US markets close 16 July 2026: S&P 500 -0.51% as chip selling outweighs nine rising sectors

S&P 500 close: 7,533.77 (-0.51%) Breadth: 358 of the index's holdings closed higher Sentiment: mixed

The S&P 500 closed at 7,533.77 on 16 July 2026, down 0.51%, as a 2.28% fall in Technology outweighed gains in nine of the eleven sectors. ManpowerGroup MAN.US rose 32.37% after posting Q2 earnings of $1.13 per share against a $1.44 loss a year earlier, 36.8% above consensus. Initial jobless claims fell to 208,000 for the week ending 11 July against a 218,000 consensus, and buyers paid up for staffing, freight and healthcare while semiconductors sold.

What moved the index

• Technology: -2.28% across roughly 35% of index weight, worth about 80 bps of the 51 bps decline. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index fell 3.8% after Taiwan Semiconductor TSM.US guided 2026 capital spending to $60 billion to $64 billion, up from $52 billion to $56 billion. TSM.US closed down 2.32% despite beating on the quarter.
• Communication Services: -0.63% on roughly 10% weight, worth about 6 bps. GOOGL.US fell 4.44%, the sector's single largest drag.
• The other nine sectors: up roughly 0.6% on about 55% of index weight, adding back about 35 bps. Consumer Staples, Health Care and Real Estate led.

Together the 86 bps of drag from Technology and Communication Services, against about 35 bps of offset from the other nine sectors, accounts for the 51 bps index move. The Nasdaq fell 1.47% and the Dow 0.20%, a 127 bps gap between the two.

Session highlights

• SNDK.US -12.63%, STX.US -10.00%, WDC.US -9.15% and MU.US -5.65% after Barron's reported that Chinese rival ChangXin Memory Technologies is preparing an IPO in China.
• AAPL.US +1.76% and MSFT.US +1.38% closed higher while GOOGL.US -4.44%, META.US -2.46% and AMZN.US -1.99% closed lower.
• 208,000 initial jobless claims for the week ending 11 July, down 8,000 and below the 218,000 consensus. Continuing claims fell 16,000 to just over 1.8 million.
• June retail sales rose 0.2% against a 0.3% consensus, after a revised 1.0% in May. Gas station sales fell 5.3% on lower prices; excluding gas, sales rose 0.7%.
• JBHT.US +8.01%, with freight peers HUBG.US +7.55% and XPO.US +7.06% behind it.
• VIX 16.73, up 6.76%, with the US 10-year at 4.57% and the dollar index at 100.73.

Sector scorecard

• Worst: Technology -2.28%
• Second worst: Communication Services -0.63%
• The other nine sectors closed higher, led by Consumer Staples, Health Care and Real Estate.
• Breadth: 358 of the index's holdings closed green against an index that fell.

Top movers

After-hours earnings

NFLX.US closed at $74.35, up 0.91%, then reported Q2 after the bell: revenue of $12.56 billion against a $12.587 billion consensus and EPS of $0.80 against $0.79. Shares fell about 9% in after-hours trade on the Q3 guidance.

UAL.US fell 1.79% after reporting late Wednesday. EPS beat, revenue met consensus, and the airline guided Q3 lower on fuel costs.

Notable announcements

• TSM.US raised 2026 capital spending guidance to $60 billion to $64 billion from $52 billion to $56 billion alongside a Q2 beat.
• ASTS.US launched a $1 billion private offering of convertible senior notes at an initial conversion price near $79.57, and moved its BlueBird satellite schedule to early 2027.
• JBHT.US reported Q2 EPS of $1.91 on revenue of $3.5 billion against $1.74 and $3.25 billion expected. Operating income rose 32% to $259.5 million and intermodal revenue rose 22% to $1.75 billion.
• Freddie Mac put the 30-year mortgage rate at 6.55%, its highest in almost a year.

Next session catalysts (ET)

• Fri 08:30: June housing starts and building permits
• Fri 08:30: June industrial production and capacity utilization
• Fri 08:30: June import and export prices
• Fri 10:00: University of Michigan consumer sentiment, preliminary July
• Fri: July monthly options expiration

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