Dow Jones Today: Tech Sends Index Lower

The Dow Jones Industrial Average closed lower by nearly 0.7%, or 230 points, with tech stocks tumbling as negotiations over government spending stalled in Washington, bringing the U.S. one day closer to its June 1 debt-ceiling deadline.

Stocks slid after House Speaker Kevin McCarthy said that debt-ceiling negotiations still have a ways to go. Despite finishing down, the Dow was the best-performing index when compared with the Nasdaq and S&P 500's losses of 1.25% and 1.1%, respectively.

After several winning sessions, tech stocks fell with Microsoft (MSFT) dropping 1.8% and Apple (AAPL) falling 1.5%. Apple said today it would enter a multi-billion dollar deal with chipmaker Broadcom, which already produces some chips for the iPhone maker.

Visa (V) was the Dow’s worst performer, falling 2.9%, along with American Express (AXP), which lost 1.9%.

Intel (INTC) shares fell more than 2% a day after the company outlined its artificial intelligence (AI) products at a supercomputing conference in Germany. However, its “Falcon Shores” chip isn’t expected until 2025, leaving some investors worried it may be too late to catch competitors Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD).

Chevron shares rose (CVX) 3% after HSBC analysts upgraded the stock to a buy and set its price target to $189. The upgrade comes just a day after Chevron inked a deal to buy PDC, which analysts said will increase the oil giant's supplies and diversify its assets. 

Home Depot (HD) moved up 1.5% after its competitor Lowe’s (LOW) beat earnings expectations. Investors pushed Lowe’s higher by almost 2%, despite the home improvement retailer cutting its outlook for the rest of 2023, just as Home Depot did last week.