Nasdaq, S&P end lower as tech stocks fall

By Abigail Summerville, Twesha Dikshit and Joel Jose

June ‌24 (Reuters) - The Nasdaq and ​S&P 500 ​closed lower on Wednesday, dragged by tech stocks on nagging concerns about high-flying valuations, but falling crude prices boosted airlines and other travel stocks and the Dow finished higher.

Oil prices fell to their lowest since the ‌start of the Iran war as more tankers were expected to move out of the Strait of ⁠Hormuz. U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran had told Washington that no tolls were being sought.

The S&P 500 passenger airlines index gained 5.2% while travel companies ‌Expedia Group and Booking Holdings both rose.

Tech ‌stocks slipped, intensifying the focus on chipmaker Micron Technology's earnings that landed after the bell. The stock has surged more than 200% in 2026 but closed on Wednesday down 0.3%. It jumped in extended trading after quarterly revenue and fourth ​quarter forecasts beat Wall Street estimates.

Cerebras Systems tumbled 19.6% after the chip designer forecast full-year profit margins would drop below first-quarter figures in its debut report after going public. Also weighing on the stock, OpenAI announced its own in-house inference chip called ⁠Jalapeño.

Concerns around debt-backed spending by hyperscalers and mounting fears of a more hawkish Federal Reserve have fueled the market downturn this week that has erased more than $1 trillion ​in market value from the Nasdaq 100.

"The Middle East conversation is wrapping up ... energy prices are coming off," said Michael Monaghan, partner and portfolio manager at Founder ETFs. "But you continue to have ​the AI CapEx buildout where, for some reason, people like the recipients ‌of the spend and have been punishing those doing the spending."

Six of the 11 major S&P 500 sectors moved higher, with the industrials sector rising the most at 1.2%. Consumer discretionary stocks also ⁠rose 0.8%, helping to offset the biggest losses in tech and energy stocks.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 182.06 points, or 0.35%, to 51,848.90, the S&P 500 lost 7.24 points, or 0.10%, to 7,358.22 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 110.40 points, or 0.43%, to 25,476.64.

Homebuilders soared after Trump canceled a planned signing of bipartisan legislation aimed at speeding up availability of affordable housing. ⁠Hovnanian Enterprises jumped 11.3%. PulteGroup surged 7.2% and Toll Brothers rose 6.7%.

Among other movers, Hertz sank 40.7% after the car-rental firm said it expects second-quarter ​adjusted core earnings near the lower end of its forecast range and announced a proposed offering of $100 million of common stock.

Traders are adding to bets of a second rate hike from the Fed by the end of December, according to CME Group's FedWatch tool. Previously, the market expected ‌a single 25-basis-point rise.

The closely watched Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index, the Fed's preferred inflation gauge, could offer insight on the monetary policy path on Thursday.

Declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.03-to-1 ratio ‌on the NYSE, which had 205 new highs and 226 new lows. On the Nasdaq, 2,323 stocks rose and 2,499 fell as declining issues outnumbered advancers by a 1.08-to-1 ratio.

The S&P ⁠500 posted 25 new 52-week highs and four new lows while the Nasdaq ‌Composite recorded 206 new highs and 177 new lows.

Volume on U.S. exchanges ​was 25.84 billion shares, compared with the 22.92 billion average for the full session over the last 20 trading days.

(Reporting by Abigail Summerville in New York, and Twesha Dikshit and Joel Jose in Bengaluru; Editing ‌by David Gregorio)

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