Wall Street ends lower as chip weakness offsets solid earnings, economic data

Wall Street ends lower as chip weakness offsets solid earnings, economic data

By Stephen Culp and Ragini Mathur

Thu July 16, 2026  

After four out of five straight sessions of gains, tech took another substantial dive today. You might call it profit-taking, you might call it more jitters over extended fighting in the war that has basically now nullified the truce. The Dow, boosted by a strong Q2 from United Health, had less dramatic losses.  But today all the good economic news, of which there was a good amount, and all the good Q2 was not quite enough to avoid the dive in tech.  

Or as today’s expert put it, “It comes strictly down to the weight of the chips in the S&P 500. Three or four years ago, it was 8%. Now it’s over 20%. If you look at the rest of the market, it’s doing fine.” The good economic news included solid retail sales, a drop in jobless claims, and a surge in manufacturing. Volume at 17.19 billion remains well below the 21.19 average. 

DJ: 52,658.64  +150.37       NAS: 26,269.23  +162.22        S&P: 7,572.40  +28.81         7/15

DJ: 52,552.97  -105.67        NAS: 25,881.95  -387.28         S&P: 7,533.77  -38.63           7/16

Thu 7-16-26 4:22 pm Wall Street ends lower as chip weakness offsets solid earnings, economic data | Reuters