Nasdaq drops for a second day as tech pullback picks up steam, Micron shares slide 7%: Live updates
Traders work on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) on May 6, 2026 in New York City.
Spencer Platt | Getty Images
The S&P 500 and Nasdaq Composite fell on Monday, bogged down by declines in technology, as traders monitored oil prices and bond yields while awaiting further developments with the conflict in the Middle East.
The broad market index dropped 0.7%, while the tech-heavy Nasdaq slid 1.2%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average traded down 131 points, or 0.3%.
Seagate led a selloff in the memory chip space after the CEO said during a JPMorgan conference that new factories would “take too long.” Seagate fell 10% and dragged peer Micron Technology lower by 8% with it. The comment exacerbated concerns that the memory chip industry doesn’t have the capacity to meet soaring demand.
Alongside Seagate and Micron, shares of Western Digital and Sandisk each dropped 8%. Beyond that, fellow artificial intelligence-related stocks such as Nvidia and Broadcom lost 2% and 1%, respectively.
Meanwhile, oil prices were higher. West Texas Intermediate futures climbed 3% to trade above $109 per barrel, while Brent crude traded up 3% to around $112 a barrel.
Those moves come during a delicate time for stocks. The S&P 500 and Nasdaq hit fresh record highs last week, while the Dow briefly reclaimed the 50,000 level.
However, the major averages suffered a setback Friday, as sovereign bond yields around the world rose. The U.S. 30-year Treasury bond yield hit its highest level in around a year. It was last little changed alongside the 10-year Treasury yield. In the U.K., the 30-year Gilt yield had scaled to levels not seen since the late 1990s, along with long-dated Japanese bond yields.
Tech stocks, which had been leading the market to record highs got battered by the spike in yields. The Nasdaq-100 index dropped 1.5% on Friday, marking its worst one-day performance since March 27.
Tensions are still high between Iran and the U.S., keeping oil prices elevated as the path forward for the conflict remains unclear. On Sunday, President Donald Trump said Iran had to “get moving” or there “won’t be anything left.” Peace negotiations between both countries have been deadlocked, as Axios reported that Iran has sent an updated peace proposal, but the U.S. considers it still inadequate for a deal.
On top of that, new inflation data released last week makes the Federal Reserve cutting rates anytime soon a long shot.
“There’s truly inflationary problems,” Ben Fulton, CEO of WEBs Investments, said to CNBC, calling elevated oil prices a “watershed” issue. “It’s going to be hard to see that offset.”
This means that stocks could be in a “heavy range trade” from here on out without positive developments out of the Middle East, especially regarding the Strait of Hormuz, he said.
“I could see people starting to protect profits pretty quick,” Fulton added.
