NEW YORK, June 25, 2026, 16:13 (EDT)
- Dow finished up 71.72 points, or 0.14%, at 51,920.62. S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) eased 0.01%. Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) dropped 0.46%.
- Dow touched a 52-week high at 52,655.66 before closing 735.04 points off that level and 79.38 points shy of 52,000.
- Caterpillar Inc. NYSE:CAT climbed 6.34%, tacking on $63.04. With the 6.16 points-per-dollar Dow factor from Dow Jones Market Data via MarketWatch, that’s a move worth about 388 Dow points.
- Micron Technology Inc. NASDAQ:MU jumped 15.74%, and SanDisk Corp. NASDAQ:SNDK surged 21.97%. Apple Inc. NASDAQ:AAPL dropped 6.12%.
Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) picked up 71.72 points, or 0.14%, on Thursday, finishing at 51,920.62. That was well off its best level of the day, after hitting a 52-week high of 52,655.66. The S&P 500 (INDEXSP:.INX) edged down 0.70 point, less than 0.01%, to 7,357.52. Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) dropped 118.03 points, or 0.46%, ending at 25,358.60.
Dow fades after failing to stay above key level, swings 735 points from high to close The fade is in focus after the Dow opened at 52,009.02, hit 52,655.66, but ended below 52,000. Traders were watching to see if the index could hold above that mark after hours. The spread from the session high to close ended up at 735 points.
Caterpillar Inc. NYSE:CAT propped up the index more than the closing print let on. Caterpillar jumped $63.04, or 6.34%, to $1,057.49. According to Dow Jones Market Data via MarketWatch, every $1 move in Caterpillar equals about 6.16 points on the Dow, so CAT’s surge was roughly 388 points for the Dow.
Dow added 71.72 points, but that move covered a divide in the index. Stocks with ties to AI data-center spending climbed, while big tech sold off. MarketWatch noted Caterpillar, with its high price in the price-weighted Dow, got a lift from data-center demand and had a big impact on the index’s small gain.
Apple Inc. NASDAQ:AAPL sold off, dropping 6.12% to $275.15. That put it at the bottom of the S&P 500 mover list. The move weighed on the Dow in late trading, as the same big-cap names sent the Nasdaq down.
AI chip suppliers led gains. Micron Technology Inc. NASDAQ:MU added 15.74% at $1,213.56. SanDisk Corp. NASDAQ:SNDK was up 21.97%. Applied Materials Inc. NASDAQ:AMAT picked up 13.42%.
Micron posted fiscal Q3 revenue of $41.46 billion, a sharp jump from $9.30 billion last year. The company sees Q4 revenue coming in at $50.0 billion, give or take $1.0 billion. CEO Sanjay Mehrotra said Micron is “investing at record levels in technology, products and supply.” GlobeNewswire
Rally makes the AI story messy. Carol Schleif, chief investment officer at BMO Family Office, told Reuters the market now sees that one firm’s revenue is another’s expense. “For Micron’s profits,” she said, “it’s coming out of somebody else’s hide.” Reuters
Qualcomm Inc. NASDAQ:QCOM weighed in late Wednesday. The company put its data-center sales target at $15 billion for 2029, and said it wants $40 billion in chip revenue outside of smartphones by that year. “We will be truly diversified,” Chief Financial Officer Akash Palkhiwala told Reuters. Reuters
Microsoft Corp. NASDAQ:MSFT and Meta Platforms Inc. NASDAQ:META are set to use new AI chips from Qualcomm, according to Reuters. Qualcomm data-center chief Tony Pialis said hyperscale customers were “pulling us in,” but that comment did not address margin concerns for companies purchasing the chips. Reuters
The market felt some macro pressure. The Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis reported May PCE prices climbed 4.1% year over year, and core PCE went up 3.4%. Real GDP was up at a 2.1% annual rate in Q1, the BEA said in its third estimate.
