Stock market today: Dow, S&P 500, Nasdaq sink amid tech exodus on Wall Street

Google’s (GOOG) chip supplier Broadcom (AVGO) posted quarterly results after the bell that broadly beat Wall Street’s expectations as orders from leading AI developer Anthropic (ANTH.PVT) surged to $21 billion. But profitability concerns are driving the stock down, analysts said Friday.

Historically, most semiconductor makers operated like commodity businesses, as products were relatively undifferentiated, competition was intense, and profit margins were thin.

The emergence of AI chips changed that dynamic. A small number of companies — particularly Nvidia (NVDA) — control the market with highly specialized chips that are in exceptionally high demand and short supply, allowing them to command premium prices and earn unusually high margins.

But as more competitors enter the AI chip market and supply increases, some analysts worry that the economics could eventually start to resemble traditional semiconductor markets again, where chips behave more like commodities, companies’ pricing power weakens, and their profits decline.

“While all of these AI revenue figures are surging higher, the cost of this growth comes on margins…” wrote Deutsche Bank analyst Ross Seymore of Broadcom’s results in a note to clients Friday.

Broadcom guided for a gross margin of 76.9% for the current (January) quarter, which would mark a decline from 79% in the year-ago period. It would also be a step down from 77.9% in the fourth quarter and 78.3% in the third quarter — although these figures still represent extremely high profitability.

Particularly, investors are worried Broadcom’s additional $11 billion worth of orders from AI developer Anthropic for server racks equipped with Google’s TPUs will have lower margins due to high pass-through costs (Broadcom is passing its manufacturing costs for the TPUs directly to Anthropic, without adding any markup or earning a profit on the orders).

Wall Street remains bullish on Broadcom, overall.

BNB Paribas analyst Karl Ackerman called the profitability worries “shortsighted” as “Broadcom’s transition to becoming a systems supplier should unlock a much bigger content opportunity.”

Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon also maintained bullish sentiment on the stock despite the selloff, which he attributed to broader “AI stock angst.”

“The company’s AI story continues to not only overdeliver but is doing it at an accelerating rate,” he said.

Stocks turned lower in afternoon trading as a report that Oracle was delaying some of its data centers intensified angst about valuations tied to artificial intelligence.

The Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) led the losses, falling by 1.9%, as the tech-heavy index was dragged lower by declines in Oracle (ORCL) and chip stocks Nvidia (NVDA), Broadcom (AVGO), and AMD (AMD).

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI), which was positive earlier in the day, fell 0.6% while the S&P 500 (^GSPC) dropped 1.3%.

Adding to the pressure on tech stocks was a report from Bloomberg that Oracle pushed back the deadlines for some of its data centers for OpenAI (OPAI.PVT). People familiar with the matter said the data centers would be scheduled to be completed in 2028 instead of 2027 due to labor and material shortages.

Oracle stock plunged about 6% following the news. The stock is now roughly 45% off its September intraday high of $345.72.

Read more here.

The Financial Times reports:

Read more here (premium)

Rivian (RIVN) stock jumped 17% Friday, rebounding from a 6% drop Thursday following its first-ever Autonomy & AI Day, where it debuted the future of its tech stack.

Needham analyst Chris Pierce raised his price target on Rivian shares to $23 from $14 Friday in a note to clients, saying: “The event increased our confidence in RIVN’s positioning as software (and now AI) defined vehicles increasingly become industry table stakes…”

FYahoo Finance’s Pras Subramanian detailed Rivian’s announcements yesterday, writing:

Read the full story here.

Big Tech stocks sank across the board Friday as earnings results from Broadcom (AVGO) failed to meet high expectations and those from Oracle (ORCL) cast a spotlight on fears over the tech industry’s mounting AI costs and the payoff from that spending.

Broadcom (AVGO) shares dove 10% in intraday trading, while Meta (META) and Amazon (AMZN) sank over 1%. Others fell fractionally, save for Apple (AAPL), which was flat.

Oracle (ORCL) shares fell around 3.5% following a roughly 11% decline on Thursday.

Large cap tech stocks were on track for weekly losses.

AI chip giant Nvidia (NVDA) was set to shed 1.3%, while Google (GOOG) and Meta were eyeing declines of 3% and 4%, respectively. Broadcom and Oracle were on track for 6% and 12% drops.

Yahoo Finance’s Ines Ferré reports:

Read the full story here.

Gold (GC=F) reached a fresh record Friday, soaring to a high of $4,381 an ounce following the Federal Reserve’s interest rate cut yesterday.

Gold futures previously hit a high of $4,358 on Oct. 20.

The precious metal has surpassed its all-time high more than 50 times in 2025 and has been on pace for its best year since 1979.

Stocks traded mixed at the market open on Friday, as investors rotated out of riskier AI trade bets following quarterly reports from Broadcom (AVGO) and Oracle (ORCL).

