The S&P 500 and Nasdaq closed lower on Friday after touching record highs during the session, with high-flying chip stocks going into reverse and a mixed labor market report that showed more new jobs than expected with a rising unemployment rate.
The S&P and Nasdaq briefly hit intraday record highs but started to lose steam late morning. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index sharply underperformed and ended the day down 4% after touching an intraday record high.
Market Snapshot
The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell 68.66 points, or 0.18%, to 38,722.69, the S&P 500 lost 33.67 points, or 0.65%, to 5,123.69 and the Nasdaq Composite lost 188.26 points, or 1.16%, to 16,085.11.
Market Movers
Nvidia (NVDA) - Nvidia fell 5.6%, putting an end to the chip maker’s six-session winning streak. Nvidia stock has had a spectacular run, quadrupling in value over the past 12 months.
Broadcom (AVGO) - Fiscal first-quarter revenue and adjusted earnings at Broadcom rose more than expected but the stock finished 7% lower after the semiconductor company left its fiscal-year sales guidance unchanged at about $50 billion. Coming into the earnings report, Broadcom shares had risen 26% this year and 129% over the past 12 months. CEO Hock Tan said “strong demand for our networking products in AI data centers, as well as custom AI accelerators from hyperscalers, are driving growth in our semiconductor segment.”
Rivian (RIVN) - Rivian Automotive rose 2.2% after the electric-vehicle maker unveiled two new, lower-priced SUVs. Rivian announced a midsize SUV called the R2, with a starting price of around $45,000, and said the car would ship in the first half of 2026. The company also surprised with the announcement of the R3, an even smaller and lower-priced SUV, and and a variant of the vehicle with a sportier trim called the R3X.
Amylyx Pharmaceuticals (AMLX) - Amylyx Pharmaceuticals fell 82.3% after Relyvrio, its drug for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, failed in a Phase 3 trial. The company said it may voluntarily withdraw Relyvrio from the market.
Costco (COST) - Costco Wholesale‘s fiscal second-quarter revenue of $58.44 billion rose 5.7% from a year earlier but fell short of forecasts of $59.11 billion. Shares of the big-box retailer fell 7.6%. E-commerce comparable sales in the period rose more than 18%. Second-quarter earnings of $3.92 a share were higher than estimates of $3.63.
Eli Lilly (LLY) - Eli Lilly closed down 2.3% after the company said the Food and Drug Administration said the Food and Drug administration has delayed its decision on whether to approve the company’s Alzheimer’s drug, donanemab.
Marvell Technology (MRVL) - Marvell Technology tumbled 11.4% after its fiscal first-quarter outlook was well short of Wall Street forecasts. The semiconductor company said it expects revenue in the period of $1.15 billion, plus or minus 5%, which is below analysts’ projections of $1.38 billion. Adjusted earnings were estimated at 18 cents to 28 cents a share, below consensus of 41 cents.
DocuSign (DOCU) - DocuSign rose 4.5% after the electronic-signature company reported fourth-quarter earnings and revenue that beat analysts’ estimates and said it expects first-quarter sales of $704 million to $708 million, higher than forecasts of $701 million. DocuSign estimated billings in the first quarter of between $685 million and $695 million versus analysts’ expectations of $683 million.
Samsara (IOT) - Shares of Samsara rose 14% after the asset-tracking systems provider posted better-than-anticipated fourth-quarter adjusted earnings and issued fiscal 2025 earnings and revenue guidance that topped Wall Street estimates.
MongoDB (MDB) - MongoDB slipped 6.9% after the cloud-based database software issued disappointing guidance for both its fiscal first quarter and year. For the first quarter, MongoDB said it expects revenue of between $436 million and $440 million, with adjusted profit of 34 cents to 39 cents a share. Wall Street had called for revenue of $452 million in revenue and earnings of 62 cents a share.
Gap (GPS) - Gap reported fourth-quarter earnings of 49 cents a share, beating analysts’ consensus of 23 cents. Gross margins in the period rose 5.3 percentage points from a year earlier, thanks to lower commodity costs and fewer markdowns. Gap said sales for the current fiscal year would be flat, roughly in line with expectations. The stock rose 8.2%.
BigBear.ai (BBAI) - BigBear.ai, the AI software provider, fell 31.7% after fourth-quarter revenue of $40.6 million rose just 0.5% from a year earlier and missed analysts’ estimates of $42.8 million.
Market News
US Job Market Data Bolsters Fed's "No Rush" Rate Cut View
Federal Reserve policymakers weighing when to start interest-rate cuts got fresh reasons on Friday to remain on standby, after a government report showed robust job growth in February but also signs of labor market cooling that could help the Fed's battle with inflation.
U.S. employers added 275,000 jobs last month, a Labor Department report showed on Friday, handily beating the 200,000 that economists expected.
But the report's revisions of prior months' estimates showed smaller job gains in January and December than had earlier been thought, and other details of the report suggested a rebalancing in the labor market continues.
The U.S. unemployment rate rose to 3.9%, its highest in two years, though still below levels the Fed sees as sustainable in the long-run.
And wage growth has continued to edge down, rising 4.3% in February from a year earlier, down from 4.4% in January. Fed policymakers won't see that growth as consistent yet with their 2% inflation goal, but it is moving in the right direction.
Bitcoin Briefly Rises to Record High Over $70,000
Bitcoin briefly rallied to a record high on Friday in volatile trading, as crypto mania continued to sweep through the investment community.
The leading cryptocurrency topped the $70,000 mark for the first time, boosted by investor demand for new U.S. spot exchange-traded crypto products and expectations for global interest rates to fall.
It rose to as high as $70,105 before quickly dropping, and was last trading at $68,317.72.
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