Wall Street's main indexes edged higher on Tuesday as investors rotated out of battered semiconductor stocks and into healthier corners of the market, even as a brutal chip-sector sell-off intensified. The Dow Jones Industrial Average climbed more than 1% to near record territory, while the S&P 500 rose roughly 0.2% and the Nasdaq 100 slipped into correction territory, down over 10% from its June peak.
Memory and chip names bore the brunt of the selling. SK Hynix fell nearly 9% and Samsung Electronics suffered double-digit declines in South Korea, where the KOSPI plunged almost 11%. Micron Technology shed nearly 9%, having lost over $450 billion in market value since June. Healthcare and financials, meanwhile, hit intraday records.
Coca-Cola surged 5% for its best session since 2009 after beating earnings expectations. Oil prices retreated sharply—Brent crude fell below $84 a barrel—after the US and Iran halted active fighting. The Federal Reserve opened a two-day policy meeting as consumer confidence dipped to 90.8.