US Close July 14 2026: Nasdaq +0.90% as chips and cyber rally, IBM posts worst day on record

S&P 500 close: 7,543.59 (+0.38%) Nasdaq: 26,107.01 (+0.90%) Sentiment: mixed

The S&P 500 closed at 7,543.59 on 14 July 2026, up 0.38%, and the Nasdaq added 0.90% to 26,107 as a cool June inflation reading pushed money into AI chip and cybersecurity names. IBM.US fell 25.21% to $217.07, its worst single day on record, after warning that second-quarter revenue landed at $17.2 billion against the $17.86 billion analysts expected. June CPI fell 0.4% for the month, the largest decline since April 2020, pulling the 10-year Treasury yield to 4.585% and sending the VIX down 3.85% to 16.5.

What moved the index

• NVDA.US +4.06%, MU.US +4.92% and AMD.US +2.57% led the advance. IBM chief executive Arvind Krishna said clients redirected quarterly capital spending toward servers, storage and memory to secure supply ahead of price increases, and traders took that as firm demand for memory and AI chips.
• CRWD.US +12.14%, OKTA.US +10.81%, ZS.US +7.24% and PANW.US +6.84% carried cybersecurity higher. IBM said its customers stayed focused on cybersecurity even as other software budgets shrank, which buyers viewed as a sign that security spending is intact.
• IBM.US -25.21% was the single largest drag on both the S&P 500 and the Dow. The same shift away from software hit NOW.US -5.76%, TEAM.US -7.36% and MNDY.US -5.76%.
• HCA.US -6.95% cut its full-year earnings guidance and flagged softer surgical volumes, dragging device makers ISRG.US -6.78% and SYK.US -6.15%.

The Dow finished flat at 52,508 (+0.02%) because Goldman Sachs GS.US +9.00% added roughly as many index points as IBM subtracted. The Nasdaq outran the S&P because the day's winners, chips and cyber, sit heavily in it, while IBM trades on the NYSE.

Session highlights

• Goldman Sachs GS.US +9.00% led the banks after posting second-quarter earnings of $20.98 per share, nearly double the $10.91 a year earlier, on record equities-trading revenue.
• JPMorgan JPM.US +2.50% beat with earnings of $6.14 per share against $5.85 expected and revenue of $58.02 billion.
• Citigroup C.US -5.29% and Wells Fargo WFC.US -2.71% both fell despite topping estimates, a sell-the-news reaction after a strong year for each.
• AXTI.US +14.09% was the day's largest gainer on an indium phosphide wafer supply deal and a broker target lift to $125. AAOI.US +12.13% rose after breaking ground on a Texas plant for AI data-center optical parts.

Sector scorecard

• Best: Technology (+1.29%), with semiconductors stronger still (the SMH semiconductor fund +2.51%).
• Worst: Health Care (-1.93%).
• Dispersion (best minus worst): 3.2 points.
• Financials closed up just 0.20% despite Goldman's 9% gain, as Citigroup and Wells Fargo offset it.

Top movers

After-hours earnings

• Aehr Test Systems AEHR.US closed the regular session up 5.87% at $72.01, then rose about 17% after the bell once it guided fiscal 2027 revenue to a range of $130 million to $150 million, up roughly 160% to 200% on the year. The semiconductor test maker's outlook points to the same memory and AI-infrastructure demand IBM described earlier in the day.

Notable announcements

• IBM.US preannounced second-quarter results below consensus, posting adjusted earnings of $2.93 per share versus the $3.02 expected, and blamed a client shift toward hardware over software.
• Lucid LCID.US traded down as much as 57% intraday on a report it was weighing Chapter 11, then recovered to close down 16.15% after the company rejected the report.

Next session catalysts (ET)

• Wed 08:30 June Producer Price Index, the wholesale-inflation follow-up to Tuesday's soft CPI; consensus looks for a 0.1% monthly decline.
• Wed before open Morgan Stanley MS.US reports second-quarter results, with analysts expecting $2.73 per share.
• Wed 14:00 Federal Reserve Beige Book, a read on conditions across the twelve Fed districts.

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