Nasdaq Slumps Again as Tech Retreat Deepens and Micron Gets Hit

CNBC, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal, and Market Watch contributed to this report.

Stocks got rattled again on Monday, and tech was once more doing the heavy lifting on the way down.

The S&P 500 fell 0.7%, while the Nasdaq Composite slid 1.2% as traders kept one eye on oil, another on bond yields, and all of them on the Middle East. The Dow was down 131 points, or 0.3%.

The pressure was especially sharp in semiconductors. Seagate led the selloff after its CEO said at a JPMorgan conference that building new factories would “take too long,” a line that did not go over well with investors already worried about supply. Seagate dropped 10%, and Micron got dragged down with it, falling 8%. Western Digital and Sandisk were both off 8% too.

The pain did not stop there. Nvidia slid 2%, Broadcom lost 1%, and the broader AI trade looked a lot less invincible than it did just days ago.

Oil kept the nerves on edge. West Texas Intermediate rose 3% to above $109 a barrel, while Brent climbed 3% to around $112. That is not the kind of move stock investors want to see when inflation is already refusing to cool off.

The timing is awkward. Last week, the S&P 500 and Nasdaq both hit fresh record highs, and the Dow briefly crossed 50,000. But Friday’s bond-market jolt changed the mood fast. Treasury yields jumped around the world, with the US 30-year yield hitting its highest level in about a year. In the UK and Japan, long-dated bond yields also pushed into uncomfortable territory.

That shift hit tech especially hard. The Nasdaq-100 fell 1.5% on Friday, its worst day since late March, and Monday’s move suggested the selloff still had room to run.

Geopolitics are still doing their part. Tensions between the US and Iran remain unresolved, the Strait of Hormuz remains a wild card, and President Trump’s latest warning on Sunday only added more heat to the story. Peace talks are stalled, and Axios reported that Iran’s updated proposal still falls short of what Washington wants.

Inflation data from last week is not helping either. It has made any near-term Fed rate cut look far less likely, which is another headache for growth stocks that rely on lower rates to justify big valuations.

Ben Fulton, CEO of WEBs Investments, said the jump in oil looks like a real turning point. He called it a “watershed” issue and said it will be hard for markets to shrug off if energy stays this expensive. His read was blunt: without a meaningful breakthrough in the Middle East, stocks could get stuck in a choppy holding pattern, and investors may start taking profits sooner rather than later.

That is the mood now. Less euphoria, more caution. And for tech, which had been leading the market higher for months, the unwind has started to feel a little more serious.