S&P 500 and Nasdaq close lower for a fourth straight day as Nvidia shares slide: Live updates

The S&P 500 dropped for a fourth consecutive session on Wednesday, as Nvidia and other struggling technology names put downward pressure on the market.

The broad index lost 0.58% to 5,022.21, while the technology-heavy Nasdaq Composite slid 1.15% to 15,683.37. The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell by 45.66 points, or 0.12%, to 37,753.31, despite rising nearly 238 points at its high of the day.

Wednesday marks the third straight session when stocks opened higher but faded as the day wore on. With the retreat, it was the Dow’s seventh negative session of the last 8. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite both notched four-day losing streaks, the longest for each since periods ending in early January.

Stocks felt pressure in afternoon trading as artificial intelligence darling Nvidia swung to losses. The mega-cap technology stock fell nearly 4%, joining fellow big tech names including Netflix, Meta, Apple and Microsoft in the red. Tech was the worst-performing S&P 500 sector, falling 1.7%.

Investors are “trimming some of the high fliers,” said Kevin Gordon, senior investment strategist at Charles Schwab. “I think investors are really starting to catch on to the fact that there are other parts of the market that are doing well.”

That overshadowed the strong start to the new earnings season. While less than 10% of S&P 500-listed companies have reported financials so far, more than 3 out of every 4 have surpassed Wall Street expectations, per FactSet.

Notably, United Airlines surged more than 17% after posting a narrower-than-expected loss and beating on revenue. On the other hand, J.B. Hunt Transport Services dropped more than 8% after missing analysts’ expectations on the top and bottom lines.

Wednesday’s performance comes amid a bout of weakness that has marked a reprieve from the strong gains seen in the first quarter and in 2023. The Dow has slid more than 5% in April, while the S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite have tumbled more than 4%.

“This is a more cautionary market,” said Larry Tentarelli, chief technical strategist at the Blue Chip Daily Trend Report. “I’m more cautious right now than I have been over the past five months.”