to be released on Friday.

In overseas trading, stock markets across the Asia-Pacific region moved notably higher during trading on Tuesday. Japan’s Nikkei 225 Index soared by 3.9 percent, while China’s Shanghai Composite Index surged by 1.3 percent.

Meanwhile, the major European markets have moved to the downside over the course of the session. The U.K.’s FTSE 100 Index is down by 0.6 percent, the French CAC 40 Index is down by 0.3 percent and the German DAX Index is down by 0.2 percent.

In the bond market, treasuries have bounced back near the unchanged line after seeing early weakness. Currently, the yield on the benchmark ten-year note, which moves opposite of its price, is up by less than a basis point at 4.282 percent.

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