New York, May 7, 2026, 5:36 PM EDT
U.S. stocks closed lower Thursday, with the S&P 500 slipping 0.38% to 7,337.11 as a chip-stock retreat broke up this week’s record run. The Nasdaq fell 0.13% to 25,806.20 and the Dow lost 0.63% to 49,596.97; Intel and AMD each dropped about 3%, Arm’s U.S.-listed shares tumbled, and the PHLX chip index — a benchmark for semiconductor stocks — slid 2.7%.
The move matters because Wall Street had just leaned hard into the artificial-intelligence trade. On Wednesday, AMD’s stronger revenue outlook sent its shares up almost 19%, pulled Intel higher and helped the S&P 500 and Nasdaq to record closing highs; Thursday’s pullback showed investors are still quick to take money off the table when the AI story meets supply worries.
The broader case for stocks has not gone away. More than two-thirds into the first-quarter reporting season, S&P 500 earnings were on track to rise 28.2%, the strongest growth since the fourth quarter of 2021, according to LSEG data cited by Reuters. Chris Fasciano, chief market strategist at Commonwealth Financial Network, said “earnings have driven the move higher,” while Deutsche Bank strategist Binky Chadha called the profit growth “strongest in two decades.” Reuters
Oil kept the tape uneven. Brent crude, the global benchmark, settled down 1.2% at $100.06 a barrel and U.S. West Texas Intermediate crude slipped to $94.81, after both had fallen as much as $5 earlier on hopes Washington and Tehran were moving toward a temporary agreement. The swings mattered for equities because higher energy prices can feed inflation and squeeze margins.
Stocks may be absorbing the day-to-day oil churn better than they did in March, but rates remain a live issue. Daniel Skelly, head of Morgan Stanley’s Wealth Management Market Research & Strategy Team, wrote that oil’s “longer-term impact on inflation is still an open question,” while 10-year Treasury yields rose to 4.382%. Investors also face Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report, the monthly U.S. government jobs release. Reuters
Datadog was one of the cleaner winners. The cloud-monitoring firm raised its 2026 revenue forecast to $4.30 billion to $4.34 billion, above its earlier $4.06 billion to $4.10 billion view, and said first-quarter revenue rose 32% to $1.01 billion. CEO Olivier Pomel said the company was helping customers deploy “cloud-based, AI-enabled solutions,” and the shares jumped in regular trading. Reuters
The consumer side looked weaker. Whirlpool shares hit a more than 14-year low after the appliance maker cut its 2026 adjusted per-share profit forecast to $3 to $3.50 from about $7 and suspended its dividend. CEO Marc Bitzer told analysts that “consumers are holding back” on replacing products and repairing them instead. Reuters
After the bell, Airbnb added another travel warning tied to the Middle East conflict. The company said second-quarter nights booked growth would slow from the first quarter because of regional travel disruptions, though it raised its 2026 revenue growth forecast to the low- to mid-teens from at least low double digits. Its shares were down 1.57% in after-market trading.
Late technology earnings were split. CoreWeave beat quarterly revenue estimates as demand for AI computing held up, but the stock was flat in volatile extended trading as operating expenses more than doubled. Cloudflare fell more than 13% after forecasting quarterly revenue below estimates and saying it would cut about 20% of its workforce, while Coinbase dropped about 4% after posting a second straight quarterly loss.
In a late policy turn, the U.S. Trade Court ruled against President Donald Trump’s latest 10% global tariffs, finding that across-the-board duties were not justified under a 1970s trade law. The decision came after the cash market closed, leaving investors to weigh its effect on import-sensitive companies in the next session.
But the trade is still fragile. SEB Research analyst Ole Hvalbye said a confirmed U.S.-Iran deal would likely pull Brent into the $80-$90 range quickly, while a breakdown in talks or a return to strikes could send prices above $120; a firmer-than-expected jobs report would also strengthen the Federal Reserve’s case for keeping rates on hold. For now, the rally is leaning on earnings more than easier money.
