S&P 500 Ends Flat, While Nasdaq Drops As Memory Chipmakers Sell Off — BAC, GME, SPCX, ARM, QCOM In Focus

• The S&P 500 ended Tuesday flat, the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4%.
• U.S. regulators fined Bank of America Corp. more than $1.21 billion for money laundering and sanctions violations.
• Memory stocks were under pressure amid China’s CXMT plans to release a new, more powerful chip.

The S&P 500 ended flat while the Nasdaq 100 and the Dow Jones fell on Tuesday, pulled down by weakness in memory chip stocks and a mixed set of banking results.

The S&P 500 ended Tuesday flat, the Nasdaq 100 fell 0.3%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 0.4%. The Russell 2000, which tracks small-cap stocks, ended 0.4% lower.

Dow Jones Industrial Average futures fell by 32 points, or 0.06%. S&P 500 futures and Nasdaq-100 futures dipped 0.03% and 0.06%, respectively. 

The SPDR S&P 500 ETF (SPY) was flat, the SPDR Dow Jones Industrial Average ETF (DIA) eased 0.3%, and the Nasdaq-100 tracking Invesco QQQ Trust (QQQ) eased 0.4%. 

Meanwhile, the VanEck Semiconductor ETF (SMH) fell 0.1% as weakness in Micron Tech (MU) outpowered gains in Nvidia (NVDA) and Broadcom (AVGO). The broader Vanguard Information Technology ETF (VGT) rose 0.1%.

The Roundhill Memory ETF (DRAM) fell about 5% on Tuesday with most memory chip stocks in the red. This week, China’s CXMT said it plans to release a new, more powerful chip by year-end. 

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits for QQQ, SPY, and DIA was ‘bullish’ with ‘high’ message volumes.

US Market Drivers

JPMorgan Chase fell short of Wall Street estimates for third-quarter profit and top-line figures, though the lender upgraded its full-year net interest income projections for 2026. Its stock dropped 0.9% by the close. Wells Fargo fell 3% after mixed quarterly results, while Goldman Sachs slipped 0.2% despite revenue that topped market forecasts.

“These banks still reported strong numbers, it’s just that expectations were high, and higher expectations is a risk for companies across the board during this current earnings season,” Rebecca Walser, chief investment officer at Walser Wealth Management, told CNBC.

Meanwhile, Fed Bank of New York President John Williams told Bloomberg he still sees one more hike as appropriate this year, but doesn’t think rates will need to rise again in 2027, helping headline markets recover slightly from session lows. 

“I haven’t changed my view that it may be appropriate to have one more rate hike,” Williams told Bloomberg News. “I don’t think at this time I have any reason to believe that we would need to do more” after that. 

Going forward, focus will shift to Wednesday morning’s release of the September consumer price index to gauge the future pace of interest rates and whether a rate hike is needed toward the end of this year. A Dow Jones survey of economists projects annual inflation to accelerate to 3.6%, up from 3.4% in August.

Bank earnings action will continue on Wednesday morning with results from banking giants Bank of America and Morgan Stanley, alongside financial updates from Dutch chip-equipment maker ASML.

Key Trending Stocks

Federal financial regulators have ordered Bank of America Corp. (BAC) to pay more than $1.2 billion in civil penalties after widespread, systemic failures in its anti-money laundering (AML) and sanctions compliance programs. 

GameStop (GME) shares edged 3% higher after hours on Tuesday after CEO Ryan Cohen purchased 844,130 shares of the company’s Class A common stock in open-market transactions. 

Clear Street on Tuesday reiterated a ‘Buy’ rating and $115 price target on AST SpaceMobile (ASTS), arguing that near-term launch constraints are widely recognized while the market may be underestimating risks facing rival SpaceX (SPCX). 

A federal jury in Delaware has reached a verdict in the multi-pronged legal dispute between Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM) and Arm Holdings (ARM), concluding a trial that directly touched upon semiconductor intellectual property licensing. 

Federal regulators announced Tuesday that they are reviewing a SpaceX proposal to significantly expand operations at its Starbase facility in South Texas, a plan that would ultimately allow the company to conduct hundreds of launches and landings each year. 

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