US Stock Market Falls as Chipmakers Slump on TSMC Capex Concerns
The US stock market closed lower on Thursday, led by tech-heavy Nasdaq-100 amid renewed pressure on semiconductor stocks. The S&P 500 fell about 0.5%, the Nasdaq-100 dropped roughly 1.6%, and the Dow Jones Industrial Average eased around 0.2%. Chipmakers drove the weakness after Taiwan Semiconductor reported strong results but raised its capital expenditure outlook to $60-64 billion, up from a prior range of $52-56 billion.
UnitedHealth Group provided some offsetting strength in healthcare, reporting strong second-quarter results and clocking an improvement in the medical care ratio on better cost control and pricing. The higher spending outlook at Taiwan Semiconductor raised concerns about near-term margins and returns in the ongoing AI infrastructure buildout.
Nvidia and Broadcom pulled lower in sympathy with the broader semiconductor complex, while Alphabet is reportedly months behind schedule in releasing Gemini 3.5 Pro, its flagship artificial intelligence model, creating concerns that it is falling behind rivals such as Anthropic.