US STOCKS-S&P 500 ends down as chip stocks give up gains

The S&P 500 ended lower on Thursday, with ‌Intel ​and other chip stocks retreating after a recent rally, while uncertainty around U.S.-Iran peace talks weighed on the wider market. U.S.-listed shares of Arm Holdings tumbled as worries about the company's ability to secure sufficient supplies for its new AI chip overshadowed a strong ‌earnings forecast.

The S&P 500 ended lower on Thursday, with ‌Intel ​and other chip stocks retreating after a recent rally, while uncertainty around U.S.-Iran peace talks weighed on the wider market.

U.S.-listed shares of Arm Holdings tumbled as worries about the company's ability to secure sufficient supplies for its new AI chip overshadowed a strong ‌earnings forecast. Intel and Advanced Micro Devices both declined about 3%, giving back some of their gains from earlier this week.

The PHLX chip index dropped 2.7%, trimming its gain so far this quarter to 47%. The United States and Iran were edging toward a temporary agreement to halt their war, sources and officials said, with Tehran reviewing a proposal that would stop the fighting but leave ‌the most contentious issues unresolved.

"You can have a string of days like this, and that's not going to take away from the fact that this has been ‌a rip-roaring quarter of recovery, driven by fundamentals," said Mike Dickson, head of portfolio management at Horizon Investments in Charlotte, North Carolina. Oil prices edged lower, trading around $100 per barrel.

Nvidia and Microsoft both climbed almost 2%, underscoring investor confidence in Wall Street's heavyweight AI companies. The S&P 500 declined 0.38% to end the session at 7,337.11 points.

The Nasdaq declined 0.13% to 25,806.20 points, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average declined 0.63% to 49,596.97 points. Nine of the 11 ⁠S&P 500 ​sector indexes declined, led lower by materials, down ⁠1.83%, followed by a 1.78% loss in energy.

Volume on U.S. exchanges was heavy, with 18.3 billion shares traded, compared to an average of 17.5 billion shares over the previous 20 sessions. A relentless rally in technology and ⁠AI shares has helped push U.S. stocks to record highs in recent days as investors cheer signs of strong demand for artificial intelligence and a robust earnings season. S&P 500 companies are on track ​for their strongest profit growth in more than four years.

Upbeat economic readings in recent weeks have also helped allay concerns about the economy. With Thursday's decline, the ⁠S&P 500 remains up 7% in 2026.

Data showed the number of Americans filing claims for unemployment benefits rose less than expected last week. After a strong private payrolls report on Wednesday, investors are awaiting more comprehensive nonfarm payrolls ⁠data on ​Friday, with jobs seen increasing by 62,000 in April after rebounding 178,000 in March, according to a Reuters poll of economists.

Traders continued to bet the U.S. Federal Reserve would hold interest rates steady through the end of the year due to a resilient labor market and elevated energy prices. Cleveland Fed President Beth Hammack said she expects the central ⁠bank to hold interest rates steady well into the future as it navigates a climate of considerable uncertainty.

Datadog soared 31% after the cloud-monitoring company raised its full-year earnings ⁠forecast. Cybersecurity companies CrowdStrike jumped 8% and Palo ⁠Alto Networks added 7%. Whirlpool slumped 12% after the home-appliance maker missed first-quarter sales estimates and suspended its dividend.

Declining stocks outnumbered rising ones within the S&P 500 by a 1.8-to-one ratio. The S&P 500 posted 18 new highs and 11 new lows; the Nasdaq recorded 132 new ‌highs and 89 new ‌lows.