A trader works on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.
NYSE
The S&P 500 pulled back on Wednesday as Micron Technology shares fell, with investors looking ahead to the release of chipmaker’s earnings after the bell.
The broad market index declined 0.3%, while the Nasdaq Composite slipped 0.8%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 202 points, or 0.4%.
Oil prices continued their decline Wednesday. International benchmark Brent crude futures lost 3% to around $74 per barrel, seeing its lowest level since before the U.S. and Israel first launched airstrikes against Iran at the end of February. U.S. West Texas Intermediate futures slid 3% to around $70 and had earlier hit its lowest level since early March.
Treasury yields fell as oil prices slid, with the 10-year note yield dropping below 4.5%.
Energy names took a hit as well. Shares of Exxon Mobil, Chevron and ConocoPhillips each declined more than 2%, while SLB dropped nearly 3%. The State Street Energy Select Sector SPDR ETF (XLE) moved lower by almost 2%.
Meanwhile, shares of Micron traded down 2%, while fellow memory stock Sandisk dropped more than 3%. The two tumbled 13% in the previous session. Other chip stocks such as Advanced Micro Devices also fell.
Micron will report its latest earnings after the market closes on Wednesday. Analysts polled by FactSet see earnings of $20.83 per share on revenue of $35.75 billion.
Wednesday’s moves come after a rout in the technology sector dragged the S&P 500 and tech-heavy Nasdaq lower on Tuesday. Investors sold off semiconductor-adjacent stocks in Tuesday’s session, with the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) ending the day 7% lower.
“The downside move in tech stocks is a healthy pullback, since many tech stocks have become overstretched,” said Rick Gardner, chief investment officer at RGA Investments. “The tech pullback suggests that investors are coming to the realization that earnings expectations for tech stocks are high, creating a more difficult bar to clear when earnings season re-starts in July, and we would characterize this pullback as a recalibration of expectations.”
Micron has had an astronomical run in 2026, with shares hitting a new all-time high on Monday and ending Tuesday at $1,051.77 per share. But Jay Woods, chief market strategist at Freedom Capital Markets, warned the stock could fall after the earnings report.
It might go “down to $1,000. That’s going to sound like a big drawdown, but it’s something that traders will be watching as it starts to get in line with this 20-day moving average,” he said.
Alphabet was a winner on Wednesday, with shares rising around 1% after S&P Global said Tuesday that the company will soon replace Verizon in the Dow.
