The New York Stock Exchange [UPI]
The New York Stock Exchange [UPI]

US stocks closed slightly lower Wednesday as a sharp jump in crude oil prices stoked fears of renewed inflation, while investors held back ahead of earnings reports from Tesla, Alphabet and other major companies.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average edged down 6.06 points, or 0.01 percent, to close at 52,218.58. The S&P 500 fell 10.24 points, or 0.14 percent, to 7,498.96, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 146.30 points, or 0.57 percent, to 25,690.90.

SK Hynix's American depositary receipts fell 3.88 percent, weighed down by rising oil prices as the United States carried out airstrikes against Iran for an 11th consecutive day.

Brent crude settled at $94.07 per barrel, up 3.36 percent, while West Texas Intermediate rose 2.95 percent to $86.83 per barrel.

Among top technology stocks by market capitalization, Apple fell 0.56 percent, with Microsoft down 1.86 percent, Amazon down 1.09 percent, Google parent Alphabet down 1.46 percent, Facebook parent Meta down 2.58 percent, SpaceX down 6.70 percent, Tesla down 1.30 percent, SK Hynix down 3.88 percent and Micron down 1.17 percent. Nvidia, Broadcom and SanDisk bucked the trend, gaining 2.30 percent, 2.67 percent and 0.62 percent, respectively.

Market participants moved cautiously as several major technology companies were set to release second-quarter earnings shortly after the closing bell. Alphabet and Tesla drew particular attention, with investors watching whether their results would show that heavy AI investment and large-scale capital expenditure — which had fueled an overheating debate in recent months — could prove profitable.

After the market closed, Alphabet reported second-quarter sales of $119.8 billion, topping market expectations. Cash flow, however, turned negative as a result of AI infrastructure investment.

Tesla also beat sales forecasts for the same period, but its earnings per share came in well below estimates. Surging investment in its robotaxi autonomous ride-sharing service and AI infrastructure pushed free cash flow to negative $1.09 billion, swinging to a deficit.


sjy@heraldcorp.com