US STOCKS-Nasdaq underperforms S&P 500, Dow as AI growth worries hit tech stocks

Spotify Technology

28/04/2026 15:23

Indexes: Nasdaq down 0.79%, S&P 500 down 0.47%, Dow up 0.12%

Oracle, chip stocks fall after WSJ report on OpenAI

UPS falls after Q1 profit drops

General Motors slips after results

Coca-Cola rises after lifting annual forecast

UAE to leave OPEC

Updates after market open

By Niket Nishant and Utkarsh    Hathi

April 28 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq Composite fell on Tuesday, underperforming the benchmark S&P 500 and the blue-chip Dow, as investors questioned whether the artificial intelligence boom can deliver meaningful growth for tech stocks.

The Wall Street Journal reported that AI heavyweight OpenAI had missed internal targets for weekly users and revenue, raising concerns over the ChatGPT parent's ability to support its massive spending on data centers.

"That's putting pressure on the Nasdaq and on the S&P because tech and communication services make up about 40% of the benchmark," said Art Hogan, chief ​market strategist at B Riley Wealth.

"If OpenAI is seeing some degradation, that will shuffle the deck a bit in terms of what the leadership looks like."

Although the company is privately held, its fortunes are closely tied to several major technology stocks. Its financial performance is often viewed as a gauge of AI demand and could have wide-ranging implications for public equity markets.

Shares of Oracle ORCL.N, whose reliance on OpenAI for its cloud computing ambitions has been under scrutiny, fell 2.9%.

Chip stocks also dropped, with Nvidia NVDA.O, AMD AMD.O and Arm Holdings ARM.O down 2.4%, 3.5% and 6.3%, respectively. Nvidia-backed CoreWeave CRWV.O slid 2%.

"Any misstep involving AI-related demand or capital budget expenditures from one of the four Magnificent 7 companies reporting Wednesday could easily give this market second thoughts about how far it has run in the past month," wrote Dennis Follmer, chief investment officer at Montis Financial.

        The S&P 500 information technology sector .SPLRCT slipped 1.3%, the biggest laggard on the benchmark. Six of the eleven major S&P sectors were in the red.

At 09:59 a.m. ET, the Dow Jones Industrial Average .DJI rose 57.59 points, or 0.12%, to 49,225.38, the S&P 500 .SPX lost 33.41 points, or 0.47%, to 7,140.50 and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC lost 196.43 points, or 0.79%, to 24,690.67.

MIDDLE EAST STALEMATE WEIGHS ON SENTIMENT

The U.S.-Iran war remains an overhang on equities, shaping market sentiment even during the busiest week of the corporate earnings season this quarter. There are mounting concerns that the impasse in negotiations could keep oil prices elevated for longer.

A U.S. official said President Donald Trump was unhappy with the latest Iranian proposal ​on resolving the conflict in the Middle East, pouring cold water on hopes for a deal that had sent the S&P 500 .SPX, the Nasdaq 100 .NDX, and the Nasdaq Composite .IXIC to record highs in recent days.

        "While the U.S. is more strongly positioned to withstand an extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz, the global economy would struggle, and that will eventually ripple back to take a bite out of earnings and stock prices in the U.S.," wrote Follmer.

In a fresh blow to oil exporting countries, the United Arab Emirates said on Tuesday it was quitting the oil producers' group OPEC.

Oil prices are 53% higher than pre-war levels as the crucial shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz remains disrupted. Brent crude futures LCOc1 topped $110 a barrel for the first time in three weeks.

Meanwhile, investors are also scrutinizing earnings from a bunch of corporate giants on Tuesday.

United Parcel Service UPS.N dipped 5.7% premarket after the logistics firm reported a sharp drop in quarterly adjusted profit.

General Motors GM.N lifted its full-year earnings forecast on a resilient U.S. car market and an expected tariff refund. Shares of the automaker were down 3%.

Coca-Cola KO.N climbed 5.5% after the beverage giant lifted its annual adjusted profit forecast.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.49-to-1 ratio on the NYSE and by a 1.48-to-1 ratio on the Nasdaq.

The S&P 500 posted 3 new 52-week highs and 6 new lows while the Nasdaq Composite recorded 58 new highs and 47 new lows.

 (Reporting by Niket Nishant and Utkarsh Hathi in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)

 ((Niket.Nishant@thomsonreuters.com;))