Arizona Tribune - US stocks fall before midterm Election Day as technology shares weaken

US Stock market benchmark indexes S&P 500 and Nasdaq fell on Monday but Dow Jones rose sharply ahead of Tuesday's Election Day for US Midterm polls. Russell 2000 fell 5.97 points, or 0.2 per cent, to 2,805.88, Nasdaq composite fell 272.68 points, or 1.1 per cent, to 25,164.32, S&P 500 fell 38.67 points, or 0.5 per cent, to 7,541.40, Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 213.67 points, or 0.4 per cent, to 51,983.98. In October, the Nasdaq fell 5.3 per cent for the month following a selloff on Friday related to worries that massive spending on AI infrastructure is outpacing near-term cash generation.

Why Are S&P 500, Nasdaq Down? The S&P 500 ended lower on Monday as oil prices tumbled on optimism about a potential US-Iran peace agreement, while Apple shares dipped ahead of the iPhone maker's quarterly report and investors awaited Tuesday's US midterm elections.

Longer-dated US Treasury yields moved lower and Brent crude prices fell as Iran indicated it was open to peace talks after eight months of war in the Middle East that have kept energy prices elevated and stoked inflation. You Might Also Like:US election results time: When will midterm polls winners be declared on Tuesday night? Check exact timings of announcement

Seven of the 11 S&P 500 sector indexes rose, led by consumer discretionary, up 2.25 per cent, followed by a 1.83 per cent gain in materials. The energy index fell 4 per cent. On Monday, Alphabet initially rallied 2.6 per cent, but it later pared the gain and was most recently up 1 per cent. Nvidia, meanwhile, went from an early gain of 2.6 per cent to a drop of 0.3 per cent following its 4.2 per cent slide on Friday.

United Airlines stock price rose sharply 5 per cent, Southwest Airlines climbed 3.6 per cent and cruise operator Carnival rose 3.8 per cent. Marriott International rose 4.2 per cent. Idexx Laboratories leaped 21.7 per cent. You Might Also Like:Is Election Day a federal holiday? Check states, companies that will give time offs to employees on Tuesday voting day for US Midterm elections 2026

Apple closed down by 1.5 per cent ahead of its quarterly report. After the closing bell, Apple posted results that beat expectations, driven by early demand for its iPhone 18 Pro lineup and price increases that helped offset rising memory-chip costs. The shares were close to flat after the report. Amazon rallied 2.2 per cent, while Tesla climbed 1 per cent.

Oracle dropped almost 9 per cent, Marvell Technology tumbled 13 per cent, Lumentum dropped 18.6 per cent. Palantir dipped 3.1 per cent ahead of its quarterly report after the bell. Chipmaker AMD fell 7.5 per cent ahead of its quarterly report on Tuesday. Intel fell 8.8 per cent, adding to a 29 per cent drop on Friday after it forecast quarterly revenue below market estimates and said it did not expect positive cash flow this year.

B.Torres--AT