New York stock market falls for second straight day on weakness in bank and big tech shares; Nvidia slips 1.44% on report of China halting customs clearance

[Financial News]

The New York stock market declined for a second consecutive session on the 14th (local time).
Despite reporting stronger-than-expected earnings, shares of major banks such as Bank of America and Citigroup fell, and big tech stocks also declined across the board.
Even though quarterly results beat expectations, it became clear that meeting investors’ lofty expectations is difficult, fueling concern that the outlook is not bright for large technology stocks whose prices are already trading as if a “perfect scenario” is in place.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA), which had led the previous day’s decline, fared the best among the three major indexes this session.
The Dow slipped 42.36 points, or 0.09%, to close slightly lower at 49,149.63. Chevron Corporation (up 2.06%), Merck & Co., Inc. (up 2.54%), International Business Machines Corporation (IBM) (up 1.94%), Johnson & Johnson, and Verizon Communications Inc. (up 2.10%) each gained around 2%, helping to cushion the index.
Amazon.com Inc. fell 2.45%, Microsoft Corporation lost 2.40%, and Nvidia Corporation declined 1.44%, dragging on the index, but gains in Merck and others limited the overall drop.
By contrast, the S&P 500 Index and the Nasdaq Stock Market (Nasdaq) index posted steeper losses amid broad weakness in big tech.
The S&P 500 Index fell 37.14 points, or 0.53%, to 6,926.60, while the Nasdaq dropped 238.12 points, or 1.00%, to 23,471.75.
The Cboe Volatility Index (VIX), often called Wall Street’s “fear gauge,” jumped 0.77 points, or 4.82%, to 16.75.

Large Wall Street banks extended their declines.
Bank of America and Citigroup Inc., which both reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings, as well as Wells Fargo & Company, which missed market forecasts, all tumbled.
Bank of America plunged $2.06, or 3.78%, to close at $52.48, while Citigroup Inc. dropped $3.89, or 3.34%, to $112.41.
Wells Fargo & Company sank $4.31, or 4.61%, to finish at $89.25.
JPMorgan Chase & Co., the largest U.S. bank, which had already slumped 4.1% the previous day despite beating expectations with its quarterly results, fell another $3.03, or 0.97%, to close at $307.87.
All of these banks saw their share prices weaken as they failed to dispel investor concerns over rising expenses.
Except for JPMorgan Chase, the other banks are all components of the S&P 500 Index rather than the Dow, and thus appear to have contributed to the S&P 500’s decline.

While major banks are being weighed down by higher spending, investor anxiety is also mounting over big tech companies that are pouring astronomical sums into building Artificial Intelligence (AI) infrastructure.
Starting with Tesla, Inc.’s earnings release on the 28th, big tech firms are set to report their fourth-quarter results one after another. Although optimism is widespread that earnings will exceed expectations, the key question is how far they can surpass what investors are already pricing in. Unless the results are strong enough to decisively beat market forecasts, many expect they will not be sufficient to allay investor concerns about surging AI infrastructure spending.
On top of this, Nvidia Corporation extended its decline after reports that Chinese customs authorities have halted clearance of the Nvidia H200 GPU, which had been approved for export by the administration of Donald Trump.
Nvidia Corporation fell $2.67, or 1.44%, to close at $183.14.
Tesla, Inc. slid $8.00, or 1.79%, to $439.20, while Apple dipped $1.09, or 0.42%, to finish at $259.96.
Palantir Technologies also slipped $0.56, or 0.31%, to close at $178.40.
Alphabet Inc. paused its four-day streak of record highs, edging down $0.12, or 0.04%, to a slightly lower close of $336.31.

dympna@fnnews.com Song Kyung-jae Reporter