US STOCKS-S&P 500 flat as chip, software weakness offsets broader gains

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06/08/2026 15:08

Western Digital, Sandisk slide despite upbeat forecasts
AppLovin down after Q2 revenue misses estimates
Indexes: Dow up 0.08%, S&P up 0.08%, Nasdaq down 0.05%
Updates for market open
By Johann M Cherian and Shashwat Chauhan
Aug 6 (Reuters) - The S&P 500 was flat in volatile trading on Thursday, with tech stocks down as Western Digital and Sandisk's strong forecasts failed to impress, countering gains across other sectors.
Data storage company Western Digital WDC.O lost 18.5% and memory chip maker Sandisk SNDK.O dropped 11.3% in early trading, after having shot up 200% and 400% this year. Both companies forecast quarterly revenue above expectations, betting on strong AI-driven demand.
"There are just incredible expectations and chips have done so well this year through June so there's just some digestion going on in the market," said Hank Smith, director and head of investment strategy at Haverford Trust. 
The sector was broadly under pressure, with shares of Intel INTC.O and AMD AMD.O lower and the Philadelphia chips index .SOX down 1.5%. 
Another point of weakness was software stocks, with Atlassian TEAM.O, Salesforce CRM.N, Adobe ADBE.O and Zscaler ZS.O all down sharply following earnings reports from a few companies in the sector.
AppLovin APP.O dropped 17.4% as the marketing platform missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue, while Datadog DDOG.O lost 16.7% after the cloud security firm said it expects revenue growth to slow in the third quarter. 
The rest of the market, meanwhile, was mostly higher, with nine of the 11 S&P sectors trading up. Energy .SPNY, consumer staples .SPLRCS and healthcare .SPXHC were leading gains. 
Parker-Hannifin PH.N rose 8.5% as the motion and control tech firm forecast full-year profit above estimates, while lithium miner Albemarle ALB.N rose 6.7% after beating quarterly profit estimates. 
Megacap stocks were mostly higher, with Microsoft MSFT.O and Amazon AMZN.O up around 1% each.  
SpaceX SPCX.O rose 2% ahead of the space conglomerate's first post-IPO share lockup expiry. The broader AI-linked group of stocks showed signs of cooling from a rally. 
Strong earnings from tech leaders this reporting season have restored investor confidence that AI investments were being monetized, which helped the benchmark S&P 500 .SPX and the blue-chip Dow .DJI reclaim record highs earlier this week.
The Nasdaq .IXIC is about 3% away from an all-time high, bouncing off last week's lows, which saw the index coming close to confirming a correction.
At 9:37 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 44.19 points, or 0.08%, to 54,393.31, the S&P 500 .SPX gained 5.82 points, or 0.08%, to 7,729.37 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 14.59 points, or 0.05%, to 26,350.26. 
Brent crude prices LCOc1 traded in a tight range near $80 a barrel as markets were keen on any signs of a deal between Iran and the United States. A proposed deal between Iran and Oman would give Tehran control over ships entering the Gulf through the Strait of Hormuz, sources told Reuters.
Meanwhile, data showed the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits increased slightly last week. This comes ahead of nonfarm payrolls figures for July due on Friday.
Friday's jobs report could be key in assessing the Federal Reserve's future interest rate path, as data points have garnered more attention since new Chairman Kevin Warsh has dialed back any forward guidance. 
Advancing issues outnumbered decliners by a 1.07-to-1 ratio on the NYSE, while declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.39-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.
The S&P 500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and two new lows, while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 72 new highs and 30 new lows.

 (Reporting by Johann M Cherian and Shashwat Chauhan in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath and Maju Samuel)
 ((johann.mcherian@thomsonreuters.com))