The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite (^IXIC) fell roughly 0.3% after slumping on Thursday. The S&P 500 (^GSPC) nudged around 0.1% lower after ending above 6,900 for the first time.

Meanwhile, the Dow Jones Industrial Average (^DJI) was on track for a fresh record, inching up 0.2% after a nearly 650-point advance during the previous trading session.

The Dow and the S&P were set for weekly gains, while the Nasdaq eyed a fractional decline.

Two Federal Reserve officials who dissented at this week’s central bank policy meeting laid out their cases Friday for why they would have preferred to keep rates unchanged in the year’s final meeting this week.

Chicago Federal Reserve president Austan Goolsbee said Friday that his vote against the Federal Reserve’s decision to lower interest rates this week resulted from his preference to wait for more data on inflation before another cut.

“Waiting to take this matter up in the new year would not have entailed much additional risk and would have come with the added benefit of updated economic data which have been absent lately,” Goolsbee said in a statement.

Goolsbee added he remains “optimistic” that rates can come down a “significant amount” over the next year.

Read more here.

Cannabis stocks exploded higher on Friday after a report late Thursday that President Trump is considering reclassifying marijuana and easing restrictions on the industry.

Canada’s Tilray (TLRY) soared 35%, while Canopy Growth Corporation (CGC) gained 25%, Aurora Cannabis (ACB) surged 23%, and Cronos Group (CRON) added 13% in premarket trading.

The gain in Tilray’s shares is on track to nearly wipe out the company’s 36% year-to-date losses. The company’s stock was one of Yahoo Finance’s top trending tickers ahead of the open.

According to Bloomberg, Trump is weighing reclassifying marijuana from a Schedule I drug (which encompasses LSD and heroin) to a Schedule III drug. He has reportedly discussed this with industry executives, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services administrator Mehmet Oz.

Read more here.

Bloomberg reports:

Deutsche Bank AG (DB), Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS). and other Wall Street banks are forecasting that the US dollar (DX=F) will resume its slide next year as the Federal Reserve keeps nudging down interest rates.

The currency has stabilized over the past six months after tumbling by the most since the early 1970s during the first half of the year when President Donald Trump’s trade war unleashed havoc in global markets.

But strategists expect the greenback to weaken again in 2026 as the US central bank continues to ease monetary policy just as others hold steady or move closer toward raising rates. That rift would give investors an incentive to sell US debt and shift the cash to countries where payouts are higher.

As a result, forecasters at more than half a dozen major investment banks are largely predicting that the dollar will slip against major counterparts like the yen, euro and pound. According to the consensus estimates compiled by Bloomberg, a widely tracked index of the dollar will weaken some 3% by the end of 2026.

Read more here.

UBS (UBS) stock rose 3% before the bell on Friday after Swiss politicians proposed changing the rules and watering down the capital demands that Switzerland wants to impose on UBS. UBS shares reached a 17-year high after the news.

RH (RH) stock jumped 4% during premarket trading on Friday after reporting third quarter fiscal earnings and meeting Wall Street estimates for revenue. The home furnishings company has also benefited from a boom in the US rental market.

Warner Bros Discovery (WBD) stock rose 1% before the bell. The entertainment company is currently at the center of a battle between both Netflix (NFLX) and Paramount Skydance (PSKY), who are bidding to take over the company.

Lululemon (LULU) stock popped almost 10% in premarket trading after the Canada-based apparel retailer posted an earnings beat and upbeat full-year profit forecast.

“As we enter the holiday season, we are encouraged by our early performance,” Lululemon CEO Calvin McDonald said, noting that the company continues to make progress in its turnaround plan and expects to see more results in 2026.

McDonald plans to step down from his role and from the company’s board on Jan. 31, Lululemon also announced on Thursday. He will continue as a senior adviser through March 31, with CFO Meghan Frank and its CCO André Maestrini to serve as interim co-CEOs.

In the company’s third quarter, diluted profits rose to $2.59 per share, exceeding expectations for adjusted earnings of $2.22 per share, according to S&P Global Market Intelligence.

Revenue increased 7% year over year to $2.6 billion, topping estimates of $2.47 billion. Higher revenue was driven by international sales, which climbed 18% on a comparable basis. Same-store sales in the Americas declined 5%.

For the fourth quarter, Lululemon guided for net revenue in the range of $3.5 billion to $3.58 billion, in line with the Wall Street consensus estimate of $3.56 billion.

For the full year, the company forecast net revenue to be between $10.96 billion and $11 billion, representing 4% growth. The Street is expecting full-year revenue of $10.96 billion.

Lululemon’s anticipated full-year earnings also came in ahead of expectations, with diluted earnings per share expected in a range of $12.92 to $13.02 for the year. The Street guided for adjusted earnings of $12.86 per share.

Bloomberg reports:

Read more here.