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

The S&P 500 remained flat on Thursday, with tech stocks experiencing losses due to disappointing performances from Western Digital and Sandisk despite their strong quarterly revenue forecasts.

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 lost 18.5% and memory chip maker Sandisk 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 and AMD ‌lower and the Philadelphia chips index down 1.5%. Another point of weakness was software stocks, with Atlassian, Salesforce, Adobe and Zscaler all down sharply following earnings reports from a few companies ‌in the sector.

AppLovin dropped 17.4% as the marketing platform missed Wall Street estimates for quarterly revenue, while Datadog 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, consumer staples and healthcare were leading gains.

Parker-Hannifin rose 8.5% as the motion and control tech firm forecast full-year ⁠profit above estimates, ​while lithium miner Albemarle rose 6.7% after beating quarterly ⁠profit estimates. Megacap stocks were mostly higher, with Microsoft and Amazon up around 1% each.

SpaceX 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 and the blue-chip Dow reclaim record highs earlier ​this week.

The Nasdaq 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 rose 44.19 points, or 0.08%, to 54,393.31, the S&P 500 gained 5.82 points, or 0.08%, to 7,729.37 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 14.59 points, or 0.05%, to 26,350.26.

Brent crude prices ⁠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.