US Close: Nasdaq Sinks 2.2% as Asia Memory-Chip Rout Hits Semis, Defensives Hold
US stocks fell on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, as a selloff in memory and AI-chip shares that began in Asia reached Wall Street. The Nasdaq Composite dropped 2.21% to 25,587, the S&P 500 fell 1.44% to 7,365, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average held near flat, down 0.09% to 51,667. The CBOE Volatility Index jumped 12.79% to 19.49. Beneath the index losses, about 60% of S&P 500 members still rose, so the decline concentrated in the largest technology names rather than spreading across the market.
What drove the move
The trigger came from Asia, where South Korea's Kospi fell 9.99% and tripped a circuit breaker after overseas investors sold chipmakers on signals that the sector's rally had run too far. That selling reached US memory and semiconductor names at the open. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 7.87%. Micron MU.US dropped 13.18% ahead of its results on Wednesday, SanDisk SNDK.US fell 13.64%, Western Digital WDC.US lost 8.45% and Marvell MRVL.US fell 9.36%. Nvidia NVDA.US slipped 4.13% and Broadcom AVGO.US fell 3.06% after its strong results last week failed to lift sentiment further. A Bank of America note warning on the risk of Federal Reserve rate increases added to the caution.
How the session unfolded
The S&P 500 gapped lower at the open, near 7,366, absorbing the overnight selling. It tried to recover through the morning and reached 7,424 at the day's high, but the bounce faded and the index settled near the lower part of its range at 7,365. The close held above the pre-market futures lows, where Nasdaq 100 futures had been down 2.74% before the bell, so the session avoided the worst of the overnight move. The US 10-year Treasury yield edged down to 4.49% as money moved into government bonds, and the US Dollar Index firmed 0.34% to 101.37.
Sector scorecard
Seven of eleven S&P 500 sectors closed higher as investors moved toward defensive and value groups. Consumer staples led with a 1.79% gain, followed by health care at 1.29%, energy at 0.57%, utilities at 0.55% and financials at 0.16%. The losses sat in the growth and cyclical corners: information technology fell about 3.5%, materials dropped 2.88%, industrials lost 1.51% and consumer discretionary fell 0.90%. Because technology carries roughly a third of the index by weight, its drop outweighed the gains across the other sectors and pulled the S&P 500 lower despite the positive breadth.
Top movers
Quantum-computing shares led the gainers. Quantinuum QNT.US rose 13.46% to $77.46 after Hewlett Packard Enterprise named it a partner in a hybrid quantum and high-performance computing effort alongside Intel and Rigetti, and after the White House signed two executive orders backing the technology. Infleqtion INFQ.US climbed 12.32% to $15.96 on the same theme. In healthcare, uniQure QURE.US added 10.48% to $49.04, extending gains after the FDA backed a path to file its Huntington's disease gene therapy on three-year trial data, and Viking Therapeutics VKTX.US rose 7.54% to $34.81. Varonis VRNS.US gained 7.09% to $35.03 after Bloomberg reported the data-security firm is exploring a sale.
On the downside, AMC Entertainment AMC.US fell 24.64% to $2.08 after announcing a $200 million share sale priced at $2.10, a 24% discount and its second equity raise in under two weeks. Primoris Services PRIM.US dropped 21.59% to $84.95, extending losses after a guidance cut, the departure of its operating chief and a KeyBanc downgrade. Fluence Energy FLNC.US fell 15.80% to $21.21 after downgrades from Mizuho and Johnson Rice. Chip-materials supplier AXT AXTI.US lost 15.72% to $77.91 and Applied Optoelectronics AAOI.US fell 13.89% to $147.44, the latter after a new share offering and a soft margin outlook.
After-hours earnings
Two reports after the close fit the day's pattern of strong results meeting cautious reactions. FedEx FDX.US, which closed the regular session down 3.51%, reported revenue of about $25 billion, up 12.5% from a year earlier, and adjusted earnings of $6.31 a share, both above estimates, in its first report since spinning off its freight business. Shares slipped a further 3% to 4% after the bell as revenue growth slowed from recent quarters. Cerebras Systems CBRS.US, the AI-chip maker that listed in May, grew revenue 94% to $193 million and beat estimates, but guidance pointing to slower growth sent the stock down about 3% after it had finished the regular day up 1.02%.
What to watch next (ET)
Micron reports on Wednesday and will set the tone for memory chips after Tuesday's selloff. Traders will also watch for any follow-through from the Asia session and further Federal Reserve commentary on rates.
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