Chips Tank on Broadcom Woes



Stocks fell on Friday as investors digested a drop in semiconductor shares alongside weak data out of China.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 97.21 points to 26,009.56, as Intel and Apple lagged.

The S&P 500 was down 9.82 points at 2,881.82

The NASDAQ Composite sank 49.17 points to 7,787.96.

Even so, the major U.S. stock indexes posted solid gains in the previous session, adding to this month’s sharp rally. The Dow, S&P 500 and NASDAQ were all up more than 5% entering Friday’s session.

Chipmakers fell broadly after weak quarterly results from Broadcom. The chipmaker posted weaker-than-expected revenue for the previous quarter and cut its guidance for 2019, citing "broad-based" demand weakness and the U.S. crackdown on Huawei.

Other semiconductor stocks also fell. Micron Technology, Advanced Micro Technology and Applied Materials all traded down more than 1.5% lower. Dow member Intel dropped 1.9%.

Economically speaking, the U.S. Commerce Department reported that retail sales rose 0.5% in May, below the 0.6% gain expected by economists. However, April retail sales were revised higher. May sales were also up 0.5% when excluding auto, gas building materials and food.

Prices for the benchmark 10-year U.S. Treasury gained a bit, lowering yields to 2.09% from Thursday’s 2.10%. Treasury prices and yields move in opposite directions.

Oil prices advanced seven cents to $52.35 U.S. a barrel.

Gold prices gained $10.60 at $1,354.30 U.S. an ounce.