Wall Street closes lower Thursday as a chip selloff drags the Nasdaq down 1.5%

The main U.S. stock indices closed lower on Thursday, July 16, 2026, as a selloff in semiconductor shares outweighed a run of strong quarterly earnings. The Nasdaq Composite fell 1.47% to 25,881.95, the S&P 500 slipped 0.51% to 7,533.77, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 0.20% (105.67 points) to close at 52,552.97.

The pressure came mainly from technology stocks: a roughly 4.4% drop in Alphabet shares after a report that its Gemini AI model launch had been delayed, together with broader weakness in chipmakers, turned the market red. The decline came even as U.S. banks and healthcare companies reported better-than-expected quarterly profits.