Nasdaq Falls for Fifth Straight Session as Micron Drops 6.69%

U.S. stocks closed lower on June 26 as investors continued taking profits in technology shares, though bargain hunting kept the declines from widening.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 44.51 points, or 0.09%, to 51,876.11. The S&P 500 slipped 3.47 points, or 0.05%, to 7,354.02. The tech-heavy Nasdaq Composite dropped 60.99 points, or 0.24%, to 25,297.62.

The Nasdaq fell for a fifth straight session.

Memory-chip stocks led the decline. Micron Technology, which had surged a day earlier on strong earnings, tumbled as concerns grew that rising memory-chip prices could weaken demand from downstream industries. Apple underscored those concerns by raising prices on major products. Micron fell 6.69%, while the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index dropped about 5.3%.

News that ChatGPT developer OpenAI is considering delaying its initial public offering until next year also weighed on sentiment toward technology stocks.

Oil prices sank as supply shortage concerns eased amid increased traffic through the Strait of Hormuz and the resumption of shipments from Saudi Arabia. Front-month West Texas Intermediate crude futures on the New York Mercantile Exchange fell 3.74% to $69.23 a barrel.

Treasury yields also declined. The yield on the 10-year U.S. Treasury note fell 2 basis points to 4.37%. CME Group's FedWatch tool showed a 29.9% probability of a 25-basis-point rate increase at the Federal Open Market Committee's July meeting and a 47.2% probability of a quarter-point increase at its September meeting.

Gold prices rose. Spot gold gained 1.1% to $4,071.81 an ounce.

Bitcoin rose 0.7% to $59,755.62, while Ether gained 1.1% to $1,575.93. Both rebounded after extending earlier losses.