Thursday was a rough session across the board, with all four major indices closing in the red and growth-heavy benchmarks bearing the brunt of the selling. The S&P 500 slipped 0.60% to finish at 7,585.88, falling back below the psychologically significant 7,600 level. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 0.63% to close at 51,746.93, while the Nasdaq led the decline with a 1.06% loss, settling at 25,725.45.
Small caps offered no refuge either, as the Russell 2000 fell 1.01% to 2,865.49, suggesting the risk-off mood extended well beyond mega-cap technology. The breadth of the selling across market capitalizations points to macro-level concern rather than sector-specific rotation.
The day's most striking divergence came from Apple and Nvidia. Apple bucked the trend in impressive fashion, climbing 3.56% to $326.57 and standing out as a rare bright spot in an otherwise gloomy session. Meanwhile, Nvidia — long a darling of the AI trade — tumbled 2.37% to $218.36, adding to anxiety about whether the AI infrastructure boom still has legs at current valuations.
Gold continued to assert its safe-haven appeal, with the metal closing at $4,328.25, underscoring that investors remain on edge and are seeking shelter in hard assets amid the broader equity weakness.